Letters

There is no escaping that sometimes we may have to kill and cut down a tree. It may be growing too close to the foundation of our home, blocking solar panels or causing some risk. Or we may be building a house on a purchased lot.

Too often, though, we’re seeing a tragic lack of awareness or concern regarding how and when this is being done. Instead of waiting until late fall, many local contractors and homeowners are decimating groves of large trees in the spring.

Apparently, they give zero thought to the birds that have just returned and are now nesting, and whether there are eggs, nestlings or helpless fledglings present. They seem to lack any natural awareness or even curiosity regarding what species are living in the targeted trees or the impact of their drastic actions. The fact that other lifeforms are present and having their families among those branches escapes them completely.

It is even more egregious to senselessly clear an entire lot, build a house then revegetate afterward with nonnative plants. Traditionally, we only cleared the area necessary for the house, driveway and yard. We retained the natives necessary for the species living in them. We may have even found reverence and inspiration in the wild things around us.

It is truly heartbreaking to bear witness to this selfish, lazy and ignorant destruction. To decide that our species supersedes all others, so we may callously destroy other sentient beings and their homes, is a height of human arrogance.

Our wildlife rehabilitation center’s incubators fill up with the luckier nestlings. These tiny birds were fortunate to have been found and rushed to the wildlife hospital in Hampton Bays. Many will not make it. Others must now be hand-fed every 30 minutes during daylight hours to have any chance of survival.

Baby squirrels are often luckier, because, unlike birds, their mothers can often rescue their fallen young and move them to a new nest if the fall has not killed or maimed them. Yet the center raises dozens of them annually, too.

Please call the center if you realize a wild creature has been hurt, orphaned or needs to be rescued. Dedicated volunteers stand at the ready. Humans, though, can never possibly raise a young animal as well as their own parents.

Songbirds are in drastic decline worldwide. They need our help. Every single lost nest weakens future generations of our bird populations.

Please take trees down in winter or late fall, after the migrating birds have left. Check first for nesting owls that mate in winter.

Plant some trees. We need many more. Be a person who champions irreplaceable species that share our neighborhoods — not their tyrant.

Mary Ann Mulvihill-Decker

Sag Harbor