Egyptian Geese, starlings. lupines and xenophoba
Today was a sunny day in Tromsø, N. Norway, a respite between rain yesterday
and rain tomorrow (Not terribly hot, though, +5*C this morning when I went out
at 10 am). It is clearly autumn here now, the birches are yellowing, mushrooms
everywhere. the swallows and terns are gone, and the thrushes are raiding the
berries in the gardens. Few flowers left along the roads, mostly diehards like
Yarrow and Hawksweed, but at Tisnes the Felwort still is in full flower. And
there are still a few flowers in the large patches of lupines that from year to
year become more prevalent in the area, but which of course do not belong here;
these are American plants. I remember how elated I was the year I lived in
Bodega Bay in California, now almost 40 years ago and found several species of
wild lupines on Bodega Head; but here in Tromsø I don't like them at all,
beautiful though the flowers may be.
There is a similar case in Holland with the Egyptian Geese that in the course
of a few decades have become almost ubiquitous in that country. Rare is the day
trip where this species is not on the list nowadays. And I loathe them, even to
the ridiculous point that I don't even fully appreciate them anymore in Africa,
where they of course are fully at home.
Several small flocks of Starlings were around and reminded me that every time I
write something about this most interesting bird, I get a number of irate
reactions from the USA and Australia, telling me how awful these birds are.
In all these cases we have arguments that sound somewhat rational: The lupines
take over the road verges from the local flowers; the Egyptian Geese have the
nasty habit of killing off other young and smaller birds in their territories,
and the Starlngs are simply too many and occupy nest holes that 'better' birds
need for their nests. But recently I have started wondering if there maybe is
something amiss with these feelings nevertheless. In these later years we have
here in Europe a serious problem with large numbers of human refugees, largely
from areas where there is war, famine, and/or repressive dictatorships, and
also in Australia and now in the USA 'illegal immigrants' are much in the news.
And the arguments used to keep out these people as much as possible are exactly
the same as in the case of the other exotic animals and plant: they do not
belong here, they take up room and jobs from the 'better people', and they have
undesirable behavour. It has made me think: maybe my strong reluctance to
accept these foreign plants and animals in our nature here North is in fact
just a kind of xenophobia, in the same way as I feel much of the fear for
immigrants is too.
A further argument for this view is that the 'fear and loathing' only kick in
when the exotics arrive in numbers. All birders love to see the lone vagrant ,
and I have no problems at all with another American immigrant on our island,
the Monkey flower Mimulus guttatus, that has only a precarious toehold here,
and every year is found at only 1 or 2 spots. Nor do I grudge the 2-3 pairs of
Collared Doves that have held out in Tromsø since their arrival in 1969, no
doubt the northernmost in the world. But in the areas in the USA they have
recently overrun I suppose feelings are maybe quite different towards also this
species.
Have you ever had any thoughts along these lines? Or am I completely at sea
with my ideas?
Wim Vader, Tromsø, Norway
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