Caught on Film: Taylor Swift's Favorite Bird Field Guide

Birdchaser Interview: Attuvian John Puschock

John Puschock is a Seattle-based bird tour leader and owner of Zugunruhe Birding Tours, which offers tours to far-flung birding hot spots including the fabled Attu Island in the Aleutians. I've been dreaming about going to Attu since the early 1980s, when I first read about it in James Vardaman's classic recounting of his 1979 North American Big Year Call Collect, Ask for Birdman. In 1995, when I was planning my own North American Big Year as a fundraiser for Audubon (but that's another story), I actually paid the $300 down payment for a spring trip to Attu, but when Audubon pulled its support for the venture and I lost that deposit and a few years later Attour closed down its trips. It looked like my chances of getting to Attu, and seeing dozens of cool Siberian vagrant birds in North America, were gone for good. A few years ago Victor Emanuel Nature Tours stopped by Attu, and last year Zugenruhe started offering boat-based trips there again. So perhaps I can still get out there yet!

I first met John Puschock back in 2006 when I was out in San Diego. I found a locally rare Marbled Murrelet off La Joya Cove, and John was one of the incredulous birders who showed up to look for it for several days before it was rediscovered and my sighting was vindicated. The funniest thing I remember about hanging out with John at La Jolla Cove was when I asked if I could borrow his scope, and he said I could as long as I didn't have pink eye. Funny guy!

Anyway, I've kept up with John off and on over the past few years, and am happy to have him join me on here for a Birdchaser Interview:

BIRDCHASER: So, when we met back in 2006, were you already leading tours then?

JP: First off, if the line about the pink eye was the funniest thing you
remember, I must have been having an off day. Sorry about that ;-)

And yes, I started leading tours in 2004 for Bird Treks, and when I moved to San Diego in 2005, I also began a business doing day trips around southern CA. I’ve since moved to Seattle and started Zugunruhe Birding Tours, but I still work for Bird Treks, too. But I’ve dropped the San Diego day trip portion of the business since the commute was a killer.

B: How did you start going to the Aleutians?

JP: The long version of the story begins with me not seeing a Gray-headed Chickadee, at least not definitively, while working in northwest Alaska in 1998. But no one wants to read a long story on a blog...The short version is I read Ted Floyd’s account of his trip to Adak in Aug 2003 and that the island was becoming accessible to the general public, so I asked Bob Schutsky, owner of Bird Treks, if he’d be interested in working with me to develop a tour there. He said yes.

B: What have been some of your best birding experiences on Adak?

Literally at least ten things come to mind, but I’ll try to pare it down...Every time we go out on a boat to look for Whiskered Auklets is special. I’ve seen quite a few now, but it’s still a mythical bird to me. Seeing one just twenty feet away never gets old.

I’ve seen four Marsh Sandpipers on Adak, and those were all great. The last two were together, and I had seen one a week earlier when I didn’t have a group with me. I told the tour participants about that bird (the one I saw by myself) before they got there, and that I didn’t expect it to stick around long enough for them to see it. I was right about that, so finding another two while my group was there more than made up for that – snatching victory from the jaws of defeat added to the excitement.

But my favorite experience was finding an Eastern Spot-billed Duck. It was late in the day, probably 9 PM, and unfortunately I didn’t have a group with me at the time – I had stayed a few extra days after my group had left – so I was driving around Clam Lagoon by myself. I surprised a group of Mallards near the road, and they all jumped. I put my binoculars on part of the group flying away and thought to myself, “That one looks different.” It landed, I got a quick scope view, and I was soon flying down the road back to town to get the other birders on the island. Some of them were already in bed, but everyone came out for it.

B: How did you end up deciding to do trips to Attu?

JP: I’ll go with the short version again: I found a boat that was close enough to Adak to make the trip financially feasible. I know a few others had tried to get there since Attour closed up shop, but the stumbling block always was finding reasonable transportation. The closest appropriate boats had been in southeast Alaska, and the cost of getting them to the Aleutians was prohibitive. Luckily, I found out about a boat, the Puk-Uk, in Homer.

B: There was a serious Attu birding culture and community that developed around Attour. Are you getting some of those old Attuvians coming back now on your tours?

JP: I had one Attour Attuvian on last year’s trip (our first), two who were on the VENT trip in the fall of 2006, plus one of my guides, Mike Toochin, was an Attour guide throughout the 90s. Now that we’ve proved we can do the trip and I’ve been able to drop the price too, I’m hoping some more will join us. I’ve always been interested in the history and tradition of birding, so it would be great to hear stories about the old days.

