living clock of nature -- rory came across two fawns this past week

someone rory spoke to wanted to "rescue" one of the fawns. hfs. don't just do something, stand there. so often humans want to do something when doing nothing would be more beneficial. how many acts cause unintended harm? it takes more than good intentions. a little learning may be a dangerous thing. but a complete lack of learning is even more frickin' dangerous. not that rory ain't ignorant of mucho too. rory, what the fuck are you talking about? this: Does have to leave their fawns stashed while they forage when the fawns are too new to keep up. the doe comes back to nurse the fawn and care for it. the fawn is relatively scentless at that age and by remaining still reduces its chance of predation. in some instances, its spots help to camouflage it on the sun-dappled forest floor. this subject reminds rory of the old myth of "don't handle the baby bird ... don't touch it ... because the mother will abandon it." according to roryz experience and the cornell laboratory of ornithology, that's a bunch o' hooey. i recall last spring, a fledgling starling had the misfortune to flutter down into my backyard. one of my pooches wanted to get to the bird, which was fluttering clumsily about in some ivy, which was confusing the dog and keeping him from getting the bird immediately. however, the bird was unable to escape. a parental starling was watching and calling from a nearby gutter. rory picked the young bird out of the ivy and set it atop a fence post to save it from unnatural selection by my beloved canis familiaris. off the goofy young bird went to the safe side of the fence. the parent descended. no problemo. still, i have heard and read that it is bad to put your scent on and around a nest because it cues predators to investigate, leading them to the nest.

when you think about the traditional tale of don't touch the fledgling, it doesn't really make sense. first, most birds have virtually no sense of smell. roryz beloved turkey vulture being an exception, of course. so, putting your scent on say a fledgling starling don't mean jack diddly to another starling. the aftermath of your touch is pretty frickin' much "invisible" to the bird. second, what kind of evolutionary sense would that make. animals are disturbed and have close encounters often out there ... if every bird that had some near miss with a predator were then abandoned by its mother wtf sense would that make.

no the fawns don't need rescue. rescue would do them more harm than good. maybe like the children of iraq.