Edge Habitats

[MikeMules]

One way to increase the number of birds you are likely to see, is to birdwatch in areas where the edge of one habitat meets another.

Edge habitats tend to have a high diversity of bird species for two reasons. The first is that you have access to two different bird guilds. The second is that edge habitats are often high in resources that attract birds (such as insects, berries or nesting material).

Some edge habitats are better than others. Where rainforest of woodlands meet grassland or swamp, walking the east-facing side in the morning is often most productive. The boundary between pine plantation and native forest, however, is going to be far less productive. The best edge habitats are often between habitats that have different plant assemblages, and also a marked structural difference (ie. forest & grassland have a large height difference, whereas grassland and agricultural land have little structural difference).

[KCFoggin]

I've found another wonderful source of a variety of birds to be power plants. The area immediately around the power plants are of course, cleared and the power plants are usually set in a remote wooded section. Set up very much the way you describe.

[Andrew]

The edges of different habitats are worth checking out if there is a 'diffusing' border such as hedgrows, low moorland type heather and brambles or even a row of trees.

[Screech]

For an interesting few hours, check your local landfill. Morning's are best when trucks are "tipping".
An assortment of gulls, vulture's, raptor's, ground feeder's can be found in a small area.
Our local landfill this week had;
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Greater Black-backed
Ring-billed
Iceland
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Starling
Cowbird
Grackle
REd Tailed Hawk
Cooper's
Sharpie
Rough-leg
Wild Turkey
Ring-neck Pheasant

The gull's number in the thousand's, so anything could be dragged along into the fray.
I'm going there to practice taking pics of flying birds.

Alway's see a few fellow birder's there.

[Karl J]

Equally as unpleasant sounding, but also offering very good birdwatching can be the local sewage works.

[Beverlybaynes]

I'll second several of the suggestions made above.

Some of my favorite places include a patch of regenerating meadow (now getting scrubby) that lies betweeen two woodlots, with a mowed path around the 'meadow'.

And several sewage or wastewater treatment facilities in the area have a great reputation for bringing in thing that you'll not find easily anywhere else. The sewage ponds in Fort Wayne can be a bonanza for waterfowl.

And I planned a trip this last February specifically to a sewage treatment plant in Muskegon, MI for Snowy Owls and Golden Eagles -- which, unfortunately was cancelled at the last minute by a nasty winter storm.

A nuclear power plant and its warm water outlet on Great Lake Michigan is often the only open water for miles when the lake is frozen (as it was this winter). Unfortunately, access to viewing it is highly restricted, especially since 9-11-01.

Thinking about this is making me want to blow off walking about my local park and driving out to Fox Island for that path between the meadow and the woodlot! Towhees, flickers, sparrows, finches....OK, gotta go get dressed now!