B: How are trips to Attu different now than they were back in the glory days of Attour?

JP: We sleep and eat on the boat now, not the old buildings that Attour used. Those building are still there, by the way, along with everyone’s list totals written on the walls. There are fewer people on our trip, but otherwise I think it’s pretty similar. We have bikes to get around, and it’s still windy.

B: Given that some years are better than others, what should a birder expect to be able to see on your Attu trips?

That’s a tough question if you’re asking about Asian vagrants. Last spring, the Aleutians were plagued with north winds for weeks. That’s not the direction you want the winds to be blowing for vagrants, and we did miss some that I thought were a sure thing: Lesser Sand-Plover and Common Sandpiper come to mind. We also had low numbers of Wood Sandpipers (3) and Long-toed Stint (1). But we did get other “expected” species such as Rustic Bunting and Brambling, plus other less-expected species like Hawfinch, Red-flanked Bluetail, and the bird of the trip, the first accepted North American record of Solitary Snipe. Of course, the species normally resident in the Aleutians and Bering Sea would be expected. We saw tons (probably literally) of alcids, included Whiskered Auklet. We saw every seabird expected and not-so-expected in the area, including Short-tailed Albatross, Mottled Petrel, and Red-legged Kittiwake. The bottom line is that a birder can expect to see vagrants and other cool birds that can't be entirely predicted, though the Whiskered Auklets are very likely.

B: Can birders see as many birds on Attu with these smaller groups as they did back in the day when there were larger groups potentially covering more parts of the island?

JP: I’m sure we’ll miss a bird here and there with our smaller group, but I think we’ll get most of them. For a long time, I thought you could only bird the island with a large group, but then the thought occurred to me that Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks has been sending a team of two to the island for years to collect specimens, and they’ve been turning up good birds all the time. If two could do that, certainly ten could do even better.


BP: For the cost of an African safari, why should someone bird Attu or the Aleutians? What makes the Aleutians, and Attu in particular, so special?

I’m not going to tell anyone they should bird the Aleutians. Everyone has different interests. Even among the Attour crowd, people came for different reasons. From what I’ve heard, there were even a few who weren’t birders. But I will say why someone might enjoy it:

The Aleutians are a corner of the world that’s unlike anywhere else and almost certainly completely different than where you live. In that respect, it’s the same as an African safari or any other exotic location. It’s wild and remote. It’s an expedition. I like the excitement of not knowing what I might find...and then the excitement of finding it. And while Attour was finding all those first North American records, Attu was elevated to legendary status among birders, so there’s that aspect to it, too -- walking around Lower and Upper Base (where Attour used to stay) was like being in a shrine. Of course, if you want to pump up your ABA list, there’s no better place to go, particularly if it’s your first visit to the Bering Sea region.

There’s always that cost-per-bird issue with trips like this (and implicit in your question). If you’re a world birder, particularly if you’ve already seen the Beringian endemics like Whiskered Auklet and Red-legged Kittiwake, and your interest is getting more life birds, frankly there’s no reason to go to Attu. But if you’re into your ABA list, then this trip makes more sense, especially if you haven’t been to Alaska before. It would save having to make a separate trip for the Auklet, plus you may see all the resident species you would see at St. Paul, possibly saving a trip there (though admittedly the experiences would be different – at St. Paul you get to see the seabirds from close range while both you and the birds are on land).

I like to do trips that go beyond just ticking off lifers and are about the quality and/or uniqueness of the experience, and this is one of them. As an aside, I just got back from a tour that was my favorite ever – great birds, great people – and the trip list was only 19 species. No lifers for me, but among the 19 were Ross’s and Ivory Gulls, Spectacled Eider, and Snowy Owls. Gotta love that...But I don’t have anything against racking up a big trip list, either.

My answers are getting too long. How about some simple questions that don’t require me to think too much?

B: OK, before we finish up, maybe you could tell us your favorite thing about being a birding guide?

JP: The vicarious excitement of tour participants getting lifers and experiencing new things, but that isn’t unique to being a guide -- from my experience, just about every birder enjoys helping someone else find a bird. Getting to travel more than I would otherwise is another job benefit. I know you asked for just one thing but I’m giving you two.

That was my real world answer. My fantasy world answer would be something like this: Children running up and wanting me to autograph their binocular straps, the defeated and embarrassed look on old classmates’ faces at a high school reunion when they find out I’m a birding guide and they’re just brain surgeons and astronauts, all the attention from the ladies, and of course the money. That’s my fantasy world answer!

