I haven't seen any in my small yard yet, but the post office was abuzz over two recent sightings when I bought some stamps a few weeks ago. The woman just ahead of me was still enraptured over an early morning visit in her backyard by a pair of does who were soon joined by a third. Joe, the post office clerk, told her about a big buck spotted last week on Narberth's busy main street.
Deer in Philadelphia's suburban communities are pretty common these days but still rare in the more heavily populated towns. Two frantic young bucks on a wild rampage through an Upper Darby playground even made prime-time news a couple of years ago. The never-ending debate over deer population control heats up every year around hunting season, but whatever approach is taken the deer continue to thrive and get a little more comfortable around people.
Just on the other side of the major highway that divides the heart of Narberth from the more luxurious Main Line estates, the deer are regular visitors. But in the dozen or more years I've lived in this community I'd never seen nor heard of deer strolling about town. With our bustling main street, closely spaced homes and apartments, and small yards, there's not much to lure them across the dangerous highway.
Peter Smallwood, a University of Richmond ecologist, described what he called "behavioral evolution" in a New York Times article on suburban wildlife some time ago. As animals that once avoided humans become more comfortable around our developments, they undergo a kind of cultural change, according the Smallwood. There's plenty of evidence to support this theory. Peregrine falcons were once close to extinction but are now adapting to skyscrapers and bridges in cities like New York, feeding on the thriving urban pigeon population. More surprising is the astonishing comeback of "urbanized" coyotes. These shy loners are moving into suburban communities and even big city parks where, according to wildlife ecologist William Weber, they are not only changing their natural diet to incorporate domestic cats but starting to form hunting packs similar to wolves.
Throughout the northeastern United States, bear populations are also growing and moving in closer to human communities, attracted by unlimited and easy to access food supplies, and moose are migrating south into more populated areas of Connecticut, New York, and even New Jersey.
All this is good news. Many species of wildlife are far more adaptable than we had feared. Many are making a comeback and adjusting very well to changing circumstances. And it's an extraordinary opportunity for a high-rise dweller in the concrete jungle to see a peregrine falcon gliding by his window or a coyote strolling through the park.
But it's bad news, too. Bears frequenting human communities can be dangerous. Coyotes may present little danger to humans, but they can wreak havoc on cats who consider free access to the great outdoors their natural birthright. Deer can cause traffic accidents, and their growing numbers has also encouraged a thriving cougar population in some well-developed suburban areas. For the most part, the wildlife adjust to us better than we do to them. But if this tentative peaceful coexistence with our returning wild neighbors fails, it's the native wildlife who will likely pay the price.
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