Don’t make me land down there.

It was one of my thoughts while flying in to visit central Illinois.

Apparently birds think the same. A new report from Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology finds that migrating birds view the USA’s Corn Belt as a barrier, similar to a large body of water like the Gulf of Mexico.

They modify their migration patterns across this area, flying faster and working harder to catch helpful tailwinds when crossing the Corn Belt, where more than 76% of the original forests and grasslands have been converted primarily to cornfields since the 1850s.

Unlike the Gulf of Mexico, the Corn Belt does provide rest areas – scattered forest patches, which appear to serve as important rest stops for migrating birds.

I’ve landed in central Illinois, but if the vast stretch of farmed fields is like an ocean, my neighborhood and the park next to it is an island. I rest here, sheltered by trees. So do the birds. When I bike or run out on the huge, flat land around me – a land that seems to have its own muscle tone, no matter what is growing on it – I instinctively steer toward clumps of trees surrounding homes and following streams. Birds do the same. My forested back yard is full of them this spring.

I’ve identified (discovered) a few types of warblers in my yard and the park. I see cedar waxwings almost every day. There’s one red headed woodpecker who keeps returning to my feeder.

Without trying, I’ve become the owner and operator of a fueling station for migrating birds. It feels good to live in a refuge.