B: What advice might you give to potential tour participants about choosing the best tour for them?

JP: Wings (the tour company, not the band) has an essay on their website that has just about all the advice anyone would need, so even though I’m directing your readers to a competitor’s website, my advice would be to read that essay. The only additional advice would be to check with the tour operator to see when you’re expected to wake up in the morning. Not everyone enjoys getting up at o-dark-thirty.

B: And to get us out of here, gazing into your crystal ball, what new or upcoming trends do you see in birding and bird touring?

JP: Before I answer that, I want to say that if you’re not part of any trends, it doesn’t mean you’re a substandard birder. I don’t want to give the impression that you have to be part of a trend to be “with it”, and what we think of as birding will remain 98% unchanged, just as it has been since shotguns were traded in for field glasses. Also, these trends will be felt most by those of us for whom birding is a lifestyle (e.g., anyone reading your blog). With that said...

There will be an acceleration of the instant access to information that began in the early- to mid-90s due to wider use of and improvements in smartphone-type mobile devices, but it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that coming since listservs already have real-time updates coming in from iPhones and Blackberries.

Soon no one will be complaining about a field guide being too big to carry in the field because with color e-book readers and iPads we’ll be able to carry a birding library on one small device.

Birders will take advantage of their mobile devices and cameras with audio recording capability to make more sound recordings. This will eventually lead to less fear of any Red Crossbill splits.

One trend I hope to see in the next two years is a resurgent ABA. For that to happen, I think they need to start broadening their focus and also make the internet work for them instead of against them as it has been. For example, they could create members-only wiki site guides and convert their membership directory into a Facebook-like website. I wrote a lot more on that subject on my blog. You may want to check it out if you’re having trouble sleeping. Another thing I hope to see is a book about Guy McCaskie and/or the 1970s California birding scene.

In the realm of bird tours, I think multi-day pelagic trips will grow somewhat, and some “new” destinations, both within the ABA Area and worldwide, will become more popular. I could go into some of that in more detail, but I don’t want to beat you over the head with the self-promotion. ;)

Looking further into the future, mobile devices will be able to take a picture of a bird and identify it, leading us to debate if that’s really “birding” or not. While we’re arguing about that, our machines will become self-aware, realize human birders are unnecessary, and attempt to exterminate us all. After that, a certain someone in Arizona will finally complete his guide to flycatchers, something I’ve been waiting for since 1997.

B: Thanks John, hope to be out birding with you again soon, and not just visiting here on the interwebs. Best of luck on Attu--may all your trips be filled and first North American records abound!

JP: Thank you, Birdchaser!

Evolution of the Bird Photo Field Guide, Take 2

A couple years ago I charted the rise of the bird photo field guide. Since then, several new photo field guides have come out, including the Stokes guide that is out this month, and the photographic field guides of Paul Sterry and Brian Small that came out last year. And everyone is waiting to see Richard Crossley's field guide scheduled to come out next year.

In this review I want to focus on the Sterry & Small guides to emphasize what I think are the biggest problems with photo field guides. But first some things things that stand out about these twin Eastern and Western guides.

A) Large photos: Photos in these guides are generally generously sized--which is good in that they provide a nice look at the birds, but may be bad in that they take up so much room that we don't get as many photos of each species. The beautiful photos, most by Brian Small, are easily the best feature of these guides.

B) Non-square format: One of my pet peeves about photo field guides is that each page becomes a series of rectangle bird images. Sterry & Small break that up by editing the photos so that the birds break through the frame of the rectangle. At one level this is great so as to get rid of the boxiness of the guide. But in some cases it becomes a bit distracting, and makes it so that the eye doesn't quickly comprehend the species on the page and their relationship to each other, and one has to pay extra attention to the labeling to make sure which image goes with each species. My initial thoughts on this were "nice layout" but after more closer review, the layout is maybe more distracting than useful--even if it looks nicer.

C) No migration on maps: I think we've all come to expect seeing migratory pathways rendered on field guide maps. These guides don't have them, so birders in most of the country would not be able to use this book to determine which migratory species might occur in their area during passage.

And now for some more difficult comments. To facilitate this, I'd like to compare one typical two page spread with a similar spread from what I recently called the best field guide ever, Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition (like these Sterry & Small guides, also put out in the US by Princeton Press).


Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition


Sterry & Small (Western) Photographic Guide

First things to notice:

1) Fewer bird images: 16 bird images in the illustrated guide, only 4 in the photo guide. This seems to be a fairly consistent issue with photo guides--while an artist can cram images together in an aesthetic way, that is tough if not impossible to do to the same extent in a standard photo guide.

2) Fewer plumages depicted: This goes along with the first point. Note there are no juvenile birds depicted in the photo guide. In the case of these Sterry & Small guides, there seem to be huge gaps between what is covered here and in standard field guides. When was the last time we didn't get to see juvenile Northern Saw-Whet Owls in a field guide?

3) Photos don't show as much: Despite the claim that photos show birds more realistically than illustrations, photo field guides almost always fall down on this point--they just don't show what is really needed for us to see in order to make a good identification. Read the descriptions of a bird in any photo field guide, then look at the included photos and ask if you can really see that point in the photos. More often than the authors would care to admit, the feature just isn't visible in the photo.

Here are some examples from just this owl page--look closely to see if you can see these features mentioned in the text:

Northern Hawk-Owl
--"Long-tailed appearance is diagnostic" (maybe not too obvious in photo)
--"Gray-brown overall" (we only see under parts, not most of dorsal side)
--"Upperparts are marked with pale spots..." (again, we only see a little of the upperparts)
--"...smallest and densest on the head" (you can see this, but only on the crown)
--"Underparts are barred..." (thank you, yes that is visible)
--"as is the long, tapered tail" (tail hardly visible at all)
--"Eyes and bill are yellow and facial disc is pale and rounded..." (yes)
--"...with striking white eye-brows" (OK, its there, but photos of other owls on page have at least as striking eye-brows, so what's the point of the mention?)

Northern Saw-Whet Owl
OK view of back as described, but can't really see the "underparts whitish, but heavily streaked rufous." Again, juvenile not shown at all.

Boreal Owl
--"Rich brown plumage overall" (not visible)
--"Upperparts are marked with bold white spots, smallest and densest on head" (not really visible.
--"Underparts are whitish, but heavily streaked with rufous brown" (OK, but looks more dark brown than rufous in photos)
--"Facial disc is whitish with dark border (OK)
--"Yellow eyes" (eyes are mostly closed)
--"...framed by white eyebrows" (OK I guess, but not most distinctive feature.

That's not a great percentage of mentioned features readily visible in the photos.

4) "Extra photos": In this format, there are often "extra" photos over on the left-hand side within the text of the species accounts. Usually, more photos is better, but often in this guide the photos seem more attractive than useful. Case in point the Bristle-thighed Curlew illustration on the curlew page (above). Nice to have the bird illustrated, but just as with the owl page, most of the identifying features listed for the species are not visible in the photo at all.

5) Missing flight shots: This could just be another subset of the above categories, but for most birds we aren't given photos of the birds in flight. And sometimes when they are, they can cause problems, such as...

6) Photo artifacts create confusion: Case in point, the Great Egret shot on page 87 of the Western guide (p. 77 in the Eastern) seems to show the bird with black underwings. Experienced birders will know that this is a photographic artifact due to lighting, but a beginner could be easily mislead. Just another point that photos just don't always show the birds in the best way for them to be identified.

7) Distracting backgrounds: Great thing about an illustrated guide is that the birds can be depicted against a uniform background--usually white or another pale color to best show off the plumage. In photo guides, each bird is vignetted with what are usually just distracting background leaves or other features, making the eye and mind work harder to get a clear image of the bird itself. In illustrated guides, backgrounds can be shown that are actually useful, such as the numerous small image shots of birds in the Birds of Europe that illustrate interesting behaviors or habitat features.

8) Clutter: Sometimes the guide succumbs to the temptation to pack in too many images in too small a space, such as pp.158-159 in the Western Guide, where 12 variously sized photos of Western Gull, Sabine's Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake are so crowded as to be distracting.

9) Poor Comparisons: That same crowded gull plate illustrates another problem--because of the nature of fitting photographs onto the pages, you rarely get good close images of two similar species in proximity to each other. A standard of illustrated field guides is to depict similar species right next to each other to facilitate easy comparison. You just can't do that as well with photos. On the crowded gull plate, there is no reason to have Western Gull next to these smaller species--it would be better served in close proximity to some of the other larger gulls.

Granted, many of the problems with these guides are shared by other photo field guides, so in some cases I am just pointing out the limitations of this genre.

