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Way on top a high cedar spire
the dawn bell rings, emanating ferociously from a tiny ball
of feathers in endless trill. The chipping sparrow seen here
is delivering its breeding call on the last day of April, 2003
at 6:30 am. The song burbled forth from the landscape at Bright
View Farm in Burlington County. Six am at this farm sounds like
a playground after school just let out – instead it’s the chorus
of bird song that fills the spring air. From where I venture
it’s a 4am start – well worth the voyage – a purging of all
that bogs me down.
The hospitality dispelled by the owner of this horse farm, Christine
Conelly, can not be understated. She welcomes all those whose
love and respect for the natural inhabitants found within parallels
her own. Mrs. Conelly has mastered the art of blending a successful
business with the ecological stewardship of the very same land
where her business is conducted. This combination of course
is as rare as meadowlark these days.
A trip to her farm at 6am is a blast from the past where bobolinks
still hover over hay fields unafraid that the farmer will mow
the hay as their young hide in the tall grass or that an endangered
upland sandpiper might telescope its head from the timothy looking
carefree at a landscape unhindered from the fragmentation of
tract homes.
The two early mornings that I spent at Bright View photographing
birds took me away from a world mired in uncertainty (see species
list below). It saddens me to realize that stewardship change
is not keeping pace with the fragmentation of agricultural lands.
Bright View Farm is an exception to the rule thanks in no small
part to Mrs. Conelley connection to the land. Her legacy will
continue to ring out with the trill of all successive chipping
sparrows to come.
Agricultural lands throughout the Northeast that aren’t being
converted to sub divisions are being utilized in ways that only
benefit the user and not in accordance with the laws of nature.
If farmers who produce hay for fodder could delay the first
mowing until late June species like meadowlark, dickciessels,
grassland sparrows and bobolink may just hold on long enough
for my grandchildren to catch a glimpse.
If you want a quick insight to Bright View Farm visit this link:
http://www.delewarevalleybirding.com/place007.htm
The following is a list of species
sighted on April 27th and 30th 2003 on Bright View Farm by Blaine
Rothauser and Tom Capetta:
Chipping Sparrow factoid
- This bird has been known to line its nest with horse hair
which it harvests directly from equines.
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