Collier County Landfill, Naples, Florida
Most individuals who spend the winter or go to stunning Naples, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico coast, benefit from the seashores, points of interest, and eating places. For me, it’s birding. In January 2023, I had an surprising deal with as my husband and I joined the native chook membership for a particular go to to the Collier County Landfill (i.e., the place the place the rubbish is buried). The landfill official had our vehicles line up behind his. He proceeded to present us a tour of the ability, explaining what they do on the landfill. Most of us had been desirous to get to the part with the just lately added rubbish.
The landfill managers attempt to restrict the avian scavengers utilizing exploding firecrackers and patrolling Peregrine Falcons. However they nonetheless come. We noticed a juvenile Bald Eagle, a Wooden Stork, and a Brief-toed Hawk. There have been a number of Turkey and Black Vultures. The most important teams had been 50 Boat-tailed Grackles, 170 Fish Crows, 200 Cattle Egrets, 200 White Ibis, and 100 Ring-billed Gulls.
We loved speaking to the falconer about her birds’ work. Down the street from the landfill, a brand new sports activities complicated had been constructed with stunning swimming pools. Her birds’ job was to discourage the gulls from visiting both the “spa” or the “buffet”.
It was a enjoyable day. This winter, I’ll need to contact the journey chief to rearrange a return go to to the landfill. I’m desirous to see what’s new there (Leslie Kinrys).
Delhi Garbage Tip
I’ve been fortunate sufficient to have visited among the world’s best sewage farms in my seek for birds. I keep in mind with explicit affection the sewage farm at Port of Spain, Trinidad, with its White-headed Marsh Tyrants and Collared Plovers, whereas Alice Springs sewage farm was memorable for its Pink-eared Geese and Crimson-necked Avocets. In South Africa, my go to to the Paarl Hen Sanctuary (a part of Paarl’s wastewater therapy works) produced nice views of a whole lot of White-winged Black Terns in addition to Better Flamingoes and quite a lot of waterfowl.
Nevertheless, maybe essentially the most notable and positively essentially the most smelly waste website that I’ve ever visited was the mountainous Delhi tip. Understandably, visits by vacationers to this notoriously ugly website should not inspired by the Indian authorities, however I used to be travelling with chook photographer David Tipling, and he wished to go to the tip to take pictures for a ebook he was illustrating.
A lot of the native folks we met on the website had been pleasant, however they had been considerably stunned to seek out two Englishmen with huge cameras taking a lot curiosity within the place, whereas at one stage, we had been actively discouraged from going any nearer. As for the birds, properly, there was one dominant species: the Black Kite. There have been a whole lot and a whole lot of them, scavenging the mountains of garbage. Unmolested by the native folks, they had been tame and straightforward to method. There have been different birds, too, starting from Egyptian Vultures and the inevitable Cattle Egrets to Citrine Wagtails. Would I am going once more? The emphatic reply is not any: it was one of the horrible locations I’ve ever had the misfortune to go to (David Tomlinson).
Black Kite with cattle egrets on Delhi tip
Guwahati Rubbish Dump
In December 2019 and January 2020, issues concerning the novel coronavirus had been making headlines. In these very early days, I listened with just one ear. I had a three-week journey to northern India deliberate and a variety of work to get by in preparation.
I don’t keep in mind the date, however my journey departure got here someday across the center of February 2020. Not pondering something of it, I boarded my departure flight. I used to be a little bit stunned to see an aged Indian couple sporting masks and huddled collectively of their seats. I landed on the Indira Gandhi Worldwide Airport, was picked up, and, with completely no discuss of the coronavirus, I set off with a personal tour to go to Outdated Delhi, the fabulous Taj Mahal, Ranthambore NP, and Gir NP. Sufficient good can’t be stated about these locations, however none of them has something to do with a rubbish dump.
Kaziranga Nationwide Park, within the state of Assam, was the ultimate leg of our journey. From Delhi, we boarded an Air India flight to Guwahati. We flew in clear skies over the Himalayas and I took a photograph from the window …
Guwahati is the most important metropolis in India’s northeastern area. We arrived, collected our baggage, and, dragging it alongside behind us, we had been nearly instantly intercepted by younger ladies with clipboards and thermometers. They requested that we full documentation of the place we had traveled and wished to test our temperatures. They questioned if we had been to China and, upon listening to this query, our American journey organizer, who may very well be a bullying man particularly when confronted with delays or obstacles to his purpose, on this case, boarding the van for our first birding cease, blew previous the younger ladies saying, “this has nothing to do with us” and marched ahead, leaving the younger ladies bewildered and stricken. I used to be embarrassed. Clearly, their mission and efforts had all the things to do with us and the entire journey we had finished: busy vacationer places, prepare stations, and a number of visits to Delhi airport. By no means thoughts all that.