However, when it comes to the text, there are plenty of other frustrating things to puzzle about. I'll just mention the biggest problem--

Similar species: For the most part, and I think this is the book's fatal flaw, the book just doesn't tell us how to identify birds from others that may be similar. This is really bad in tough ID cases--like Empidonax flycatchers--as precious little is given here for those birds. There is no similar species section (except when there are extra-limital or range-limited similar species not covered by their own species account), and the text for most species usually doesn't mention other similar birds at all. When distinguishing features are mentioned, they are often not visible on the photos (see point #3 above). So birders are left to try and photo match what they see with one of the photos in the book, really can't use this to reliably identify more than just the most distinctive birds.

On books I like a lot, I usually list all the great things about it, then may have to mention a few problems or things I don't care for at the end. In this case, sadly, I'm left at the end of the review having spilled a lot of ink without dishing out many praises. But there are a few things that I liked that I can draw attention to in these books. The photos, despite not being the most useful for identification purposes, are by and large excellent and beautiful. This may well be the "most lavishly illustrated photographic guide" to North American birds as plugged on the back jacket. I also liked the "observation tips" section at the end of each species account. Sometimes there is fun or useful information there, such as when we are told for the Northern Hawk-Owl that "Low density, nomadic habits, and fickle site faithfulness make it tricky to pin down. However, on the plus side, diurnal habits and fondness for perching on treetops allow supurb views if you do find one." Of course, as with the other features of this book, sometimes this section is less than useful, as when it says that a species is "easy to see" or in the case of the American Golden-Plover when it states that the birds are "most reliably found by visiting Arctic breeding grounds in summer." What? Sorry, not useful for most of us!

Which is probably what I have to say in conclusion about these books. In many ways they are beautiful, but probably not useful for most of us.

Other online reviews:
10,000 Birds
Birdfreak
The Birder's Library

Best Bird Field Guide Ever...Again

Earlier this year Princeton University Press (in the US) published Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney, and Dan Zetterström's Birds of Europe: 2nd Edition (published in Europe by HarperCollins as the Collins Bird Guide). There are some glowing reviews out there (see links here), to which I need to add my own.

The 1st edition was the best field guide I had ever seen, and I can now say the same thing about this 2nd edition.

As one reviewer noted, many of the North American species included here are treated better than they are in most American field guides. If you are birding in Europe, are a North American birder who dreams of finding Eurasian vagrants, or just want to rediscover the fun of reading a field guide (seriously, how much fun are most field guides to read these days, with most including dense telegraphed lines of bird description?), then you really need to pick up a copy of this guide.

A fairly random example of the fun and useful writing in this masterpiece:

(Northern) Hawk Owl Surnia ulula
L. 35-43 cm, WS 69-82 cm. Mainly resident in boreal forests, often in upper tree zone on mountainous slopes (mixed conifers and birch), preferring vicinity of bog, meadow or clearfell. Fluctuating numbers, some years locally fairly common. In some autumns considerable numbers move south. About five records in Britain in 20th Century. Partly diurnal. Food voles (main prey, taken on ground after watch from treetop) and birds (e.g. thrushes; capable of catching prey as large as Willow Grouse). Nests in tree-hole ('chimney' or vertical) or abandoned raptor's nest. Caution: Can fiercely attack intruders when young leave nest; do not go near, and keep your eyes fixed on parents while in sight of young just out of a nest!

What's not to like about that!?! And this is just the intro section to the species account. There is twice as much text following this section, where the bird is described in an Identification section and a Voice section.

Which leads me to the characteristic that makes this the best field guide ever. The identification section for each species focuses on the characteristics that most clearly identify the bird. In many modern field guides, there is a tendency to describe the species completely, and a lot of space is used to describe plumage characteristics even if they aren't that important for identifying a bird. Call me crazy, but when I read a field guide I'm looking for information on how to identify a bird--so give me that information in as tight and clear a manner as possible. I shouldn't have to dig, I shouldn't be scratching my head at the end of the description section wondering out of all that information what is the most important things to look for in identifying the bird and making sure it isn't some other similar species. This Birds of Europe guide is a great example of how to do this--by concentrating of field marks useful in identifying the bird (with most important identifying features indicated in italic text), rather than on an overall description of features readily apparent in the illustrations.

Which brings me to the illustrations. Most reviewers focus on the illustrations. Again, best illustrations in any field guide. I love them. I'm a big fan of Sibley's field guide paintings, but these paintings by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom are simply amazing, conveying the shape and plumage of the birds as they are most likely to be seen in the field. There are over 3500 illustrations of the 772 species included in this guide, and since some of those illustrations show multiple birds (e.g. flocks of birds), it is common for most species to be shown in have five or more illustrations, which include almost all sex and age differences.

