Although we’ve lived in the boondocks for 20 years, we’ve just discovered some of our neighbors’ roosting places. During the day, we witness numerous coastal birds - herons, both blue and white, egrets, cranes, wood storks, ospreys - flying across our yard. Sometimes, cranes choose to walk along the bank of a tidal creek skirting our yard. Many of them scavenge the tidal creek bed at low tide.
And many birds flock to our dock and walkway to sun and rest. When large numbers gather, we say, they’re having a convention. As they fly away, one by one, we wonder if they accomplished any goal during their meet and greet session.
At night, some of the birds roost in trees in our yard and those of our neighbors. But hundreds more, several varieties of herons, roost in trees near a lake in our community. Still, we had not noticed it from the road and had to be told where to go to see this roosting sight. One evening at dusk, we drove as close as we could to this lake within the neighborhood to watch the show.
By the time we arrived, the first flock of white herons had already nestled down for the night on the lower branches of a wide expanse of trees. After they had settled into their place, a second flock flew in and took their places on the top limbs. It was as if all birds had their own nooks preassigned to them. There was no hunting or shifting places. Each flock moving in was noisy, but as the birds settled down to sleep, the noise began to diminish noticeably.
The third flock took the second floor and the fourth flock filled in between second floor and the penthouse. What a spectacular sight to witness. One of the neighbors in the immediate area reports that the numbers of roosting birds are even greater in the fall.
What a sanctuary in the midst of a residential area! What a magnificent testimony to the order of the universe! Out of chaos, these numerous birds have created a safe harbor for themselves with a spot designated for each creature.
According to Nicholas Lund, the outreach and network manager for the Maine Audubon and manager of The Birdist blog, many folk have a misconception about where birds sleep. He writes, “Birds don’t sleep in their nests. They don’t. The mental image is a cute one—a little bird, tuckered out after an early morning of worm-getting, peeling back a tiny leaf blanket in its cozy little nest—but it’s just not the case. Nests (for birds that even make nests—many of them don’t) are for keeping eggs and chicks in place.
When nesting season is over, nests are a mess—splattered in the droppings of the fledglings and, in some cases, a dead chick. These messes can attract parasites and predators, and birds just don’t need the nests anymore.”
Depending on species and its predators, birds select a safe place to roost for the night. Havens chosen depend on the needs of each species. Lund, in writing about herons and egrets, says, “These big wading birds really have only equally large predators to worry about: alligators and eagles. They’re most often seen roosting in large flocks in waterside trees.”
We returned to our home in awe of what we had just witnessed. Each evening now as I climb into my own inviting bed, I visualize the herons settling in at the roosting place. I pull up my covers. As Santa would say, “And to all, a good night.”
2019
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