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Adventures at Camp Chaos

By Matt Heyden

Lora and I arrived at our summer camp in Western New York near Niagara Falls. The place is a disaster... it always is. There are problems everywhere. Another wall of the cellar has moved 3 more inches. The pool cover is half off and it is full of leaves. It appears to be down about 8 inches in water as well. The storm covers on the windows have been shredded . Well, what a winter it must have been. We do miss winters so!

Entering the camp, we are wading though spider webs. They are touching us everywhere. Our heads, our arms, and our legs. What have they been eating since last Fall? I'm afraid to ask. Good Grief. When we left we plugged in pest repellants that are electronic and promise that they will keep rodents out of a property. OK, honestly the place is the best it has ever been. But they've been inside pretty much everywhere….they just didn't stay inside, and that is the function of the pest repellants. More importantly, is that we haven't had to use any kind of poison for more than 20 years. Think about it. No poisoned owls, foxes, mink, weasels or hawks. That alone is worth it.

Over the years that we have abandoned this camp for Brevard county in the winter, we have learned how to do it….generally … but each year there is a new surprise…..the basement caving in, the pool losing all the water, the roof leaking… So you never know …it's always an adventure. Some years I just walk around in a daze because of the condition of the place. I think to myself that I am the janitor at "Camp Chaos"…..But then it starts. You're home an hour…..and you hear a black throated blue….a common yellow throat warbler…..what's that? A grouse? You see a turkey, and then the very first night you have bats. Again, what's that? An owl. Barn, screech and Great Horned.

Ok, I admit it. The warblers are everywhere. They are like Christmas ornaments. Yes, there is a blackburnian nesting as well as chestnut sided. The place belongs to them. Black throated green, and black throated blue, as well as yellow and blue wing. Throw in wood cock, veery, and hermit thrush and you realize that if the place simply falls down (which it will), it will always make a great campsite!

Yes, this place is a shack. It's a 50 year old trailer with the back half teetering on a crumbling basement and the front half sitting on timbers on the ground. A couple of additions were put on. One sits on the ground next to the trailer, and one is cantilevered over the other half of the basement. This is the shed we put all the sliding glass doors in……it looks directly into a bank of willows at the 40 foot level. Here we have nesting sapsuckers, wrens, etc. The place was abandoned for years before we got it, and our improvements have been minimal. Non birders are HORRIFIED that we live this way. Yes, for many years this was our only house. But now that we're only here in the summers, we only invite birders to stay with us, and even then we always show them a photo before they commit to coming. The last one was so pleased when she saw the photo of the house, she said: "oh, you have a potting shed!". Well, not exactly, that is the living room! That's pretty much how it goes. But we pay the bills, and it doesn't have to amuse anyone but ourselves and our birds. We have left it go to seed for 25 years. Nature is everywhere,…..in the bedroom, the living room and the bathroom.! Last summer someone was unrolling the bath tissue every night and shredding it. But that was before the electronic pest repellants. As I write this in the kitchen, a June bug is crawling on my shirt, and I‘m wondering where the snake is that was in the living room and bedroom last summer. We named her SSSSSylvia. Honestly……is there no peace in this house? I'm hoping that she ate the phantom chewer that was in the wall next to the bed and started this awful gnawing on the wood framing at around midnight. Go SSSSSylvia!

Before the place was abandoned, one of the owners mowed all the acres…by hand. They had to mow everyday. We stopped the mowing immediately, and maintained a trail system. I wanted the privacy that vegetation could provide, and Lora wanted the birds to come back. And boy did they. As I write this I‘m listening to a hooded warbler sing and a rose breasted grosbeak as well.

We added every kind of fruit tree you could think of. The wildlife came from far and wide to eat every thing. Just as the cherries would get ripe, songbirds would fill the tree, and it would actually shake. Apples, grapes, and especially blue berries all for them, if we aren't on our toes. Folks ask why we don't spray our fruit with pesticides. I explain that if my fruit crop killed insects, why on earth would I put it in my mouth? We simply cut bad parts out, and use a dehydrator to prepare fruit to take to Florida for the winter. Wild and heirloom fruits that have been dried make the finest pies and cobblers that you have ever had, and will never have unless you do it yourself, so it's a labor of love.

This is our own little private wildlife refuge. It's a birding retreat run for them. This of course means being virtually maintenance free! A tree falls down, and there it sits. A huge tree croaks, and there it stands. This makes birding a delight as far as visibility is concerned. Cavity nesters are having a field day. The neighbors can't see the place so they've stopped asking when we're going to fix it up. In their minds fixing it up is mowing, and mowing and mowing. We aren't like that. We want habitat. Eventually they come visiting and in about 20 minutes they are blown away when we point out the birds. New neighbors that move into the neighborhood are always presented with a bird list and if necessary a birding field guide. Of course a note explaining how lucky they are to have such birds and how easy it is to keep them (stop mowing, using poison, etc) is always included. Now they are protecting habitat for many species. I'm pleased with the progress we've made.

Many folks ask if it's hard to take care of a place up north when you live most of the year in Florida. I would have to say that if you had to have things perfect, it would become a burden and a frustrating experience. However, if you can put yourself in what I call "cottage vacation" mentality, you begin to overlook the shortcomings (like weasels and raccoons in the cellar) and can relax and enjoy being truly immersed in nature. When you are at an old abandoned place like this, nature is everywhere. At night, we don't watch TV. We sit out and watch the show. From bats and coyotes to fire flies and moths…..you just have to be outside and watching. The sky is dark and the stars are bright……and I don't miss the sound of I-95.

Last night we sat out and watched the critter light I have aimed at the wildlife waterer. (the waterer is just a dripping garden hose that cascades down a stack of cleverly arranged rocks with multiple bathing pools) Silently appeared a new friend. We have never, ever had a skunk in more than 25 years, yet here was one….but not just anyone…..a spectacular one. Oh honestly how could a skunk be spectacular? Well, she was completely white, except for her little black feet and a little black mask. Her tail was the most incredible shock of white fur I had ever seen. She had a good long drink, gave us a good look over and continued on her evening rounds. She was just so flashy I had to name her Paris.

While waiting for the owls to start, we play "name that moth". The old trailer has 2 fluorescent lights that shine out the front windows, and within an hour after sunset the front of the trailer is covered in moths. Many, many different varieties. Our wool clothing that we left here is pretty much ruined. I don't care, because I never liked wool. I think wool is secretly one of those myths our elders brainwashed us with like "there's nothing like a good old fashioned Hudson bay blanket". Well, laying under a nice roll of fiberglass insulation certainly reminds me of that! So, if they ate the wool, it's just one more reason not to stay here in the winter.

For the truly hardy, these camps are easy and cheap to buy. They are everywhere in the north. Shop in spring when the warblers are singing, and you'll know immediately when you have found the right one. As long as you keep focused on the idea that it is a camp, and it will never be even close to code, you can relax and stop worrying about what the neighbors think. As soon as you convert them to being birders, the better they become as neighbors.

Regardless of where you are today, you can begin to create your own birding paradise by simply reducing what you mow, and stop using rodent poison. Birding in your bathrobe is a beautiful thing.