By: Lindsay Giovannone
I grew up in an area where the relationship between humans and wildlife was cohesive. This isn’t to say that deer and coyotes weren’t sometimes nuisances that destroyed flower beds or stole chickens, but there was a natural cadence to it. In West Haven, wildlife has forcibly adapted around the cityscape and, as a result, evolved their ecosystem to include human elements.
The birds of West Haven are especially interesting to me because of their resourcefulness and intuition. Their natural habitats are far removed from concrete and steel, yet some species survive and thrive in urban jungles.
Canada geese splash in a small pond created by a leaking pipe: At Bradley Point Park, a pipe had busted and flooded a grassy area the size of a backyard swimming pool. Flocks of migrating geese spotted this puddle from the sky and splashed in.
Trash is a common sight on West Haven beaches. It is typical to find empty bottles or containers of alcohol. These two pieces of trash were surrounded by the webbed prints of shorebirds.
Crows are opportunistic eaters. This dumped pile of mystery granules at the Savin Rock playground attracted a murder of crows, pecking at a pile of dumped seed or grain.
