1) Freedom from photography
2) Be proud of your local birds
3) The birding benefit of public lands
1) Freedom from photography
I traveled to Kansas City this past weekend. Unfortunately, the talk that I was scheduled to give on Saturday the 9th was cancelled ten days prior due to logistical issues. As my ticket was already booked (and onto New York afterwards), I went along for 2 days of plains birding despite the cancellation. I was hosted and shepherded around by several KC birders, most notably the incredibly entertaining John Mallery. We spent the better part of both days birding a number of local hotspots, notably Shawnee Mission Park and the KPCL Wetlands on Saturday and the Baker Wetlands and Clinton Lake on Sunday. While it pained me to leave my camera behind for this short trip, it turned out to be an incredibly freeing decision. Without concerns of perfect lighting and avoiding other people, I had a very relaxed and social weekend of birding. When I'm in "photo-mode" I get so focused on getting a particular shot that I sometimes stress myself out getting it (or not getting it as so often the case). This isn't to say I'll be voluntarily shelving my camera any time in the near future, but it's nice to know I can enjoy myself without it.
Back: Jeff Witters, Me, John Mallery, Malcolm Gold
Front: Rodney and Talon Wright
What do you think Toto - Swainson's or Red-tailed?
2) Be proud of your local birds
At one point in the weekend, someone posed the following question:
"The birding here in Kansas must be pretty boring compared to Southern California, huh?"
"I don't know what the heck you're taking about?!?!? Where in California can I see American Golden-plover and Upland Sandpiper in the same field?!?
Roadside birding in outside Lawrence, Kansas
Sure, there is more bird diversity in coastal California than in land-locked Kansas; That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. But, there are certainly birds that can be seen easily in Kansas that might be very difficult or impossible to see in California. Also, the wide open and sparsely populated landscapes in Kansas are completely different than the painfully crowded sub-urban sprawl of Southern California. Birding is often as much about setting as anything else, and in that respect the farmlands were a nice change from my usual haunts. You live where you live, and sure, there might be more exciting birding elsewhere, but hey, you work with what you've got, right? Just remember, something that might seem ho-hum to you would probably really excite someone else. Hell, I was stoked to see Greater black-backed Gull in New York City on Monday! We don't have those out west! For the record, I flew onto NYC to give a lecture at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) on Tuesday night. That's how I went LA > KC > NY > LA in just four days.
Speaking for the Linnaean Society at the AMNH in NYC
3) The birding benefit of public lands
There is one aspect of birding in Kansas that is particularly frustrating: the lack of public lands. Public land is land that owned by the state and federal governments (National Forests, e.g.). Lands that aren't public are private, and that generally means they are off limits to recreation - birding included - unless one knows the landowners personally. Less than 1% of the land in Kansas is publicly held. This places Kansas 48th out of 50 states in this category; Only Iowa and Connecticut have less public land. Nevada, with over 81% of its land publicly held, might surprisingly lead the list (Here is where I got these statistics). In general, the lower the percentage of public land, the more access problems exist. This helps to explain why we spent so much time birding from farm roads this past weekend. The few reserves that did exist were tiny compared to the huge tracks of accessible lands in more western states. This is currently a very politically charged issue as some folks, notably Ted Cruz and the Malhuer Maniacs, who respectively advocate that public lands either be sold to the highest corporate bidder or simply given to those souls who desire them. Sorry to get political (I have been trying SO SO SO hard to keep politics out of this blog), but in this particular instance the agenda of the mentioned parties so directly clashes with long term interests of birds, birders, and the environment that I think it warrants mention.
Public lands indicated in green
Anyway, just some thoughts for you on this mid-Apri day. My parents attended my talk in NYC, and I even got my mom out for a few hours of Central Park birding. She like the White-throated Sparrows, newly minted in their spring finest. She's not a hardcore birder, but she does have a feeder in the backyard so she knows a few things.
Mom and me in Central Park
She'll inevitably give me crap for posting this.....
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