Hiding in plain sight
June 28, 2009 by Bird
Filed under Blog, Fauna, Summer, Wild London
You don’t have to go to far flung wildernesses to experience the wild. It exists everywhere and in tandem with us; all we need to do to enter this wild world is look. This weekend I witnessed something lovely which proves the point.
I’m not going to reveal the exact location to ensure the safety of the protagonists; sufficient to say that the action took place in a thronged urban park very close to my house. During a busy event which saw stalls set out under the lovely old plane trees flanking the park I noticed in one of the trees the angry rattling alarm call of a Mistle Thrush. This, I thought to myself, could well be the bird who’s dreamy song I have often heard from our back garden, and I began to circle the huge trunk in hope of seeing the bird. I was not alone – another woman had noticed the sound too and we resolved that one of us would see the angry bird. In fact, we saw so much more.
All of a sudden I could see what was hiding in plain view – a thrush, sitting boldly upright in the fork of the tree a scant twelve feet above our heads. Big as it was, it soon became apparent that this was a juvenile bird still in the nest and it’s parents were flying about the tree fitfully, making that rattling sound. As we watched in amazement a parent bird suddenly flew in, stuffed a cherry into a gaping beak and vanished as suddenly as it had come. This flurry of excitement revealed three chicks in the very much outgrown nest, who quickly settled down so that only the very tops of their heads were visible.
I wish I’d taken a picture to show you exactly where all of this was taking place. Directly below the tree was a plant stall and a busy path on which families were walking to and fro. Ten yards to the right is an extensive and noisy children’s playpark and ten to the left, a community centre where youths lounged drinking orange juice post football practice. This spot is always busy, and yet I wondered how many people had ever noticed this nest sitting in the open on the broad tree fork just above head height. The Mistle Thrush is supposed to be a shy bird, and yet here it was confident in it’s own invisibility in an environment where people mostly just scurry past, head down. I’ve heard these lovely birds singing from busy intersection street lights in the most uncompromisingly grim and urban spots, traffic thundering by, the most sordid of human dramas enacted below.
They have adapted admirably to life alongside us; there is something poignant and oddly touching in how the nest appeared to be made largely of frayed nylon rope and strips of plastic bags. I turned to my friend and said that if there hadn’t been an event happening they may well have left the nest this very day, and shortly afterwards while a knot of us chatted and watched, one of those birds did take a momentous leap and left the nest, flying safely to a branch in the same tree.
These wise birds have inhabited this park for years and I had always wondered where they nested. Turns out they hadn’t even been hiding from me. The woman who had joined me in looking for the birds told me that she’d seen Mistle Thrushes nest in plain view on the front of the Town Hall and it seemed to her that she was the only person who ever noticed, noisy and large though these birds are. I started to wonder – how do they do it? I don’t mean how do they go un-noticed; human preoccupation would easily account for that. Rather how can they make their home in such seemingly threatening environments, with all the cars, pollution, humans and noise – how does it not drive these shy birds crazy? Perhaps they do that truly urban thing of shutting out all that does not immediately effect them – the human world is as invisible to the thrushes as their world usually is to us.
Great post – thank you for letting me ‘look’ through your lens.
Thank you Goo, it’s a pleasure to have you here reading
What a great story, I will be looking at the trees around me more carefully now!
Welcome Sarah… yep, it’s amazing what you can see with a little patience!
It’s a lovely account with excellent photos. The definition, or resolution is so high. Your combination of prose and pic’s would make for a book…or have I missed things as usual and you have already done one?
xhenry
Oh Henry thank you – to be honest I was so embarrassed at the quality of these pics I almost didn’t use them – I had to blow them up really big before you could see anything, so if you liked them as they are then I’m glad I wasn’t too much of a perfectionist
No, there is no book; to be honest I wouldn’t know how to go about it. I’m just writing for fun!
“. . .to be honest I wouldn’t know how to go about it. I’m just writing for fun!”
That’s the way to write a book! Or at least, to get you started- you would need diligence and commitment, too- but writing for fun is the key.
(Says me, who has yet to write a book herself! LOL! But don’t dismiss yourself offhand.
)
It’s not the writing or commitment, it’s getting published and promoting the work I wouldn’t know where to start with
A blog is a pretty good way of getting to write without all that hassle… and don’t dismiss yourself, either. Just ’cause you haven’t written one “yet”…
The nest is quite the spectacle in its weaving together of natural and human-sourced materials. In a world full of species that can’t adapt to what humans are doing to it, it’s nice to see that one has learned to cope.
This particular bird is quite a surprise as an urban success because in country areas it is incredibly shy, yet it seems both common and tolerant of humans in my part of London. I have country friends who would be glad to see or hear a thrush of any kind – their numbers are declining. It’s fascinating how many species are being driven from the countryside due to lack of food or habitat, and are finding their fortunes in cities.
As your post seems to point out, animals are much more adaptable than we give them credit for. I worry more about how humans, especially the shy ones, are adapting to this increasingly stressful world. I enjoyed this post. It’s thought provoking. Thanks for visiting my blog!
Cities do seem to provide a refuge for many animals and plants – not all can adjust, but those that can often thrive.
In fact I agree totally that the city environment is probably harsher on many humans… I know I have often found it hard to live here! Whether human or not, we all need to find the habitat that’s right for us
How wonderful to spot these thrushes! I just love their spotted bellies. Amazing to find them just above your heads like that, in the middle of all the action. It’s nice to see them adapting so well- while I agree that Nature, on the whole, adapts much better than humans do, unfortunately not all species are able to adjust to people so well.
It’s true – just as many species drop off the radar as thrive when they come in contact with us, but as with the mistle thrush it is often surprising as to which ones can adapt. I think there is an important difference between creatures who willingly enter an established urban environment in search of food and habitat – those ones live with us on their own terms – and those whose habitat is degraded and destroyed as we encroach upon it. The ones who are unwillingly surrounded by our activity, that have no chance of escape, nowhere to move on to are the ones that suffer.
And, as importantly, the wild lives within us…whether we know it or not.
What’s interesting is that I had to do a double-take to see the birds in the top photo…so not surprising at all passers by would miss them, particularly in our modern mind-set, in which we tend to see just about everything but what’s around us…
Good point Dr Jay, we are not separate from the natural world and it’s our greatest folly that we think we are.
You know even at the time, right there by the tree, I was actually staring straight at that bird for a good ten seconds or more before my brain would allow what I was seeing. It had that effect on everybody who finally saw it. Interesting that even in a photograph this bird still has it’s invisibility cloak working.
We agree wholeheartedly that the ‘wild’ is just outside our doors — and even in ourselves! Taking our hands and leading us on this adventure to see the Mistle Thrush really brought that home — if that’s what one can find in a busy park, what else lies waiting for us? Wonderful!
Kenton and Rebecca, I am always amazed at some of the things you can find just on the doorstep, in the middle of a city. I’m glad you enjoyed coming along with me!