Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
not our hideout. It seems impossible that my sense of this place is forty years
old. The taming of the land seems to have tamed the humans.
A moist clearing in the forest has a few deer tracks. So, individuals of this
species adapted! I am relieved that my dad's actions did not extinguish these
large mammals that so thrilled me years ago. A rich understory without obvi-
ous signs of browsing and a lack of caging around neighborhood plants sug-
gest they are not overly abundant. Perhaps they did not move as Dad thought,
but neither did they go extinct. A few simply hung on to the little forest and
i eld that the development retained. The chittering of American goldi nches
raises my spirits as I recall with guilt shooting one as a kid in these same
woods. I'm reassured that they are still here and abundant. Specialized i nch
feeders and expensive seed feed these gilded treasures. I'd like to know
whether tanagers and cuckoos will return later in the spring, but I am not
complaining. I expected much worse. Only two of the bird species I encoun-
ter, the house sparrow and European starling, are not native. The native spe-
cies I i nd are much more interesting and include predators, cavity nesters,
and those that prowl bushy thickets. Ground nesters are rare. Of the birds I
i nd, only the brown thrasher is known to nest on the ground, and even it is
not obligated to do so. I walk back to the car, lighter on my feet than when I
started, thinking of past adventures. Despite losing a forest, Lawrence, Kan-
sas, has retained a woodland that hosts native birds and deer. I hope their
tracks and songs will lure another kid from the easy path into the cool woods
where a tree house can be resurrected and a love of nature kindled.
Returning to Lawrence provided me with a personal view of change—of
the land, the birds, and the people. It was important to experience nature's
response to urbanization at a familiar place to appreciate changes others have
documented. The fact that native bird diversity remained high and included
