I never thought this would happen to me. I’ve become – wait for it – a “birder.” Spotting birds, identifying them by their plumage, and learning their calls has never held much interest for me until this year. Back in March, I posted about all the birds we were attracting with feeders hung on the tree just outside the church office windows. It didn’t take long for me to get hooked. I started bringing my camera and long lens with me to work. Once I removed the screen from that window, my office became the perfect blind for taking close shots of cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, sparrows, titmice, and others who became regular visitors. (A sampling of those pictures are included in that post.)
Well, once I had experienced the joy of watching birds come to a feeder, I couldn’t stop there. Our recovering Onondaga Lake is surrounded by trees, wetlands, and forests that attract all sorts of fowl. In addition to the gulls, doves, ducks, and geese that park visitors can’t miss, Onondaga Lake is also home to mute swans, ospreys, herons, red-tail hawks, and (in season) bald eagles. The patch of forest near the upper end of the lake between the West End trail and the Lakeland trail is teeming with swallows, yellow warblers, goldfinches, redstarts, and orioles (and I’m sure others I haven’t seen yet). Of course, red-winged blackbirds, robins, catbirds, and swallows are everywhere, but the tree swallows with the shimmering blue feathers are especially numerous along the newest portion of the trail between the amphitheater and the fairgrounds. Along the most remote parts of the trail, out of earshot of highway traffic, you can hear dozens of birdsongs echoing in the canopy of tall trees all around you. You won’t see most of those birds, but if you are patient, you’ll catch a glimpse of vivid color streaking across the trail or hopping from limb to limb. It’s an easy way to lose all sense of time.
I’m grateful for this diversion. I’m also grateful for the rich wildlife habitat that has developed around the lake. It’s amazing that only twenty years ago, Onondaga Lake was the most polluted in the country. It stunk and was ugly to look at. It’s not as healthy as it was before Europeans began settling its shoreline in the 18th century, but no one can argue that the lake hasn’t made a remarkable comeback. A whole universe exists there of pure nature, right in the middle of an urbanized area. To stand in the middle of it, observing the trees, hearing the symphony of bird calls and the rustle of small creatures, and feeling the breeze off the water, is to be reminded of the restorative power of what God made – it is a testament both to the vitality of creation and of the forgiveness of the Creator that even after its rapacious treatment by industrialism, it can flourish again.
Nature is not merely a backdrop for our pleasure or an obstacle to our human technological designs – it is the necessary basis of any economy. When we fail to live respectfully within the environment God has given us, we risk both our human spirit and our existence. We ignore the limits of sustainability not only at nature’s peril, but also our own.
Here’s a sample of some of my birding photographs taken around Onondaga Lake.
©2017 by J. Mark Lawson
These are awesome pictures, Mark! It must have been exciting to look up and discover what new bird you captured when you got home. I must say there are a few that I have never seen. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Kathy Boyer | 06/09/2017 at 05:02 PM