“Darn”, I thought, “it looks pretty threatening. I’d better hurry through this.” I had driven out to the restored wetlands at Battelle-Darby Metro Park, hoping for some fall shorebirds that had been reported there, as well as some of the early waterfowl that always showed up at this golden spot. However, the sky to the west was a deep gray, and the wind had come up cold from that direction, all signs of impending rain. I was thinking about what I knew from birding in Seattle and Florida – rain doesn’t really affect waterbirds – and decided to risk the walk out there. It’s a great wetland for migrating waterbirds, but is also probably one of the most exposed trails in central Ohio – no shelter, no shrub-lines, no trees – so I knew the rewards and the risks.
I got out to the main pool and just gawked; shorebirds, ducks, and egrets were all over and active: Killdeer, yellowlegs of both varieties, several sandpiper species, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, American Coots, Great Egrets. None seemed to mind the approaching storm. Then the rain started; I had brought plastic bags to bag up by scope and binoculars, and just hunkered down next to some tall cattails to wait it out and watch how the birds would respond. Some disappeared – I didn’t see any of the Sparrows that had graced my walk out, and the Great Egrets all flew off. But most of the waterbirds were nonplussed – the sandpipers kept on feeding, the yellowlegs kept wading, the coots kept picking, the teal kept swimming and flying around in small groups, and a Sora even jumped out of the reeds to poke around the mudflats. So even though I got a bit wet (well, actually, quite soaked), I was still able to see most of the birds that were there. They were unaffected by the rain.
We sometimes think all birds act like garden songbirds (and us mammals), and alter their routines depending on the weather and day cycle. Our backyard favorites – Cardinals, chickadees, finches and raptors – seem to pack it in when it rains or gets too dark. They’re most active in the morning, probably to recover from that enforced nighttime fast when they couldn’t search for food and had to sleep. But waterbirds don’t really follow that schedule. If you’ve spent any amount of time at the seashore, you know that shorebirds there time their activity to the tides. Shorebirds get out to feed at low tide, whether its morning, afternoon, rain, shine, or a moonlit night. Only the darkest nights seem to deter them. The same thing seems to hold for waterfowl at the seashore – I remember seeing large flocks of Green-winged Teal or Northern Shovelers out in the evening working tidal pools on marshes in Puget Sound. Only diving ducks seem to pay attention to light levels, gathering in floating rafts to roost in the darkest periods of night. Probably they need some light levels to help see their food items during their dives.
Our Midwest shorebirds and waterfowl also seem to be insensitive to weather and daylight. If you think a bit about their biology, these behaviors won’t seem so weird. Shorebirds, rails, and dabbling ducks mostly nest north of us, where day-lengths in summer are very long. Their metabolism is used to feeding for multiple periods during the day, whether it be timed to tidal cycles or insect hatches (which are mostly in the morning and evening). Rain or darkness won’t usually stop their feeding or put them at increased risk of predation, and many of them are tactile feeders, so they keep feeding during these disruptions. I remember going out on ‘moonlight birding’ trips in both Puget Sound and Florida Bay and seeing lots of birds still active. Lord knows how many times I’ve been out at shores during rainy weather and seen loads of birds actively feeding and flying. These types of weather and dim light have only a limited effect on many shorebirds and ducks. Only the stormiest weather or darkest nights affect them.
So one of my secrets to fall birding – which is often sporadically slow – is to make sure to include some shore habitat, often later in the day. Shallow-water wetlands are not that common around here, but you can find man-made versions in many places: Battelle-Darby Metro Park, Pickerington Ponds, Three Creeks, Hoover Nature Preserve, and Taylor Farms Park, just to name a few. These habitats will be productive deep into fall, and can be visited nearly any time of day to see birds. You could even go out in the rain or evening, though you might want to rethink that idea. We don’t have the same senses or waterproofing as these birds, so you likely wouldn’t enjoy being out in that weather or darkness as much as they do. When I was at the Battelle Darby wetlands, I could see the rain bouncing off the waterfowl, and the shorebirds would periodically shake noisily to shed the drops they had accumulated. Unless you have an insulated rain suit – or are feathered like a bird – you might want to find some shelter.