Living With Nature in Oaxaca
Visitors to our home include insects, reptiles, amphibians, avians, and more.
One of the first unexpected visitors in our home was a Berylline Hummingbird.
Well, not entirely unexpected. When we first started talking with Penny and Victor about buying the house they mentioned “hummingbirds like to use the house as a flight path” and if we left the balcony doors open they would literally fly through our home. It yet another aspect of living here that felt utterly magical, and we excitedly threw this nugget into conversation when discussing the house and environs with our friends.
What we didn’t realize is that if you leave just one balcony door open the hummingbirds still come in, but end up slamming into the other, closed door. That’s what happened with the beautiful visitor pictured above, who thankfully was not injured and flew off only a minute or two later.
This was just the start though. Any building with reflective glass windows is at risk of bird strikes, as birds can’t differentiate the reflection of the sky from the actual open air. Soon we found a dead Inca Dove (not pictured for sensitivity reasons). A Nashville Warbler colided with the office and thankfully recovered, if perhaps grumpily (my former boss Tess said to me “why does that bird look so angry?" after I sent her the photo). Another hummingbird got stuck in the office and had to be removed from the eaves with a long pole. Weeks later a Western Tanager colided (literally!) with Antonio and sadly died some 15 minutes after. Daily our house is circled by hawks, and both native and migratory birds flit from tree to tree.
The bird encounters were just the start. Oaxaca is famed for its biodiversity and offers a stunning array of biomes. The central valley, where most people in the state live, is essentially high desert with abundant succulents, cactuses, bushes, scrub brush, and palm trees. There are also pockets of green, like where we live. But go even higher into the Sierra Norte mountains and it’s high altitude pine forests. There are mountainside cloud forests in the Sierra Madres. There’s true tropical rainforest near the city of Tuxtepec. The coast, which lies on the Pacific and is most famous for the laidback surfing community Puerto Escondido, is California-like.
We knew full well that Oaxaca is absolutely stuffed with life, but knowing something and experiencing something are two very different things.
As is common across the world we have roaches here, the large kind that are gross and awful to encounter but which are more of a nuisance than a problem because they visit individually rather than infest. But we also see insects which, to a New Yorker at least, feel more exotic. For a week or two we encountered Bumblebee Millipedes, which are completely harmless and cool and smooth to the touch, but also alarmingly large. Praying mantises are common, as are June beetles, leaf bugs, wood louses, stick insects, and scorpions.
Ants of all kinds—called hormigas—appear everywhere, emerging from walls and ceilings, exploring countertops, cutting up leaves, surfacing out of the ground after it rains. Geckos live in the ceiling of the office, chirping at night and helping to control the insect hordes. Butterflies and moths of all types fly through the air, day and night. Crescent-Eyed spiders hunt at night and are alarming to witness but one of our best friends in terms of insect control. Black Widows hide in dark, unfrequented corners, dangerous only if you startle them by sticking your hand into a dark place without first checking. Absolutely gorgeous Tropical Orbweavers set up shop in tree branches (my favorite so far has a little smiley face on its abdomen). Only once—thank god—have we seen a Giant Centipede, a scaly and demonic presence with a vicious pincer on its butt which I’ve read causes no real harm, just atrocious pain.
Yesterday a tree frog found its way into the kitchen to munch on ants attracted to some poison I put down.
We have bees and wasps, termites and grasshoppers. Worms and caterpillars. They are mostly outside, sometimes inside. Occasionally unwelcome, but most often either neutral or desirable. Few require intervention (just the roaches, ants, termites, and wasps). It is a daily reminder that, whether the creatures around us are invited or not, we do not live here alone.
I love the sight of all these colourful creatures... one cannot help but feel alive in the midst of so much life.