Pam’s Perspective
Pam Otto is the Manager of Nature Programs and Interpretive Services for the St. Charles Park District
I’ve been on vacation this past week, a vacation at home, and it’s given me time to get caught up on all sorts of things. I finally got around to pruning back the elderberries that had made the back gate inaccessible and were threatening to engulf my neighbor Tom’s rose of Sharon. I raked up leaves—futilely—from the parkway maple that suddenly took ill. And I got caught up on some reading, including one of my favorite Chronicle features, SoundOff.
Do you read SoundOff? I do. It’s a forum where anyone from anywhere can call in and—anonymously—speak his or her mind about anything. Amid the last week’s collection of opinions on national and local politics, and the great Batavia chicken controversy, a couple of items caught my eye.
One was the caller who sounded off about coyotes on south 7th Ave. The person noted that “the coyotes are showing up again.” Perhaps more important, he or she added that the sighting occurred “just when I thought they were all gone.”
I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t comment on this one. It seems a lot of people have the perception that coyotes are not permanent residents here, that they sporadically pop up—like a gang of thugs or relatives who drop in unannounced—cause a little trouble, and then either move along on their own or are ushered away.
But the fact of the matter is, whether we see them or not, coyotes are everywhere.
Twice over the last year and a half or so, Kane County Audubon has had coyote expert Chris Anchor come and speak. Chris, a wildlife biologist with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, is one of several scientists participating in a long-term study called The Cook County Coyote Project. In his presentations, he repeatedly states that coyotes are an undeniable part of the landscape, not just in Cook County, but throughout the Chicago region.
One slide he shows is a map of the study area, which is centered around Busse Woods in Elk Grove. The map is then overlaid with what looks like thousands of dots—each a location where a radio-collared coyote was detected as it moved through its range. Any areas that do not have dots, Chris says, might look like they’re coyote free. But then he explains that, instead, they are places where coyotes are living free of radio collars.
So, getting back to the SoundOff caller, yes, the coyotes are showing up. And they will again and again, because all indications are that they are here to stay. (If you’d like to read more about the decade-long Coyote Project, check out their web site, www.urbancoyoteresearch.com. The findings are fascinating and, the researchers note, quite the opposite of what they thought they’d find.)
The other SoundOff that got me thinking was the caller who said that motorcycles need to be loud so that people will take notice and see them. That topic always has been, and will continue to be, controversial, and I have no desire to get involved in a lengthy debate. (Although, as a person who rides a motorcycle, I know I need to drive as though I’m invisible. I do. It works. And my bike, by the way, is about as loud as a sewing machine.)
Anyway, the caller went on to say that “loudness belongs outside.” Reading that, I knew I had to comment again.
Noise pollution, like light pollution, is one of the great banes of our outdoor spaces. How many times have you been blasted from a peaceful reverie by the roar of a jet engine, or a Harley Dyna Sport with Screaming Eagle slip-ons?
Motorcycles aside, when was the last time you enjoyed a truly quiet outdoor moment? One that was free of all our usual noises–traffic, airplanes, air conditioners? Here in the TriCities, even nestled deep in one of our great natural areas, true quiet is hard to come by.
But it’s worth seeking out. Quietness—not silence, but rather a lack of man-made noise—lets you hear the sounds that otherwise get drowned out. The clicks and whirrs of orthopterans—our cricket and grasshopper friends—on the ground. The songs of birds in the trees. The soft rustling sound of leaves being dragged into the ground by nightcrawlers. (Okay, I know that last one is a stretch but, really, worm-listening is a great way to spend a quiet summer evening.)
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I’ll wrap up by saying that I really don’t think loudness belongs outside. The outside has plenty of sound already, if we’d just take the time to listen.
Okay, it’s back to vacation for me. I’m heading back outside now to clean up the yard some more. Quietly.
Pam Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services for the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at potto@stcparks.org or 630-513-4346.