Lessons & Reflections from the National Butterfly Center

In addition to butterflies, the National Butterfly Center has a lot of birds. And unlike butterflies, they make a whole lot of noise. They call and sing and sometimes even fuss, constantly communicating with one another.

There are mating calls, “feed me” clicks, and agitated barks. Sometimes this is relatively casual conversation, like the “double trill” between a pair of screech owls, where the call-and-response serves as both a geo-locator and a comfort to the couple on the go. Other times, they become shrill, sounding the alarm for all who can hear.

If you’ve ever been in the Hackberry Trail or the bird-watching area when a snake appears, you know what I’m talking about. One or two birds alert everyone to danger, then the squawking and darting begin in earnest. Nobody welcomes a serpentine party crasher!

If this happens near a nest, when a snake decides to try for an egg or tender young, all the adults may join the fray, flapping and jabbing, dive-bombing and drilling; the angry mob ganging up on the hungry guest. The Green Jays and Mockingbirds can be exceptionally fierce, but Great-tailed Grackles are merciless.

Of course, there are exceptions, like the killdeer who flail and fake injury to lead a predator away from the nest. Still, they will fight AND take flight in defense of their offspring; in defense of their future.

When Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge found itself in the path of the terribly destructive border wall, birders from across the country banded together. They began calling and squawking, signaling to one another, “We must save Santa Ana!”

From my lowly vantage point, upriver from the refuge, it was an awesome thing to observe. To say I was impressed with the birders, performing their best imitations of their fine, feathered friends, would be an understatement. The birders of America launched an all-out assault on the elected officials in all fifty states to STOP the wall and spare the refuge. It was amazing and it was effective.

However, the rest of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Conservation Corridor, including valuable refuge tracts, a renowned state park and the National Butterfly Center, remain slated for destruction.

We are bracing for the bulldozers. We are flapping and darting. But the butterfliers do not have the same voice, the same collective power; so, this is our plea for help: We need you, birders, in this fight against the border wall, if we are to Save MORE than Santa Ana.