With states issuing stay-at-home orders and closing public parks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, birders aren't flocking to spring migration season hotspots like they would in any normal year. But social distancing hasn鈥檛 stopped people from birding. During this time of stress and worry, backyard birding has brought many a sense of comfort or a welcome distraction. Plenty of organizations鈥探花精选 included鈥攁re encouraging old hats, newbies, and students searching for screenless education to bird nearby.
But the pandemic has also made it clear that not everyone has access to outdoor space at or near home鈥攁nd backyard birding isn鈥檛 an equal opportunity activity. While some marvel at warblers flitting through their yard or hawks nesting in a nearby tree, others only observe a smaller, more uniform slice of avian diversity at home or in their communities. And whether you live in a bird oasis or bird desert, in turn, tends to be determined by your wealth.
The COVID-19 crisis has laid bare existing socioeconomic and racial inequities in our society from availability of healthcare to job security. Access to green space鈥攁nd by extension, to birds鈥攊s no exception. Ecologists have dubbed the disparity the 鈥渓uxury effect鈥濃攖he richest neighborhoods tend to harbor the most biodiversity of plants and animals, studies have shown. Researchers have found this effect for birds, bats, and insects in many cities across North America and Europe, according to a 2018 in Biology Letters.
The reasons for this are complex, and it鈥檚 also far from a hard-and-fast rule, says , an urban ecologist at North Carolina State University. A multi-million-dollar condo in a tower in Midtown Manhattan comes with relatively few bird watching opportunities. But, in general, he says, 鈥測ou tend to find it.鈥 For example, in Phoenix, Arizona, native desert bird diversity was lower in less affluent and predominantly Hispanic communities, according to a 2011 . In 2004, researchers in Vancouver, Canada, where native bird diversity increased with socioeconomic status鈥攁nd indigenous people had the least access to birds, it found.
鈥淲hat really drives where you're going to find bird diversity is going to be the distribution of habitat,鈥 Katti says.
Yards and street greenery in a neighborhood, especially yards that people can afford to landscape, garden, and maintain, account for many of the differences. In Lubbock, Texas, for example, a 2011 found that properties that are visited by a 鈥渓ess ubiquitous鈥 bird species, such as Blue Jays or Western Kingbirds, are valued at about $32,000 more than other homes鈥攁 correlation that probably stems from the extent of landscaping in the immediate area, the authors concluded. In this region, landscaping often focuses on playas, which are small lakes lined with plants that favor seed-eating birds in wet years and shorebirds during migration. In drought-prone states like California, a household鈥檚 ability to afford irrigation may also play a role in the attractiveness of yards to diverse wildlife.
Beyond private yards, low-income households also generally have much less access to public green spaces in cities, and not all parks are equal. In a Phoenix, Arizona, researchers showed that parks in high-income neighborhoods had more bird species鈥攊ncluding more native birds鈥攖han parks in low-income neighborhoods. In general, the size and maintenance of parks may depend on the community鈥檚 income, as well as other factors that affect their power, such as race, Katti says.
Even if a bird enthusiast does pour resources into landscaping and bird feeders, it might not be enough in a poorer area. Neighborhoods tend to be segregated by wealth, and one bird-friendly house on a street without much other foliage isn't going to do much to attract birds. 鈥淵ou can't be an island of one-eighth-of-an-acre and expect to get a result,鈥 says , a natural resource economist at Texas Tech University.
Though anyone can take individual actions to make their yards bird-friendly鈥攕uch as by planting native plants鈥攕ystemic change to bridge these gaps requires group effort. Where local governments neglect parks in low-income, predominantly African American neighborhoods, for example, residents may not have the power to convince public officials to clean them up, Katti says.
That鈥檚 not only an issue for birds or birding, of course, but for a community鈥檚 health: Green spaces in cities soak up air pollution, offer spaces to get exercise, and boost our mental wellness. A growing is working to convince governments to invest more money in green spaces in communities that need it most. You can get involved, and in the meantime, also take an extra moment to appreciate the birds you do get to see from your home, yard, or block.