Bird watching from home

I am very fortunate to have a forest across the street for a neighbor. Not that I have anything against the people kind of neighbors; it’s just nice to also have birds and other wildlife for neighbors. With my spotting scope setup in the living room, I can do some birdwatching and wildlife from my living room couch. With my birding binoculars, I can do some very serious bird watching through my kitchen window by monitoring my bird feeders. Yes, nothing quite like the convenience of birding, right from your own home.

Okay, not trying to rub it in if you are less fortunate, but the point I am trying to make is that a great deal of birding can be done, locally, right in your own neighborhood; birding does not always have to be an expedition to some distant birding hot spot. In fact, just about everyone has access to some birding within walking distance. Parks are great, of course, but there is also some great birding to be had in some less than likely and, sometimes, not so picturesque, locations, such as sewage ponds, landfills, cemeteries, vacant lots, flood control structures, around billboards, power line right of ways and so on. Birds don’t read signs and could care less how we label what they find as suitable habitats. In fact, if you check the reports of rare birds that occur in many areas, the good old sewage lagoon will often rank at the top in terms of locations. Of course, when your spouse or friends ask where you are going, I would suggest simply telling them that you are going birding. They might not understand your fascination with sewage ponds.