My ears perk up these mornings as the little brown dogs and I hike along the Ompompanoosuc River, for now is the season of surprises when the birds, species by species, arrive from the south saying, “Hey, we’re back. Gonna sing a song, find a female, have some chicks.” That’s when I forgo responsibilities around the house and become a bird listener.

During the long winter, the chickadee chorus kept us company. Nothing very decorative, just some chickadee-dee-dees to let us know they were there, and that it was time to add more sunflower seeds. As winter grew tired, the robins and cardinals took the stage, flashing their oranges and reds. But their plaintive songs were soon outdone by the arrival of the song sparrows, who, from every bush and bramble, sang their springboard tunes.

But wait, a few weeks into the song sparrows’ operetta came the tufted titmice interjecting their harsh scoldings of teacher-teacher-teacher. But not for long, for the phoebes soon arrived with their smoker’s song of Phoebe-phoebe. Fear not, for the endless phoebes are soon to be out sung by those colorful little warbling boys, the yellow throats, the black-and-whites, the blackburnians and American redstarts, the yellows and yellow-rumps. When house wren arrives, it is wren song, morning through evening as the little polygamist sings from every box in the yard. Flute-playing bobolinks arrive at the hayfields, and the red-eyed vireos arrive last preaching to us until summer says, “I’m done. Time for y’all to go back south.”

I do believe each bird finds a time and place to sing that is just theirs. A resource partitioning that takes place in nature, so species don’t waste unnecessary energy competing. Nature cooperates for the success of all because in the long run, the success of one species helps the other succeed. A beautiful example of this is how five species of birds might feed in the same tree, but at different locations, searching for different insects found in those specific parts of the tree. The tree is healthy because the insects are all kept under control.

What does resource partitioning look like in humans? Maybe, that is when someone who has enjoyed good luck and worked hard finds themselves very comfortable and decides to share that wealth with those who are struggling. Eventually, those who were struggling become strong enough to help others. The cycle continues.

After the publication of Darwin’s, “On the Origin of Species and the Descent of Man,” people began to believe that only the fittest would survive in a world with expanding populations and limited resources. This philosophy led to many shameful practices, such as eugenics. Later scientists came to realize that species thrived through cooperation. Evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis was scorned when she proposed that cells have absorbed other organisms and formed new symbiotic partnerships. Yet, now we know, we are all a garden of biodiversity.

We are living in frightening times, when resource partitioning and empathy for others have become old fashioned and out of step with the Art of the Deal. Survival of the fittest or the meanest is the law now. Do what you can get away with to benefit only yourself.

Yet, If we do not figure out how to dethrone these would-be kings, I see a future where only sparrows and cockroaches and house cats and beef cattle survive — where wealthy white men populate the earth with their clones from voiceless blonde women.

A friend recently said that he had been out marching every week, and it did not seem to be doing anything. He wondered if it was time to become violent. I advised, no. I wondered about the agents we see in tactical gear who are rounding up innocent graduate students and laborers to be deported or worse, sent off to El Salvadoran prisons to be disappeared. Were they once good men who turned bad following orders, or were they always bad people who used to be bound by different sets of rules and are now free to be bullies? Do they believe in their mission, or are they just following commands? Didn’t we learn from the Nuremberg trials that that defense does not work?

How do we get back to resource partitioning in the big tree of life? Maybe if we watched more birds, we might find a clue.

Micki Colbeck is a naturalist and writer who chairs the Strafford Conservation Commission. Write to her at mjcolbeck@gmail.com.