An Encounter and An Invitation

Because we live close to two parks in London, (one small and one large) we often hear the strange calls, cries and barks of foxes at night, especially in the fall and spring.   But, we rarely see them.

One morning last week on my way to school I met a red fox (Vulpes vulpes).   He was trotting down the sidewalk – looking a little nervous and uncertain – but with enough confidence to have passed several buildings by the time he got to me.   I stood frozen in place while he looked quickly around and with a quick jump landed in the small cement courtyard surrounding an apartment building where I stood. He scanned his surroundings quickly and then trotted around the side of the building and jumped over a hedge and was out of sight into the back gardens behind the building.  A man was walking along the alleyway beside the building as this happened, he didn't see the fox.   He looked at me curiously as I was standing staring at a cement square that was now empty of anything save a hedge.  I looked at him and smiled and said "A fox".   He glanced towards the direction the fox had gone and nodded, smiled back and said "Fox". 

 I always feel such a jolt of surprise and joy when I see a wild creature in the city.  

I think that is one reason that I continue to keep several different kinds of animals in the science room.   In general, I have mixed feelings about having animals in elementary classrooms. It is so hard to give them a decent quality of life.  But, in our urban environment this is one of the few opportunities most children have to regularly encounter and observe animals.  When I first arrived at the school the science room already had several animals including corn snakes, a pond turtle and a tarantula.  Those are all still here (being long lived species) and have been joined by a number of animals that needed a home.  It started with a container of snail eggs that were left on my desk the first December.  Part of our first Christmas in London involved tending to new-hatched snails.   They turned out to be the large African snails and several are still resident in the science room.  Those were followed by more turtles that needed homes.  (Why do people think pet turtles are a good idea? - we humans have a hard time making a 30 year commitment to another human being - why do people think getting a long-lived reptile is a good idea?)  And, more recently some South American rodents include Degus and a Chinchilla.
I didn't go looking for any of them - all of them were animals that someone had gotten as a pet and then couldn't keep.   They make the lower school science room one of the most pleasant rooms in the school because they fill it with life.

Molly a chinchilla that needed a home.  

One of our Degus  (Octodon degus)

And, in addition to the regular residents of the science room in Grade 4 students also spend some time observing the smaller, more short-lived animals such as crayfish, crickets, mealworms/darkling beetles and locusts.  I hope by now the Grade 4 students have a better appreciation and understanding for the most numerous animals on earth - the arthropods (insects, spiders, isopods and crustaceans) and the molluscs (snails, clams, octopus and squid).

"Rosy" - the Chilean Rose Taratula (Grammostola  rosea) - just after she shed  or molted her skin

I do think it is important for children to have a chance to spend time observing and learning to respect and understand other kinds of living organisms. Each child needs an opportunity to develop their own relationship to other living things - and to develop a sense of respect for all life.  Not all animals are pets and that is a good thing.

But, back to my encounter with the fox one morning.  It reminded of why we have started the year with more time for the Grade 3 students to sit quietly and observe a small spot outside.  Even though we are a very urban campus we have nooks and crannies all around the school buildings that are full of vegetation and life.  If you sit quietly for a few moments you are sure to see some bird or squirrel or spider busily going about making it way in life.  

And that thought then reminded me of one Mary Oliver’s poems.  She has written so many wonderful poems about the natural world and a few of those have been about red foxes that she meets on occasion in her rambles.  But, that morning I was reminded of the poem by Mary Oliver that I shared with some the Grade 3 students at the beginning of school when we first started to observe our special spot in the Lower School courtyard.

Poet Mary Oliver

An Invitation
by Mary Oliver

Oh, do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note, or the lowest,

of the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude -
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something,
It could mean everything,
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

Here is a link to a recent interview that Mary Oliver had with National Public Radio "Mary Oliver is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose body of work is largely filled with imagery of the natural world — cats, opossums crossing the street, sunflowers and black oaks in the sunshine. Her most recent collection is entitled A Thousand Mornings."

Orb weaving spiders have been very abundant this year.  The Grade 3 students have been observing a couple spiders in our recent study of the courtyard area.  That gave me an idea for a short video to try out creating YouTube videos of our science projects.   So, here is a link to my freshman effort to link some observations of spiders with a related Mary Oliver poem.

   

Finally - back to foxes at last!

To hear some of the strange and wonderful calls that red foxes can make go to the Macaulay Library sound archives at the The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

And if you would like to have a few minutes of watching a red fox yourself - go to their video collection as well. 

And just for fun here is a short video from the BBC Wildlife site of urban foxes in London that have been trained to sit on command.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Red_Fox#p00tv4zd