Que Sora, Sora

What will be, will be. This is a sentiment that I generally agree with and try to remind myself to remember, to avoid needless worry. However, the idea seems like it could also lead to inaction and passivity. Might someone who lives their life with a ‘what will be, will be’ philosophy lose their ability to influence outcomes that are important to them?

Take the Sora, for example. I realize that the title of this post may look like a typo to most people. However, I did intend to make a pun here. The Sora is a secretive marsh bird. A species that is rarely seen, and often not heard, which tends to be found in wetlands in dense vegetation. It is one of the species that I focused on as a part of my dissertation research. They are quite handsome, at least to my eye. This is what they look like:

A Sora. Photo from WikiCommons, contributed by Mike Baird.

Soras, like many other wetland birds, have lost a lot of habitat due to the draining of wetlands by humans for agricultural and other purposes. One study estimates that the world may have lost over 80% of the wetlands that had been present in 1700 due largely to human activity. This is problematic not only for species like the Sora that depend on wetlands, but also for all of us, including those who would never go to a wetland to explore and appreciate the biodiversity that exists there. Wetlands are crucial for controlling floods, cleaning water, and sequestering Carbon, among many other functions.

Like many other wetland-dependent species, there are a lot less Soras than there used to be, even if they are doing better than some other wetland birds. To me, wetlands are important, as are Soras, muskrats, crayfish, and the many other species that depend upon them.

What I would ask you to consider is, what would happen if we took a ‘what will be, will be’ attitude regarding something like wildlife conservation? We probably would have lost many more species than we already have due to human activity. Bison would likely be gone, as would California Condors, and Black-footed Ferrets, along with many other species that remain with us today.

Thankfully, so far as Soras are concerned, there are now regulations to protect wetlands in the U.S., even if those regulations are often attacked and scaled back (as has been the trend recently). Many other factors affect the fate of Soras, including how wetlands are managed. It will take curious people who think they can make a difference to help maintain the mysterious and beautiful life that we share this world with, including Soras and other secretive marsh birds.

Maybe it is true that everything is pre-determined. Que sera, sera. I really don’t know, and am sure that no one else really knows either. Regardless of whether I can do otherwise, it seems right to try to keep beautiful things like Soras from disappearing due to often-greedy motives that some may want us to think will inevitably succeed.

If this post accomplishes anything, hopefully it will remind you of a bird that maybe you hadn’t heard of the next time that someone says ‘que sera, sera.’ And if you decide that ‘what will be, will be’ is the philosophy that you will embrace, consider that maybe your path includes offering a helping hand to amazing creatures like the Sora that quietly share this amazing but fragile world with us.