Our first birding cease in Assam was to see the Better Adjutant, India’s rarest stork. We had been on our strategy to the Guwahati rubbish dump. We arrived, and our van drove on the identical entry street that the dump vehicles used. The stench was overwhelming, the poverty was gripping. Girls had been standing in abject filth and, utilizing a hand software, had been bent over raking the rubbish, searching for something worthwhile. Cows had been scavenging for something edible. The rubbish was the colour black and heaped in a huge mountain. Alongside the entry street, there have been raggedy kiosks promoting meals, snacks, and different gadgets of use to the employees. Did we see the Better Adjutant? We did certainly. Remembering again to this second to put in writing this makes me recall a strong array of emotions. I returned dwelling and again to work, and three days later, the world shut down. Out of the blue, I had no extra ideas of India, a spot I cherished and was thrilled to have the ability to go to.
My recollections had been re-ignited when, on March 30, 2021, I learn within the New York Occasions their The World Via a Lens profile: A Biologist, an Outlandish Stork and the Military of Girls Making an attempt to Save It, pictures and textual content by Carla Rhodes. My coronary heart skipped a beat and made me glad. Cliche? No, reality. I used to be so comfortable to have my Guwahati rubbish dump recollections gifted again to me.
There may be additionally a 16-minute YouTube video titled Meet the Military of Girls Saving India’s Rarest Stork that I extremely advocate. It aired on the PBS present Nature in 2024 (Catherine Carroll).
Macchu Picchu, Peru
Sewage therapy and birds are a match made in heaven. Some wastewater therapy vegetation have even grow to be well-known birding places, like Strandfontein in Cape City. Landfills or strong waste disposal websites are much less widespread, as a result of whereas the rats will appeal to raptors, the principle species shall be crows and gulls. I’m totally anticipating my fellow beat writers to put in writing pleasing opinions of disagreeable locations. Taking a contrarian place, I’ll write a few really unhealthy place for birding: Machu Picchu. This website doesn’t scent in any respect, however it’s worse than a sewage farm or a landfill. It’s infinitely higher to face within the stink of sewage than to observe this world marvel. Coming from Cusco, you arrive on the station, and you’re whisked away in a bus up the mountain to the ruins. You stroll round, hoping for an Andean Condor, whereas the information drones on about how intelligent these a whole lot of astronomers had been to determine the place of the solar at a given date (yawn). I did see some birders ignoring the ever present historical past and fortunately strolling round promising biotope whereas I shuffled previous the “sights” in my spouse’s slipstream. All I noticed: Andean Gull, Andean Swift, Black-chested Buzzard-eagle, Cinereous Conebill, Dusky-green Oropendola, Torrent Duck, Torrent Tyrannulet, and White-bellied Hummingbird. Oh, and I bought the evil eye from the missus for trying “the mistaken method” all the time (Peter Penning).
Trash Dump, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
So far as trash dumps go, the one at Nuwara Eliya is just not significantly huge or disgusting (aside from the monkeys, in fact). However kudos to our information for taking us right here on a birding journey. Fairly a number of chook photographers I do know attempt to keep away from taking images at such places, and even images with any indication of human life or know-how – I discover that angle unusual.
And isn’t there a bizarre magnificence in a photograph displaying each trash and a Paddyfield Pipit …
… or trash and a Widespread Myna …
… or trash and a Widespread Tailorbird?
The mixture of trash and mammal will all the time be ugly, although. Notably if the mammals are ugly (Kai Pflug).
Brownsville Dump in Brownsville, Texas
Unintended birding websites are fascinating. Birding at landfills is unquestionably an unintended use. However hey – we observe the birds, proper? I haven’t finished a variety of landfill birding, aside from in all probability one of many extra well-known websites within the US: the Brownsville Dump in Brownsville, Texas. Birders repeatedly go to this landfill in hopes of seeing Tamaulipas Crows, which enterprise over the border each few years. I visited in 2017 when the crows had been being seen in the course of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Competition. We stopped by the workplace to achieve entry, and it was wonderful how excited the employees had been to see us and welcome us. We simply drove as much as the present dumping space and located it! There was a complete crowd holding their nostril and having fun with the sighting (Hannah Buschert).
