Birding the Parking Lot

Most of us arrive at Halibut Point State Park with our minds in forward gear to get out into its varied niches for enjoyment of the natural and quarry landscape. Bird watchers know there's a chance of seeing almost anything along the shoreline, uplands, or ponds.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, shade tree, utility line

By ironic experience many of us have learned not to overlook possibilities around the parking lot itself. The other day after I'd searched and vigiled all the usually productive spots in dim and blustery weather with scarcely a sighting of avian beings, it wasn't until back near the car that I was gratified. The birds evidently had enough sense to stick to this sheltered terrain.

With birds, practical matters come first. They go where the food is. Now that all those tall "weeds" in the traffic islands are going to seed, opportunities abound for seeing unexpected species close at hand. It pays to arrive camera-ready, sharp-eyed, and open-minded.

Field Sparrow on the pavement

With birds, practical matters come first. They go where the food is. Now that all those tall "weeds" in the traffic islands are going to seed, opportunities abound for seeing unexpected species close at hand. It pays to arrive camera-ready, sharp-eyed, and open-minded.

Red-bellied Woodpecker on utility pole

Sometimes birds actually take advantage of man-made features, like this woodpecker caching future meals in a utility pole.

Magnolia Warbler in ash tree

Trees in and around the parking lot are advantageous not only to the birds but to photographers who have good sight lines and access sometimes 360˚ around their subject.

Crow bullying Cooper's Hawk

Open fields of view also favor birds of prey. The top of this dead pine tree is a desirable perch for a crow that resents rival occupation by a juvenile hawk.

The Cooper's Hawk displaced

The hawk had to give up its promontory for a vigil site closer to the ground where it was undeterred by unmanned vehicles.

Scarlet Tanager male in eclipse plumage

On arrival it pays for visitors to scan the trees and brush line surrounding the parking lot. In fact you might spend time birding here as worthwhile as anywhere else. Sometimes, driving by when I don't have time for a proper meander, I make a cameo stop hoping for a chance encounter and grateful for a contact moment with the fringes of wilderness.

Almost anything could overfly this arena, perhaps taking a short cut across the peninsula between the Ipswich Bay and Massachusetts Bay. I'm almost sure I once saw a Glossy Ibis in the sky. One day the Merlin app reported hearing Whimbrels overhead. An acquaintance got his best-ever look at a secretive Black-billed Cuckoo when it jumped out of the deep canopy to forage on the lawn.

The parking lot sits at the intersection of several diverse habitats. It is surrounded by pasture land grown up into woods with an abundance of food-bearing plants. The meadow sits across the street, a couple of small wetlands nearby. There are bird feeders in the neighborhood.

Cedar Waxwings

Even when it's not a destination in itself the parking lot facilitates both people and creatures in orienting for the possibilities of the day.