Small Brown Birds

It’s easy to overlook and under-appreciate unnoticed or unrecognized species that are essential to ecosystems

Many years ago I was on a day trip with a group of like-minded people out to observe raptors (hawks and falcons). The trip leader was an accomplished raptor biologist who had the candid honesty to admit he was not particularly interested in small brown birds. Anyone who has spent time observing birds, be it back yard or back woods, will likely understand what he meant.

There are many anonymous, dull-colored brownish birds that seemingly defy easy identification and lack the colorful plumage that makes some species so popular — think bluebird and cardinal, tropical species — or have the size and presence that defies anonymity. We have a few species of hawks that visit our backyard fountain occasionally, and while they may be some shade of brown, they are impressive.

The thing about small brown birds is they are essential inhabitants of ecosystems despite their seeming sameness and lack of coloration (as if brown doesn’t represent a range of colors). And browns — solids and patterns — are valuable as protection from predators. These colors — along with various blacks and whites — blend in with nature and break up the visual aspects that say “bird.” 
 
Little brown birds are a reminder of how easy it is to overlook and under-appreciate unnoticed or unrecognized species that are essential to ecosystems. Conservation organizations rarely attempt to appeal for support on the basis of these multitudes of species. Their focus is on animals that most people seem to care about…known as megafauna. Large species, from elk to elephants, are popular with the general public and appealing to those who have neither knowledge of nor interest in more obscure creatures. Their donations help promote and fund conservation efforts.

The best way to protect megafauna is by protecting their habitat, and this has the beneficial consequence of also protecting all the other species — plants, animals, birds, insects, fish — that live in these areas as well. In the U.S. the Nature Conservancy is the most well known organization dedicated to habitat conservation, although it is also active in other countries. Purchasing habitat, protecting it in trusts or having it donated for preservation creates large areas of contiguous habitat for all wildlife.

Alas, this may not be sufficient to help some, perhaps many, species as climate change alters large scale weather patterns, regional climatology and micro-climates. Plant and animal “mobility” varies considerably, and with various ecosystems and eco-niches in flux simultaneously, the long-term effects on species may depend on their finding suitable appropriate habitat and food sources, or possibly adapting to changes (the role of evolutionary biology) where they are. Generalists that do well in various habitats and are not linked to specific food sources will do best.

So the small brown birds we take for granted even while paying little to no attention to them may or may not be with us the way they used to be. Scientists are already seeing significant changes in nature that may have equally significant consequences for us as well. One critical aspect is that the predictability of seasons and weather that has existed for much of modern history will be replaced with unpredictability, and it will take decades to determine what the new normal is. Which is to say, our existing knowledge of weather and nature will no longer reliably apply, and the new patterns will be difficult to discern for a long time.

It’s arrogant and foolish to think none of this matters. Complacency or even denial is ultimately unwise when it comes to what happens to weather and the natural environments we are so utterly dependent on. While we can live out our lives without being interested in little brown birds, what happens to them is much like brightly colored canaries in coal mines. If they aren’t doing well, eventually we won’t be either. Generations trying to make a place for themselves later in this century will wonder why we didn’t care enough to do what we should have when we could.