Birdwalk Empire*, resource partitioning on the Jersey shore

The famed wildwood boardwalk is just a few miles from my Rio Grande NJ pigeon collection site. over my session, I made three trips to the boardwalk to photograph pigeons. However, pigeons where by far not the only birds on the boardwalk. A surprising number of species call 'the boards their home, all surviving on limited resources and in rather harsh conditions.

how do so many species survive together? a little ecological phenomenon call resource partitioning is the secret.

 

the wildwood boardwalk does not seem like an ideal environment for birds, but for the few species that do live here, it provides all they need to not just survive, but thrive

So what is resource partitioning? think of an ecosystem like a business, their are only so many jobs an employee, or in this case species, can fill. If you can't find job, you can't live in the ecosystem. because each species has a different job, or as it is actually called, a niche, they don't directly compete for resources. If two species do have the same niche, and neither one finds another, one species usually outcompetes another. This is called the competitive exclusion principle, but as with most things in biology, it does not always hold up. two species can live in the same niche at equilibrium but this is not very common.

In the boardwalk ecosystem, the main resource birds compete for is human food, each bird gets their fill in a slightly different way. based on my observations, this is how a few boardwalk species spend the lives as to avoid direct competition with each other:

rock pigeon:

 

let's start with my favorite, the rock pigeon! Rock pigeons on the boardwalk are surprisingly shy, they don't like large crowds of people, so when swarms of tourists come to the boardwalk, they fly inland to take advantage of bird feeders and naturally occurring seeds. while on the boardwalk, pigeons are a bit picky, only feeding on large chunks of dropped or begged for human food. I was not able to tell when pigeons return to the boardwalk at night, however I would assume it is rather late as I did not see any in the area in the evenings. pigeons spend most of their time on the boardwalk early in the morning, except for one pair, who had set up a nest above a storefront.

house sparrow:

 

unlike rock pigeons, house sparrows are completely un-afraid of humans. it is not uncommon to see them hopping beneath the feet of boardwalk visitors to grab an extra crumb. house sparrows are the "vacuum cleaners" of the boardwalk, feeding on whatever tiny bits of dropped human food they can find. house sparrows will also venture into residential areas to feed on seeds from bird-feeders, flowers and trees. again unlike pigeons, boardwalk house sparrows may spend their entire lives on the coast, I was able to locate many nests in almost all house sparrows sized crevices that appeared near the boardwalk. If we are to return to the metaphor of the boardwalk ecosystem as a job market, house sparrows are the most successful, being by far the most common boardwalk bird.

European starling:

 

Although no self-respecting starling will pass up a nice hotdog bun, starlings love the insects attracted to human leftovers even more. About as shy as pigeons, most starlings vacate the boardwalk when crowds come. Even without their favorite food source, starlings will still feed on the shore as they have learned to extract bugs from the tightly manicured lawns and sidewalks of shore towns. some starlings will visit bird feeders to find fatty seeds such as sunflower, but these individuals may be different than those on the shore. like house sparrows, most starlings breed just feet from the boardwalk, they have all they need right before them! why should they leave?

fish crow:

 

Social, smart and adaptable are the three words I would use to describe fish crows. fish crows move across the shore is large family groups, finding whatever they can get their beaks on. Crows love dumpsters and trash cans, but will also take advantage of the heavy shore traffic, feeding on any small animal that may have been hit by a car. like all of the rest of the birds on this list, fish crows will search the boardwalk for dropped human food, but will also extend their search to the beach. crows only feed on large pieces of food, and will also take naturally occurring sources of protein such as shellfish they find on piers. Crows do not breed or roost by the boardwalk, instead, they are "commuters", birds that spend the night further inland, but move to the boardwalk during the day to feed.

laughing gull:

 

kleptoparasite is a rather frightening word, even more frightening if you happen to be a shore visitor who is in the habit of turning their back on french fries. To put it simply, laughing gulls are thieves, sure they will take food from dumpsters or off of the ground, but swooping off with food from the hands of unsuspecting tourists has proven to be a reliable strategy for large numbers of these gulls. The biggest jackpot is when someone dibrately feeds them, for the gulls, this is a perfect scenario. A source of food without needing to use the energy that would be taken up hunting. Laughing gulls do not breed anywhere near the boardwalk, instead, they opt for the local salt marshes, where natural food items are also available and predators are scarce. Non-breeding gulls will sleep on the beach or on top of buildings to make sure they get the first pick of whatever edible items may be coming onto the boards.

Herring gull:

 

The herring gull is the least common of boardwalk birds, but is in no way rare. less common at dumpsters than laughing gulls or crows, herring gulls rule the beach. herring gulls pick up unattended food off of the sand with great efficiency, however, out of all boardwalk birds, herring gulls are the least dependent on humans for their food. herring gulls will feed in aquatic invertebrates they find on the shore, as well as schools of baitfish living in the artificially shallow waters surrounding beaches. like laughing gulls, herring gulls spend their night on the beach. when it is time to raise chicks, many herring gulls get as far away from people as possible, building nests on barrier islands where both natural predators and humans are scarce.

Probably the most fascinating thing about the boardwalk ecosystem is that if all natural food sources where to disappear, most of the birds of the region would be perfectly content using only artificial sources of nutrition. Before humans built seaside metropolises, many of these species would have seemed as wild and dis-connected from humanity as any other bird. However, when a new habitat opens up for colonization...

life always seems to find a way

*didn't get the reference? there was this HBO show call "boardwalk empire"... I've never watched it.... I just though it would be a good pun

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk_Empire