A New Pinnacle - Migratory Birds

Male hooded warbler - Photo by Christina Evans

The end goal of my new landscape has always been to provide habitat for the greatest diversity of wildlife possible. The butterflies, bees and other pollinators have become fairly well established here over the past 2 years. When I first began planting this new landscape there was virtually nothing here. No bees, no butterflies, and just a few of the birds that would occur nearly everywhere - the so-called urban species like grackles and cardinals and they did not nest here.  My new landscape was a virtual desert for the living world. I was starting from scratch. It was to be expected. The area around me was one too.  Yards of nothing but well-manicured turf grass and pruned shrubs and trees not native to Florida and that supported nothing with food or shelter.

Over the past 2 years, I have watched for signs that I was succeeding with the birds. That would come from the appearance of migratory birds. After all, I live near the west coast and migratory birds arrive in the spring over the Gulf of Mexico and leave that way in fall for their winter homes. In my former landscape, I documented nearly 30 species of migratory warblers in each migration period as well as nearly every other migratory songbird that passes through my state. I spent hours each season bird watching in my backyard and it brought me a lot of pleasure. That has not been the case here. There is really no reason to expect it. The birds still migrate through my region of Florida. My friends still document them in their yards and in the natural areas near me. There just has been no reason for them to stop here. There is no habitat to support their migratory needs. Two days ago, that changed. I was visited by 2 female American redstarts, a prairie warbler and 2 palm warblers.

In a way, I have reached a new pinnacle of success. It is a small beginning, but it gives me hope that what I am doing is making a difference. I have not seen one of these migratory birds since so I have a long way to go to reach the point I achieved in my former home, but a start is still a start. My little developing deciduous woodland is still very immature. It will be years until it reaches the maturity it needs to provide a maximum level of support that these birds need, but I now have tangible proof that it may do so. Woodland landscapes for birds take time and planning.  I have done the planning, now I just need the time.

As this is a rental property, I do not know how much time I will have here. I may move someday or I may lose my lease. I have no control over those things, really, but I have control over what I do now. We are optimists when we plant trees and shrubs. It is a characteristic that is not always applied to me by my closest friends, but I know that at least part of me believes in the future and the impact we can have on the natural world. We give back to the rest of the world by planting for them. We choose plants for their ability to support life, not because they add to our property value or because they simply provide beauty. Beauty is important, but to me beautiful plants are the ones that bring life to a landscape.

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