Getting into the habitat
By Dale Goodner | 2nd April 2008
It isn’t exactly the first thing I would have expected from an old acquaintance, having not seen him for some 20 years: “I’m up to 62 so far!” He was decked out in binoculars and spotting scope and was searching for birds along the Lake Michigan shore. He was referring not to the quantity, but to the variety of birds he’d managed to locate that day. Not bad for winter.
Funny how bird watching can take on a competitive edge. Maybe it’s the thrill of the hunt, or just a sense of adventure. You never quite know what you might find and it’s always interesting. After all, it takes a pretty keen eye and/or ear to locate many lesser known varieties of birds, not to mention knowledge of their habits and haunts. And each year it seems to get more challenging as many bird populations decline.
On March 2nd I was surprised to see tree swallows amid snow and ice. These diminutive blue and white insect eaters were swooping over a small patch of open water at Spring Lake. Through the scope I couldn’t see any insects, but they acted as if they were feeding, and were doing fine (not starving). Having spent mid winter anywhere from the Gulf coast to Honduras, they are the first swallows to return in spring. Well, almost spring. One trick they have up their sleeves (over other species of insect eaters) for defying the cold is their ability… or willingness to eat small fruits and seeds.
On that same day I saw my first vultures for 2008. They were circling over wooded slopes along the Illinois River, having spent the colder darker winter months to the south. They were no doubt anticipating unfrozen meat on the March menu.
Actually I started looking for migratory birds in February. There was a lot of ice in Peoria, so we visited Lock and Dam 18 just to the north of Burlington, Iowa. There is a handy place, on the Illinois side, from which to observe birds attracted by the open water of the Mississippi near the dam spillways. There were at least a hundred white pelicans, their incredible nine foot wingspans flashing white against a bright blue sky. But also at least 400 bald eagles, sat in trees, flew overhead, or stood out on the ice. I’d never seen anything like this and was amazed. A lady standing nearby said, “this is nothing. You should have been here two weeks ago.” Well, I told her it was certainly something to me. But she informed me that two weeks previous, they had recorded a thousand eagles at this very lock and dam. Eagles winter here now in numbers that represent an amazing contrast to a couple decades ago when their population was almost wiped out by DDT. The pelicans, I assumed were pushing the envelope for spring migration.
My son, Chris, joined me on the second weekend in March when there was newly open water. At Spring Lake and Chatauqua we found hooded mergansers (one of my favorites) and also red breasted merganser. Ring necked ducks had arrived with the colorful shovelers and green winged teal. But snow geese really stole the show. There were tens of thousands of them. At Lake Chatauqua they floated in a large raft, calling and taking flight en masse only to settle back down on the lake. Chris got some great photos right through the spotting scope. He managed to get hooded merganser with their reflections in placid water. Beautiful.
But this is just the tip of the migratory iceberg. As April morphs into May a steady stream of birds passes through Central Illinois, following the ancient flyway of the Illinois River. A congregating contingent of active and colorful critters, the warblers are favorites among birders, particularly in spring when they are singing. Their bright colors make them the butterflies of the bird world. Dozens of varieties grace our landscape. Their songs reverberate among forests, meadows, and wetlands as they have for many thousands of years.
The last of the migrating warblers will be gone by late May, but many resident species are already here for the summer. The best way I know of to learn about these birds is to carry binoculars along on a hike. Listen for bird song, then hunt for the source. Like any song, the more you hear it and pay attention, the more you learn it, and soon, as in any music group, you will be able to immediately recognize the bird by the song. Birds generally tell you exactly who they are, just not in English.
It wouldn’t hurt to invest in a field guide. The more you look for birds, the better the odds for confusion as you discover vireos, thrushes, kinglets, and flycatchers, to name a few. A glance at the range maps can let you know whether you might be guessing wrong.
Unfortunately it’s just not quite as confusing as it used to be. In the 1970’s, on Forest Park Nature Center’s “Early Worm Bird Walks,” led by the incomparable Naturalists, Bob and Sybil Prager, it was very difficult to single out an interesting song among the cacophony of bird song on many an early spring morning. This made it challenging, either to ask what it was, or to point it out to someone. It is disheartening today to walk in the early morning spring woods and hear silence. Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring” comes to mind.
Like the eagles, some bird species have made a good recovery and their numbers are stable. But most are unfortunately in a downward slide, disappearing because of such persistent problems as habitat loss caused by urban sprawl, intensive farming, and global warming. Just a couple examples from the National Audubon Society (Audubon.org) illustrate the problem: Northern Bobwhite quail have declined by 82 percent; northern pintail ducks are down by 77 percent; Eastern meadowlarks are down by 72 percent; and Common grackles aren’t so common anymore, having declined by 61 percent.
Today most of us are completely unaware of this trend. We haven’t been tuned in to the varied voices of our own landscape, and therefore don’t notice the silence. This is not without risk. Birds are a bellwether of environmental quality that impacts all of us critters. When “undeveloped” land becomes “developed” it is really just the reverse. Pristine natural areas are very highly developed, supporting many thousands of species. How easily we can sacrifice habitats destroying their magical mosaic of life in order to build yet another road or parking lot… which leads to more dismantling of open space.
Wendell Berry, poet and farmer, decries our global economy as a producer of money, not of goods. According to Berry, the world’s goods, such as topsoil and forests, must decline so money may increase (for the benefit of a decreasing number of increasingly wealthy corporations). “The present is ever diminished by this buying and selling of shares in the future that are rightfully owned by the unborn.” This is a result of would-be Midases who want to turn all things into gold: plants and animals, trees, water, soil, air… even the future.
The most important thing we can do is engage and inspire our children to appreciate and understand the world around them. Turn off the TV, the computer, the cell phone… and go outside. Peoria is fortunate to have places like Forest Park Nature Center with miles of trails through forest and prairie. The Illinois River provides a corridor, not just of migration, but of discovery. Explore Spring Lake, Chatauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Emiquon (at Dickson Mounds), and Banner Marsh.
This is a remarkable area with potential to inspire us to know and value the life that shares this planet with us. If and when I see you out there I hope you can say, “I’m up to a dozen.” Don’t worry about hitting 62. Just enjoy the critters.