By Dorothy Kamm
Vero Beach Branch, Florida

 

As the sun skims above the treetops

            lining the east,

                        the Dawn Chorus begins:

 

HERE I AM!   HERE I AM!

            screams the blue jay

 

Here I am   here I am

            sings the cardinal sweetly

 

here I am

            tweets the sparrow briefly

                        and repeatedly

 

Here I am

            On my morning walk

                        For the last time

In this neighborhood

 

Straddling an ecotone

As I prepare to move

From south to north

            Subtropical to temperate

                        Waterfront to forest

            Though in the same State

Not far apart but a different habitat;

 

I expect to keep the same habit

            Of walking at sunrise

                        And proclaiming, Here I am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of our birds can be found in ecotones, the borders between two habitats. Like Indigo Buntings, which breed in the ecotone between forest and meadow. They use resources available in either habitat.
[Indigo Bunting song]
Indigo Buntings are common at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana. [mus-CAT-a-tuck]. There, grassland and forest are interspersed to produce superb wildlife habitat. The buntings feed on the ground and nest in shrubs or weedy fields. The males find perfect places for singing from elevated perches at the forest edge.
[Indigo Bunting song]
Female buntings know what they like, and arriving from Mexico and Central America, they search for just such an ecotone.
[Indigo Bunting song]
With the right balance of forest and meadow, this beautiful bird will continue to thrive.

 

5/23/22