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Starlight Creek Chronicles
Myself, the Nighthawk, and
William Henry Hudson
By William D. Trego
W
illiam Henry Hudson (1841-1922) was an Anglo-Argentine writer and naturalist
who, despite nagging health issues, wrote twenty-four books (depending on how
you count), and lived to 81 years. I9ve read most of his books over the years, excluding
his handful of novels, and quite honestly, in reading Hudson, my life and my outlook on
things have been enhanced and uplifted beyond description. He wrote primarily on the
natural world and particularly its varied bird life. But for me, he wrote observantly and
lyrically on the seemingly endless hills and downlands of southern England 3 a landscape
that was home to him. He might be considered an ornithologist by some, though not formally trained, but he would say simply that he was a field naturalist. He had profound
and penetrative observations on the human condition as well, and was particularly fond
of the quirky and earnest rural characters one finds all through the countryside.
The natural world is a world that I inhabit. I am a student. A student of agriculture,
and yes, a student of the natural world. My life centers around my animals, crops and
fields - I am out in it every day. In season, I am in my hayfields. Our goal here is to produce
the cleanest, richest and most nutritious haylage for our animals. They deserve no less.
The battle is with the weed population. We seem to have every weed here known to modern man. We have a broad, healthy population of thistle (5 types), various types of milkweed, horse nettle, Queen Anne9s lace (toxic to horses) along with the ground ivies,
cocklebur, poison ivy, and the infernal multi-flora rose. Our bird population along with
the eternal wind, keeps of all of these weeds seeded, germinated and propagated, and
just humming along. So, there is no real rest for the weary.
Our bird population is quite healthy. Goldfinches and bluebirds and other songbirds
uplift everyone9s spirits when they arrive, of course, but most remark on the large showy
birds. These include eagles, the full range of hawks, owls, herons and the pileated woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in North America, the size of a large crow. But these are
the Broadway stars, the big birds, the birds everyone wants to hear about. They speak of
boldness and excess 3 slashes of color, sound and form which remind us of nature9s dar10
Summer 2024
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