appeal to the birds and become far
less productive for bird watchers.
The most extreme examples include
the typical suburban lawn or golf
course, where few bird species are
seen. Instead the good birds are
moving about inconspicuously in
a brush pile, an unmowed weedy
area, a nearly impenetrable thicket,
or even a local garbage dump or
parking lot. Raptors in particular
may be sitting on a building cornice
in an intensely urban area, or settled
on a lamppost near a park playing field. Chimney swifts come to
some pretty unattractive locations
that just happen to offer the right
nesting option. Among shorebirds,
the least picky are probably killdeer; one acquaintance had them
nesting in her driveway, making
use of the car a challenge, and they
have often nested on flat rooftops
in our area as well.
Of course, not all unattractive
locations appeal to birds. But we
shouldn’t rule out places because
they are not beautiful—at least not
until they have been checked and
found wanting.
Just the other day I was introduced to a truly huge place of this
type—a dump on Cape Cod where
a range of materials are sorted and
stored. This area covers about five
acres and includes enormous heaps
of tree stumps and sawn wood,
large piles of dirt matted with
plant debris, equally large piles of
sifted dirt, a giant sand pit, and several sections of assorted masonry.
Heavy machinery stands ready
to move and pile up new materials as they arrive, and in our short
visit four dump trucks made their
appearance.
Recently reported birds from this
unappetizing area include western
kingbird, blue grosbeak, bobwhite,
yellow-breasted chat, lark and vesper sparrows, and dickcissel—all
birds of considerable interest in our
part of the world. I did not see anything exceptional in my sole visit
thus far, but I did find bluebirds
sitting on the dirt heaps, many out-of-season palm warblers climbing
around on the cables of a massive
cell-phone tower (where they were
ignored by a perched red-tailed
hawk), and an assortment of sparrows. I am optimistic about this
site and will certainly include it in
my list of places to visit regularly.
Of course, most bird watchers prefer to enjoy their birds in a
quiet and beautiful setting. But we
all recognize that these pastoral
places are getting fewer and farther between. Let’s at least take
the good with the bad, and be sure
to explore the unattractive locations as well. They may surprise
us with the range of birds they are
hosting! a
Alice B. Morgan lives and birds
in Massachusetts, and also goes
birding in Rhode Island. She came
late into birding, so she’s determined to make up for lots of missed
opportunities.
