Photo: Northern Flicker, Sheen Watkins/Audubon Photography Awards
Libby Lyons
As my ASNV presidency starts, I am optimistic about the work ahead, in spite of the serious threats to birds from climate change and development. My optimism arises from observing the different kinds of places we can find birds in Northern Virginia and my response to what I see there.
Many of my recent eBird lists are for a few places I birded many times: Monticello Park in Alexandria, Huntley Meadows in Fairfax County, and my own Arlington back yard. But I also explored many new spots in ASNV’s territory. Frequenting my regular haunts offers the familiarity of visiting old friends, showing me the local residents through all the seasons, but also letting me watch the migrants come and go. New sites feed my curiosity and the urge to explore, sometimes sending me chasing after a look at a species that doesn’t commonly show up here. Everywhere I take joy in observing the complexity and beauty of nature. This response is a major part of what drives me to work for conservation. Knowing that I share this joy with many in the birder community gives me hope that ASNV can continue to tap into that source of inspiration to motivate our members to protect Northern Virginia’s resources.
Considering my eBird lists from a different perspective, I was astonished when I looked at the land use around my birding sites. I did not travel primarily to national wildlife refuges or local, state, and national parks. Instead, I found that I had watched birds in cemeteries and churchyards, and at turf farms and wineries. I recorded birds at an elementary school playground, a university campus, and museum gardens. I had watched from ferries and marinas, and on or around bridges, buildings, and tunnels. There were lists from sewage treatment plants and landfills, a ski resort, chain store retention ponds and parking lots, and adjacent to nuclear and coal-fired power plants.
Why do such observations cheer me? I marvel at the adaptability of so many bird species, although not all are so adaptable. Mostly, though, these sites make it clear that because birds are using so much of the human-influenced landscape, we need to create and conserve wildlife habitats all around us, not just in isolated wilderness and large parks. Taking this perspective, I feel less overwhelmed by the dual pressures of development and climate change bearing down on Northern Virginia. We can create and preserve habitat all around us, working with partners to provide clean water, nurture native plants, and remove invasive plants around neighborhood parks, churches, stores, and our backyards, as well as around our institutional and infrastructure sites.
I am honored and excited to serve ASNV in my new role and I hope you will join me in embracing and acting on this upbeat view of conservation, where each of us can draw motivation from our love of nature and act to make small patches of landscape more habitable for wildlife and ourselves. Please take heart and join in the fight from whatever place you can!
Northern Flicker, Sheen Watkins/Audubon Photography Awards