Birding your patch is a wonderful way to become intimate with the Earth, to learn what birds to expect and when to expect them, and perhaps even to make a contribution to conservation or science. Really getting to know a patch also greatly increases the chances that you’ll notice unexpected or unusual birds that you’ll be excited to share with your friends or even report on your local “rare bird alert” hotline.
My patch
There are several spots in southern Maine that I visit and/or survey regularly. But my “patch” is Hinckley Park, a semi-urban park a few blocks from my home in South Portland, ME (at 23,000 people we’re Maine’s fourth-largest city) that’s essentially a glorified power line cut. Hinckley Park has maybe 3 miles of trails altogether on its 40 acres, and is very popular with dog-walkers, of which I am one. The area also sports an urban streambed and two human-made ponds with some motley fish in them. One pond is slightly uphill from the other, with a a steep-sided little mini-gorge in between. The park also hosts South Portland’s community garden.
This is far from a pristine environment but, in a largely developed matrix of waterfront industry and house lots, it’s an oasis for migrating birds in spring and fall, and also provides acceptable breeding and wintering habitat for some birds of the forest edge. In fact, Hinckley Park is very popular with local birders in spring, who come looking for migrant warblers, orioles, sparrows, swallows and other so-called “passerines” or “perching birds.” And because it’s a good spot for migrants it’s also a good spot, at times, for migrating raptors interested in a moveable feathered feast.
Patch-ticks
British twitchers call the good birds they find on their patches “patch-ticks.” Fun patch-ticks for me at Hinckley Park include Worm-eating Warbler, Canada Warbler, a “fallout” of hundreds of warblers and vireos (including several Philadelphias and a Yellow-throated) one drizzly May morning, Wood Duck, Common Merganser, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey, Merlin, Barred Owl, Solitary Sandpiper, Scarlet Tanager, White-crowned Sparrow, White-eyed Vireo (a great bird for Maine), and many others. Recently I even saw a beaver there, resting on the ice of the upper pond.
The joy of patch birding
There’s something deeply stirring about getting to know a patch of ground so well that you feel like if a stone on the path has been moved you’d spot it. It’s like you and your patch become connected: you a part of it and it a part of you.
Because the backdrop is familiar you notice subtle changes, like which trees leaf out first, or where Black-throated Blue Warblers like to hang out on sunny-but-chilly May mornings, waiting for the first stirrings of insects over the creek. You learn that Tree Swallows arrive before Double-crested Cormorants, but not by much. Without much conscious effort, perhaps, patterns of life are internalized -- and new things show up constantly!
I post sightings of rarities to our local Rare Bird Alert from time to time, but somehow I enjoy it more when the sighting happens on my patch. And since I visit the area perhaps 100 times a year (though often for just 20 minutes or so) it’s often the case that I’m the birder on the scene when a good bird shows itself there. Like most birders, when I find a good bird it’s not because I’m looking for it but because I’m looking, period. I know what’s expected and what’s not expected, sure. But fundamentally I just showed up. I wasn’t on the Barco-lounger watching TV.
Patch listing
I guess you could say that “showing up” frequently and consistently over time is what patch birding is all about. What you do with the time you’re there is up to you. Many patch birders like to keep records about their patch: what birds they saw, the dates they saw them, arrival dates for common species each year, what species were seen carrying food or nest material, information about weather conditions in relation to bird sightings, etc.
By keeping records, you can spot trends and changes that you might miss, or not be sure of, otherwise. Some statistics might just be for fun. Like, maybe you saw 116 species of birds on your patch in 2007 but only 102 in 2006. Maybe you noticed a singing male Indigo Bunting on your patch for the first time on April 20 for four years in a row. Or, you might document the gradual decline and disappearance of Whip-poor-wills from your patch, as many New England birders have in recent years. You might even spot a change worth mentioning to your local land trust, town conservation commission, or state/provincial environmental authorities.
An invitation
However you approach it, birding a patch can add a dimension of depth, fulfillment and fun to your birding. If you’re already birding a patch, why not share with follow Eons birders where it is, what it’s like for birding and how you feel about it? If not, I’m sure there’s a spot near you that would benefit from the stewardship and appreciation of a “patch connection.”
Peace and good birding,
Scott Cronenweth
Eons birding mentor
www.naturalpathwalks.com
