Hello, welcome to the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association.

I am Nate Swick.

I think birders know more than most the value of the surprising site, the unexpected site.

It's not a park or a preserve or even a place for which its

first purpose is protecting nature, but for whatever reason it ends up attracting birds

and becomes through years and years of visits and hundreds of thousands of birds, one of the

most important spots in a local birding community. We all have places that we're thinking about

when I give you that description.

And I think that we know the sadness that comes along when that site is no longer available

to us for any number of reasons.

That is frustratingly the case for birders in Fort Worth, Texas, with the recent closing

of the Village Creek drying beds.

The beds were originally created as an overflow site for the city's water treatment system,

but as is frequently the case for these sorts of things,

became one of North Texas's best sites for waterfow, shorebirds, wintering, sparrows, raptors,

and more.

It hosted Lipkins during the hot Limbken summer phenomenon, and it was the spot where

the first Texas record of sharp-tailed Sampiper was discovered in 1991.

It's the quintessential local burning spot that birders valued perhaps more than just about

anybody.

Earlier this year, though, a crude oil transmission line leaked into the Fort Worth sewer,

and that line was diverted to the drying beds for emergency containment, which meant that a lot

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