Lac de Ville in Brighton, NY: An Accidental Wildlife Refuge
Birding can be a bit slow in the summer, but it still has its moments. I take periodic walks in my neighborhood just for a bit of (fresh?) air and exercise. Often, I am drawn to Lac de Ville, a man-made drainage pond that is only about a quarter of a mile from my house in Brighton, NY. It is not very impressive in appearance, being only about 1/8 mile long by 1/10 mile wide. Mostly, one sees Mallards, Canada Geese, and Ring-billed Gulls on the water or nearby. However, on one unforgettable late July day in 2017, I saw:
•A Caspian Tern repeatedly circling over the pond and diving into the water.
•A Belted Kingfisher diving into the water.
•An Eastern Kingbird diving into the water. This was quite a surprise, as I had never seen this behavior previously. However, I later found a YouTube video showing similar behavior. I’ve also seen phoebes, which are in the same family as kingbirds, behaving this way. Probably, all of these birds were trying to find food in the water: fish in the case of the tern and kingfisher, insects or other invertebrates in the case of the kingbird.
•There was also a Great Blue Heron present at the same time trying to catch fish.
Earlier in summer 2017, there was a female Wood Duck with 5 ducklings at the pond. I first saw them on May 31, and they continued to be present until well into July, at which time the ducklings were about as big as their mom. I don’t know where they nested. The pond is surrounded by streets, houses, and professional offices. There is a sizable shopping plaza nearby. There are no duck boxes that I know of, but there are a few small clumps of trees that might have a cavity suitable for nesting.
Other birds of interest I have seen at this pond recently include Green Herons, Pied-billed Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, Buffleheads, Horned Grebes, and Hooded Mergansers. Years ago, I saw Common Nighthawks foraging over the pond and a pair of Canvasbacks.
This pond was created in the 1980s for drainage purposes, and I’m sure the builders did not have wildlife conservation in mind. However, because of its purpose as a drainage pond, it will probably not go away anytime soon, and wildlife has taken advantage of it, sometimes to the distress of the neighbors. The sidewalks nearby are often littered with goose and duck droppings, and the birds sometimes block traffic when crossing the street. The pond is managed to some extent with aerators that keep down the growth of cattails and other aquatic plants and may help to promote the growth of fish. There is often a fishy odor in the air, and I once saw a cormorant with a bullhead too large for it to swallow.
It is probably a measure of their desperation for suitable habitat in a human-dominated world that so many birds make use of this pond. Although this is a sorry situation, I am glad that it is here. It adds a bit to the quality of life in a neighborhood that seems somewhat sterile. An upscale house for sale recently boasted its location on the pond as one of its attractions.
