Thou Shalt Honor Local Nature Preserves!

I visited the McKinney Preserve in Westbrook over the weekend. It is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. I noticed that there wasn't a single person visiting the property while I was there. It made for a peaceful morning of birding but it's a shame that places like this aren't visited more often by birders. If dogs were allowed here I can almost guarantee dog owners would be walking their dogs here.

There are some trails leading through open shrubby areas, deciduous trees, and then down to a saltwater marsh. There is a lot of development along the shoreline in Connecticut so protecting saltwater marshes is a high priority.

Just because a location is has a fancy title like National Wildlife Refuge does not guarantee that it's going to be loaded with birds but I had a fairly productive morning of birding. Some of my highlights included seeing Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, Red-breasted Merganser (above), nesting Osprey, a Little Blue Heron, and a mix of woodland birds.

I took a seat for a while and was able to watch the merganser dunking and diving for food from a fairly close distance.

On a more local scale I also visited the Krueger Farm preserve in East Haddam. There's a couple of Louisiana Waterthrush singing down there somewhere. Can you see them by the rock behind the tree? I can still here them singing now! 

I imagine that there are people put time in effort into trying to find opportunities for to be purchased or protected from development and it occurred to me that birders can help bring attention to these special properties which might otherwise go mostly unnoticed.

• Use the power of google to find land trusts and nature preserves in your area.
• Take note of the natural features of the property that inspired someone to protect it from development.
• Enter your bird sightings for that area on e-bird and attach a picture if you have one. I've noticed some land trust websites will link bird lists with photos to some of their properties.
• remember not to wander off the property onto private land because many of these places border private property.

 Remember: Ask not what your nature preserve can do for you, ask what you can do for your local nature preserves! Take a break from birding hotpots and chasing rare bird and put your birding skills to work!