tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post3687186690849235463..comments2013-07-10T06:51:20.860-07:00Comments on Home Range: Prairie RemnantsHenry Chappellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18013645114503780931noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post-63699032835509078492007-09-28T11:44:00.000-07:002007-09-28T11:44:00.000-07:00I used to bird at dumps and other waste areas all ...I used to bird at dumps and other waste areas all the time as a kid in New England, and hawk in cemeteries.<BR/><BR/>Urban wildlife is far more abundant than people realize. Good book (on NYC) is Anne Matthews' <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0865476411/sr=1-1/qid=1191004919/ref=dp_proddesc_0/002-4666651-9989635?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1191004919&sr=1-1" REL="nofollow"> Wild Nights</A> (one of the reviews is mine!)Steve Bodiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post-67750371655557371512007-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:002007-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:00Henry you're right about that and your reply remin...Henry you're right about that and your reply reminds me about the several peregrines we saw hunting the capped fills in New Orleans. (We were hunting there too, BTW...) The city has a number of winter resident falcons.<BR/><BR/>Big females, usually adults, hunted ducks, ibis, cattle egrets and other birds along the edge of the landfill that reached out into a marsh just northeast of the French Quarter. This was very near one of the levee breaches, and in photos after the storm I saw the top of the dump as an island above our friends' flooded neighborhood.<BR/><BR/>Once, while flying our hawks there, a peregrine came in waaay too close above us, hanging in the wind to scold (and perhaps knock dead) my hawk, who would not leave his perch in fear of her. You could see the black of her eyes and every detail of her feathers.Matt Mullenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11198069782508775543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post-63511467766947449642007-09-24T08:05:00.000-07:002007-09-24T08:05:00.000-07:00Matt, I'd go birding at a former dump, too. Fortun...Matt, I'd go birding at a former dump, too. Fortunately, birds don't care about history or our sense of aesthetics. And I'll certainly take rehabilitated or even "created" grassland over no grassland.<BR/><BR/>I recall Terry Tempest Williams writing about birding in an actual garbage dump. On several occasions she saw a peregrine ripping into flocks of starlings that came for the garbage. <BR/><BR/>I think her point was that we ought to be thankful for falcons (or birds in general) wherever they are.Henry Chappellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18013645114503780931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post-90955493045519508282007-09-24T05:18:00.000-07:002007-09-24T05:18:00.000-07:00Patches of prairie in old cemetaries? Sadly fittin...Patches of prairie in old cemetaries? Sadly fitting!<BR/><BR/>Here's worse for you: Some of the best grassland birding places in pre-Katrina New Orleans were in acres of "artificial prairie," aka, capped landfills. <BR/><BR/>But we went!Matt Mullenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11198069782508775543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post-28450794500218772962007-09-23T17:43:00.000-07:002007-09-23T17:43:00.000-07:00Chas, it's good to hear from you. I know that pres...Chas, it's good to hear from you. I know that preservationists here in Texas have found some small remnants along railroad rights of way. And I hear that old family cemetaries sometimes harbor patches of prairie.Henry Chappellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18013645114503780931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497932746752236877.post-32893171779566327322007-09-23T16:29:00.000-07:002007-09-23T16:29:00.000-07:00Some say the best place to look for prairie is on ...Some say the best place to look for prairie is on railroad rights of way--I might have gotten that from Merrill Gilfillan in <EM>Magpie Rising</EM>.<BR/><BR/>Interesting that the <EM>Liatris</EM> (gayfeather) is still blooming there. Ours is long since finished.Chas S. Cliftonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00923547685265741325noreply@blogger.com