Are you a species-ist?

The back planter in our yard has around fifty mature trees and bushes. Seven monstrous blue spruces managed to distress all the plants underneath them. Earlier in the month, after all the snow melted from the winter, my wife caught me staring out the back window with my hands on my hips. She had a honey-do list in her hand, but put it away when she realized I had a big project on my plate. She wasn't surprised to see me walking across the yard five minutes later with a wagon full of yard implements in tow.

It took me the better part of two Saturdays to fill the trailer with branches four times and to develop an allergy to pine sap. I didn't actually knock any trees down, I just lopped any branch I couldn't kneel under. My kids loved it. The boys were thrilled to have a new "fort" under the west trees, and my daughter was excited to have a shaded picnic area on the east side. I found a ball we lost before my six-year-old was born. I should prune more often.

Since I live on a corner, I get to chat with people out on walks. Three different strolling neighbors accused me of destroying the "Quail Habitat".

Now, just for the record, quail visit my feeders but don't nest in my yard, even when it's overgrown. We have six bird-seed feeders, five hummingbird feeders, and a squirrel feeder. I invite many species into my yard. If anything, I was destroying "Spider Habitat" under those trees. Where are the angry mobs and picketers when spiders are losing their homes? Don't they have feelings too? Where is the outrage for arachnids when an evil person cleans up his yard?

Why are people more connected to animals that are furry and fluffy? Are we all species-ists? Do we favor some species over others? Or do we dislike what we are afraid of or don't understand?

Being accused of destroying the quail habitat got me thinking about what species I don't actually want in my yard. I can do without mosquitoes. I don't let them live on purpose. And I don't have a mountain lion feeder in my yard either. I'd rather eat chicken than snake. Well, I guess I am a species-ist. Are you?