Tips: Hedgerows, all of them

I think most of us are fully aware that edge habitats and hedgerows are great places to look for birds, so this isn't some astounding revelation, it's more of a reminder.

Hedgerows are all over the place and are frequently allowed to grow up as a property boundary, look for ones where you have a big open space like corn field, mowed grass or prairie divided by a hedgerow, that will act like a funnel for where all of the birds will be. This can be right in town or in the country or in a natural area.

Some that I've found:
A couple of years ago in winter, I was giving someone rides to physical therapy and then since I had about an hour, I went birding around the hospital grounds. At a property boundary was a hedge next to a weedy grass field loaded with House Sparrows, Chickadees, Cardinals, Song Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and I even got to witness a Sharp-shinned Hawk grab a Starling.
At a forest preserve on a CBC was a large grass prairie and then a corn field with a hedge dividing them, not much in there but there were American Tree Sparrows, White-throated Sparrow, and a Field Sparrow.

A big one to remember here: if you were just going out birding or chasing, then some of those birds I mentioned really aren't that interesting, but if you're doing a Christmas Bird Count, then every single bird counts, and a hedge row filled with House Sparrows is still useful data. Plus you never know what might be mixed in with the sparrows.

Publicado el 27 de diciembre de 2021 por neylon