The concept behind retention ponds is a good one, but doesn't go far enough. Retention ponds tend to be holes in the ground, surrounded by sodded banks. All natural border vegetation is discouraged, no reeds, rushes or weeds allowed. As a result, there are no frogs, no dragonflies, little resemblance to a natural pond. There is a small pond nearby that had a fringe of small trees and brush, lots of Pickerel Weed and Cat tails. Last year, birds nested around it, frogs thrived along the edges, small mammals lived nearby, and hunted around it. Someone mowed the banks last week, and it's value as habitat is now much less.
I am sure that no one set out to do any damage, likely they just wanted things to be "neat", but the damage is real.
This area is experiencing an influx of folks from large urban areas, accustomed, I suppose, to neatness, they love order, no weeds allowed. This isn't natural, and it is, over the long run, destructive.
If you ask these folks, most of them will tell you how much the environment means to them, but how do you convince them to change their habits?
Cattle Egret, Bulbucus ibis
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FriendFeed chiclet
FISH CROW
Boat-tailed Grackle Quiscalus major fem
Wood Stork Mycteria americana
Wood Stork Mycteria americana
RINGED BILL GULL
MALLARD Anas Platyrhynchos
RINGED BILL GULL
MALLARDS and REDEAR SLIDER
Tricolored heron Egretta tricolor
Tricolored heron Egretta tricolor
Tricolored heron Egretta tricolor
UNEXPECTED BYSTANDERS
Brown Pelican chestnut neck
Brown Pelican white neck
Brown Pelican juvenile
What Do You Get?
ME
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
PALM WARBLER
SOARING FREE
REFLECTIONS
LITTLE BLUE HERON
REFLECTIONS
1 comment:
Tsiya says: "If you ask these folks, most of them will tell you how much the environment means to them, but how do you convince them to change their habits?"
Through example.
You know I like order, and tidiness is next to well, you know. But have you ever noticed Natures palette?
In our wild parts of this neighborhood, we have yellow coreopsis, purple liatris, purple thistles, wild pink grasses, all blooming at the same time!
And you know the true definition of a weed?
A plant that is in the wrong place!
Every time I truely tried to plant what I thought was a orgainized landscape, God showed me different.
If He wanted it to grow, it would, if He didn't, it would start to decline. And then I moved it.
Pretty soon I have a yard full of plants, all thriving but never where I had intended them!
And it's so much easier to take care of now!
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