You Can Learn To Love Bugs, Too!

Growing up, my grandparents had a farmhouse on 10 acres, and I would stay with them often. There, I had freedom to explore the life of some animals, and roam the fields and gardens. I would spend my time playing with the goats and rabbits, or waiting for the toads to come out and catch bugs under the garage light, or sitting in the coop with the chickens and pheasants. That is when I fell in love with baby birds perching on my hands. Perhaps that sounds strange, but there is this immense nurturing, yet deep witnessing that takes over me when I get the privilege to hold a bird, and it’s some of those tiniest moments of my life that I will forever cherish, that have shaped my compassion and formulated my outlook: it’s the minute appreciation for life that really is all that matters.

My brother and I used to joke about becoming falconers and having pet red-tailed hawks. We didn’t have any capacity for that to come to fruition, (thankfully) but it was fun to fantasize about! I went on to later raise several baby robins, and two baby ducks, and became fascinated with birdwatching. Although I am not claiming to be a devoted “birder”, I will spend hours just watching the birds that come into my yard, or will pause my hikes in the woods and to try and witness what the avian creatures are really doing amongst us! Birds are definitely a major love of mine, and I certainly daydream about my future self having a murder of crows (aka a flock) that willingly spend their mornings chatting with me while I sit out to drink my coffee. 

Birds are such incredible, generous, majestic beings, and we are so lucky to have them existing alongside us. 

But do you know what makes that even possible?! 

It’s bugs!! 

(Please excuse my improper terminology - but the word “bugs” is universally what people think and fear, and that is what I am aiming to dismantle, and we can figure out the technical verbiage later on…)

Yes, most birds, at least in some phase of their life, or some season of the year, depend on the abundance of insects in order to not only survive, but to also partake in the continuum. We wouldn’t have birds, or other little animals, or even most plants (including the thousands of flowers that delight our eyes (+) year after year) if it wasn’t for the millions of little creatures that many of us simply detest… And without birds, there would be no place for humans, because there would be too many bugs! 

Did you know that there are roughly 9,000 species of birds, compared to 9 million species of insects - insects alone! There are also tons of arthropods, arachnids, and other types of ‘creepy’ crawlies that exist!! This statistic has blown my mind, and I am now a newfound bug enthusiast! 

Like many people, my default used to be being fearful of bugs - paranoid that a spider would get in my bed (or in my mouth when I sleep), or that earwigs would come over and pinch me and try to crawl in my ear. And even as a vegan, I barely allowed myself to feel bad about killing mosquitoes. (For some reason, the vegetarian mindset doesn’t acknowledge bug feelings like they do other animals.) Our civilized culture seems to condition us to believe that bugs are ‘out to get us’ for some reason, and we innately want them away from us, out of sight, maybe even preferably dead. 

My progression to loving bugs has taken many years. The fear became reduced when I was a window cleaner, because part of that job is getting up against houses, where bugs often tend to make their homes as well, and sometimes even literally crawling into shrubbery, in order to access the windows to clean them. So during my tenure in that job, I usually ended my days with webs or dead creatures in my hair and clothes, but never once were any of the alive bugs trying to come after me! Instead, they just wanted to get away from the menace who was coming in to demolish their home! In such a routine, you eventually become desensitized to the fear of those little guys, and unbothered by their presence in your aura. 

Not to say that I love getting caught in spider webs while meandering the woods. And I still do not enjoy giant spiders on my kayak as I’m going down a river. And ticks are a disgusting problem that I am only recently (ahem, this year) becoming heavily acquainted with. 

But… after my window washing time, my next endeavor was into the plant world, and since then, I have been graced with the presence of countless bugs happening to hop or land on me, and it truly only brings me joy and curiosity when they do! It allows me the opportunity to witness and briefly investigate so many different species up close. 

Lots of them are still in their baby stages, and it’s adorable to see miniature versions of “big” bugs. But all of them seem to have their own versions of intricacy and complexity, which always equates to immense beauty. And if you’re too busy to ever notice such beings, then you are truly missing out on a vast array of life’s magic. 

It is hard for me to describe the wonders and pleasure that bugs can bring when you are open to their world. I am constantly in awe. So many of them are so cute, or pretty. Even the rougher, scarier looking creatures are fascinating and provoke my curiosity. They all have a story - as individuals, perhaps(!)… but their life cycles are so dissimilar to us, and the more I learn about them, the more appreciation I have for the finite life that exists on this planet. 

Most bugs are egg-laid, then they hatch, and eat some type of organic matter, and then they morph - sometimes in several stages - and eventually become the adults that are then able to reproduce and lay more eggs. The battle for survival is universal amongst all Earthlings, so that is where we overlap. But besides that, we have very different biological processes, anatomies, needs, social structures, housing, creative capabilities… And all of these characteristics deserve our respect, and ideally, even our admiration. 

An absolutely fabulous resource for all things ‘bug’ is Doug Tallamy. He is a decades-long professor of entomology, and has been studying the impact of bugs in relation to (native) plants and animals for many decades, and is a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for wildlife. He claims, and I agree, that the natural world needs our human participation if we wish for the treasures of wildlife to continue on. I most certainly do! I can’t imagine my children growing up in a world without birdsong, or croaking frogs, or cricket chirps, or squirrel cackling, or flowers blooming…I would never want the outdoors to be filled with only man-made things and sounds.

There are millions of species of other creatures that just want to go about their days and participate in the web of life we all share on this planet. They likely want nothing to do with us at all!! The bugs are not our foes. Less than 1% of insects are even generally considered pests! And I just want us humans to realize that we will be better off appreciating these little creatures and helping to keep their habitats less polluted and more biologically viable. Their habitats are the literal ecosystems that we share and/or rely on. We cannot survive if they don’t. We have more information about these beings than ever before, easily available to any of us. It is time we overcome our fear and misunderstanding of them, and at the very least, have gratitude for their part in keeping the food web alive this entire time. Then we can hopefully accept just how lucky we are to have so many magnificent little life forms around us, and start to live in better harmony with them, for the benefit of generations of all of us to come!