Editor’s note: Have you ever wondered what the Kingdom of God would look like? Well imagine with me such an amazing kingdom now with animals and people cooperating and being patient with each other.
A PEACEABLE KINGDOM
By Janice Hitzhusen
At 9 a.m., on a sunny day in mid-July of 2022, there is a surprise for me when I look out into the backyard. There are more squirrels than I can count and even more chipmunks. Also, there is a variety of animals that I have never seen before. They come and go over the next few hours. A coyote can be seen hiding behind a stand of trees in the back of the yard, just watching the other animals eat birdseed under the feeder that had been dropped by the birds; a raccoon rummages in a pail of food scraps for our neighbor’s little dog; a large rabbit and her baby eat blades of grass. I sit and watch them until they all leave around noon, the hottest time of the day. Over the next few days, I see a deer looking out from the back bushes. I saw her tracks before today but didn’t think much of it at the time. An opossum is found in the basement, dead, lodged in a large pipe after entering the basement through a foundation fault under the deck. Her 4 babies are alive and taken in by the wild animal shelter. I see a red fox hiding behind the trees in the back of the yard, just watching the animals eat, much like the coyote and deer.
Our neighbor asked if a black bear did damage trying to get to the birdseed.
“No,” I said shocked.
“The bear bent to the ground the iron pole trying to get to the birdfeeder hanging from the pole,” he said. “Another neighbor saw him walking through our back yards and then just disappear.”
A few days later, I see 5 turkeys step out from the bushes, one by one, from biggest to the smallest. A big tom leads them as they step onto our lawn with heads bobbing in an ancient group rhythm. They seem to be oblivious to all else as they beeline for the area under the bird feeders. They appear to know our yard well as they gather around three bird feeders. This morning at dawn, the turkeys are alone and go about their business of helping themselves to breakfast. The previous morning, a menagerie of ravenous small birds land on the birdfeeders and focus on the exact seeds they desire and then hastily scratch and scatter the rest of the unwanted seeds to the grass below the feeder. The tom is the leader of the five turkeys and is the biggest. The fifth turkey is the smallest and gets ignored when it tries to jump up to the bird bath to drink water with the others. The tom is in charge and peers around the yard and toward the house looking for harmful intruders. A neighbor’s dog barks, and tom fluffs up his body to look bigger and puts himself between the “fearsome” dog and his flock (rafter) to protect them. Tom charges the dog, hitting him with his beak. The dog yelps and runs back through the bushes. When tom is finished feeding, he jumps up on the deck, walks to the center, plops his big feathery rump down, and begins to vigorously preen himself. He has waterproofed himself with oil from his tail feathers and jumps up on the wooden railing to strut and flap his huge, feathered wingspan for the others to see. They respond by flying up one by one onto the railing and follow the example of their leader. There is a pause, and he flaps his way up to the roof. Without hesitation, his flock follows, and now all five turkeys look around from their lofty perch and then proceed to climb onto the ridge of the house, some thirty-five feet from the ground. Apparently, pleased with their lookout, they walk the length of the ridge and then flap down to the lawn below, cross the street and head for another of “their” back yards.
Over the next few weeks, I see even more animals in the back yard. In the 35 years living here, I have never seen so many and such a variety of animals! Our house is just 20 houses away from where our street junctures with a very busy Salisbury St. Wouldn’t they want to live in the woods where they could hunt and eat the kind of food they like? Where have they been all these years? And why now? And why in my back yard? Now I see adult rabbits and baby rabbits, many more squirrels and chipmunks, and many more birds: blue jay, sparrow, purple finch, morning dove, goldfinch, cardinal, robin, red headed woodpecker, house wren, hummingbird, red-winged blackbird, and Baltimore oriole.
Occasionally, a red fox, deer, or coyote stop by. The 5 turkeys return every day at about the same time. When they leave, the more cautious yard inhabitants join together in the seed feast: the smaller birds, gray squirrels, chipmunks (at least 10), mother rabbits, and baby rabbits. There is no fighting or biting to get to the front of the feeding circle, and all of the animals eat together. They get along and share the food that is available. The chipmunks race across the yard and then go back into the bushes. They come back to eat by themselves when there are fewer animals and birds. The animals take turns feeding while rotating back to front. The larger birds come and go as do the animals until 9 or 10 a.m. Then, the smaller birds disappear, leaving the rest of the animals to stay feeding until 11 or 12 noon. No animals stay to eat in the heat of the day. If a cooper’s hawk appears and lands on a trellis, every animal and bird disappear immediately. The hawk stays awhile, then flies to a tall shrub to see if the animals and birds return. They don’t for a long time! The most recent animal to eat and stay is a woodchuck who lives under the deck with his partner. He prefers to chomp on my hosta, leaving them denuded and also vacuums up birdseed when the other animals have mostly left. He also sneaks around the yard and digs under the fence surrounding the vegetable garden and eats the tender tomato and bean plants. Now, I am angry until I realize I can get my vegetables from the grocery store, but he cannot. I decide that I am being selfish and cruel. He and all of the animals and I enjoy watching and learning about each other. It’s only fair that they eat what they want and stay as long as they want or need to.
During the last two years of the Covid Pandemic, the animals continue to go to residential backyards to eat. This never happened in the 30 years of living here. They are coming hungry and homeless to the residential Edens in our city, grateful to find any food and to be able to eat it in safety, as they did in their own homes. Builders have driven them out by deforestation and bulldozing their habitat. It seems humans, in our disregard for our wild animal relatives, are not willing or prepared to share the environment with them.
Anyone but the animals would be startled: how slender and thin is the red fox but has thick and bushy and beautiful long tail; how much larger are coyotes than imagined; how much smaller black bears than enormous brown grizzly bears; deer are usually the animals that clean cut our tulip blooms from their stems; how hungry and numerous are our homeless animals; how many birds are killed by housecats when a birdfeeder is present in the yard; and how do we humans share our environment, food, and water with them?
Animals have developed communities of predators and prey, much like humans, but animals continue to eat together and share their environment. Humans seem greedier and unwilling to share. We could learn from our animal friends how to be The Peaceable Kingdom. We can begin by sharing our food with them and maybe that compassion for animals will be transferred to our human family.
Some people have stopped being angry with hungry animals that eat plants in their gardens and feel sorry they have nothing to eat. Those people may build a fence around their family’s vegetable garden and allow them to feed on the hardy perennials. Others can put out suet and seed for birds. Could we humans join with our backyard animals to create a larger inclusive Peaceable Kingdom? Some would say all of our lives depend on it.
