{"id":2166,"date":"2014-02-18T01:32:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T01:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pasopacifico.org\/2014\/02\/poco-a-poco-bird-by-bird\/"},"modified":"2024-08-14T12:36:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T18:36:03","slug":"poco-a-poco-bird-by-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pasopacifico.org\/poco-a-poco-bird-by-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Poco a Poco, Bird by Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Sarah Otterstrom<\/p>\n
I grew up spending lazy summers along the shores of northern lakes in the Inland Pacific Northwest. Maybe this is where my love of \u201cbiodiversity\u201d was born. If anything, it was where I first learned to recognize the magic of the natural world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
For much of my adult life I have returned to spend summers at the lake. For years I set out on these trips with a stubborn naivet\u00e9, that the ecological problems in Nicaragua were separate from the problems in the Inland Northwest.<\/p>\n
Two summers ago, however, I was huckleberry picking with my two young sons in the woodlands surrounding Priest Lake, Idaho. We heard the chuckle of two young boys and the sound of BB gun fire. I figured, all is well, just some kids goofing around. Well, the laughter continued and it soon developed into what we might call \u201cbullying\u201d. I could not resist walking through the woods to see the source. Standing there were two young boys, BB guns in hand, poking a dying bird.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0“Western Tanager” by http:\/\/www.naturepicsonline.com\/ licensed by Creative Commons<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The lesson to me from this experience is that, as conservationists, the solutions we are all looking for must be global. Paso Pacifico can be effective at disarming Nicaraguan children of their sling-shots and we know that our small effort is worthwhile, because each bird is valued. But, as long as we work in isolation from the entire geography of the bird\u2019s life cycle, we will fall short.<\/p>\n