Adaptation is the number one key to survival in nature’s long game. The ability to overcome whatever the world throws at you, utilizing what one has on hand, combined with what you are naturally gifted, is why we as humans and all life on this planet continue to exist. The natural world does not care if the tools used are man-made or not. This raises, and on one level answers, the eternal debate on man’s connection and relationship with nature: Are humans and their creations part of the natural world, or separate entities?

It is always astounding to see how fast nature “takes over” manmade things when left in permanent abandonment. “Abandonment” can be as temporary as overnight, in the case of animals seeking shelter from a brutal storm using a car in a driveway. Life and its stunning tenacity to continue is the most powerful force that exists anywhere.

A great local example on the grand scale would be our local ghost towns. The town site of Caribou stands out in my mind. One hundred twenty years ago the town was larger then, and far more populated than, the current town of Nederland. Today very little is left still in existence. More of the townsite disappears with each passing year. It has been “retaken” by the persistence of life as the last wooden structures decay and fall, being overcome by grasses and other plants. The stone foundations, without caretaking, are left to their own demise at the hands of nature’s erosive behavior. However, they still provide shelter from the elements by the occasional moose.

Another innocuous example, more commonly seen as a symbiotic relationship rather than a takeover, comes with the lovely couple in this week’s image of a pair of house sparrows. Birds of all manner find human buildings an ideal place to build their homes. They might find eaves that provide protection for a swallow’s mud nest, or a broken window to provide access to an attic in which to nest.

Human homes are only the beginning of animals using currently inhabited or abandoned structures to aid in their survival. Another common “intrusion” can be found in vehicles, both abandoned as well as in use. With a lack of home garages, it is often normal to find nests from animals of all kinds, (especially rodents), using a car for shelter, especially through the long winters. Mice are especially notorious culprits for winter nesting in cars and can wreak havoc on an electrical system and its wires if left unchecked.

In the case of the couple seen here, they chose an incredibly solid “structure” within which to build their home, in our beloved treasure, the old Bucyrus steam shovel at the Mining Museum. One morning as I was heading home, I came across the pair going to and fro, from one of the holes in the “arm” of the giant steam shovel. Knowing they are not a particularly shy species; I decided to stop and capture a few images of their activities.

Any home here in the Peak to Peak region suffers from extended periods in the brutal “W” (using the initial so as to avoid invoking its wrath). It is a good homeowner that takes the time on calmer days to work on upkeep and general maintenance throughout the long winter. Even a massive and sturdy metal structure like the Bucyrus is not immune to the elements, and it looked like they were making laps collecting nesting materials to reinforce likely wind damage to the nest tucked inside of the machine.

Were mankind to somehow disappear overnight, the birds would happily remain, and likely invite more wildlife to take over the rest of the machine. Eventually it would fall into its own decay. As it fell apart, it would potentially become a pile from which gathering dirt would form its own new hill, maybe then taking the shape of a den for a fox or coyote. Life would keep doing what it does best, continuing living.

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