Captions of text with lines pointing to relevant plumage features as well as notes on important behaviors are included on the illustrations themselves, putting the information right where you need it most. If you are a fan of photo guides, you really need to get this guide so you can see how much better good illustrations are at conveying the information needed for comparing and identifying bird species. The text in the main section and the caption points out what are most important--be they details of feathers, or more general impressions of shape and size (GISS or jizz). I love how Hawk Owls are noted to have a "grim look" while Tengmalm's Owl--our Boreal Owl--is noted to have an "astonished look" and the European Pygmy Owl is depicted as having an "austere look"--important and unique facets of a bird's overall appearance that you won't find in most other guides.

The voice section of each species account provides more information than found in most field guides, describing many different songs or calls, often accented notes marked in bold type), which helps convey even more of the quality of the notes.

There is so much more to be said about this guide. Great maps. Extremely valuable sections on how to ID tricky groups of birds (like gulls and jaegers). A comprehensive, yet concise glossary in the introduction section. Did I mention how it does all this in a highly readable format?

Let me just end by repeating this point: the purpose of a field guide is to help you identify birds. Birds of Europe: 2nd Edition makes that easier than almost any other guide for almost any bird you may find in Europe. The illustrations and text are wedded and presented in a concise format that gives birders the most important information needed for bird identification. It is a gem by which all other gems are to be compared.

This review is written on the basis of a review copy of the second edition provided by Princeton University Press.

CeleBIRDy Twitter IATB #136

I recently got in trouble for suggesting that birders are too geeky. Turns out there are plenty of famous and cool people who are not only birders, but bird blog readers. As I set out to do this latest I and the Bird, I checked some celebirdy Twitter feeds and found I could do a whole I and the Bird just by retweeting their tweets!

RT @Brangelina We love birding with the kids, thanks N8 for showing us how http://tinyurl.com/3afoyd7


RT @LadyG ooh la la egret pics http://tinyurl.com/2fvx2xn


RT @IceT Me and Coco gotta get more of that global birding, hattip Eddie http://tinyurl.com/2vo5pe4


RT @JackBlackbird Panama's being crazy invaded by huge swarms of birds http://tinyurl.com/32c9m4l


RT @BirdJoaquin can't get enough of Sweetwater http://bit.ly/a4S6px #DawnFine


RT @Madea I'm having some me time with a big white bird! Gotcha! http://tinyurl.com/25pkl7p


RT @SelmaH nobody digiscopes like the BESG folks, see kingfisher catches frog http://tinyurl.com/25oqoj5

RT @FreakNasty U wanna dip with dis bird? Check out the little dipper http://tinyurl.com/2u22mql


RT @JeffGordon despite what you may have heard I'm not new prez of ABA http://tinyurl.com/29zrzxv


RT @BirderBeck nothing makes me weep like a good kinglet photo! http://tinyurl.com/3yco32s


RT @Beardchaser thanks for the tip on the shorebirds at Sandy Hook @dendroica http://tinyurl.com/2bg9p73


RT @Biebirder dude, check out Corey's kinglets http://tinyurl.com/2e9jubk

RT @BoratBins I do anything get in next I and Bird. Me too? High five! http://10000birds.com/iandthebird

Will Bird for Peanuts

More Mayan Bird Talks

Wednesday night (Oct 13) at 7pm I'll be speaking to the Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon in Cold Harbor, New York.

On Tuesday night, October 26, I'll be presenting to the Bucks County Birders at the Peace Valley Nature Center in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Both talks will be on Birds of the Ancient and Modern Maya.

Birds have played important roles in Mesoamerican cultures for thousands of years. We will explore the connections between birds and various Mayan cultures as revealed in their ancient art and in my ongoing field work with seven modern Mayan communities in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. In addition to reviewing the songs and calls of Central American birds, if you want to know how the Turkey Vulture got its red head, which bird you can burn to a crisp to make into a love potion, why you can't have sex before you plant your corn crop, or how to cure warts, this is the program for you!

Freaks, Geeks, and Birders

For the record, this is me at age 13. In addition to the Bushnell 7x35 binocular, notice the brown pants, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge bird t-shirt, K-Mart shoes. I'm holding my plastic-framed turn-dark-in-the-sun eyeglasses. In a word, I'm a geek.

Chances are, if you are reading this, you are too. Or you were. Being a teenage birder, it was clear that I was a geek. Then I grew up. After decades of hanging out with other birders, I almost started to think I was normal. Then I had kids and started hanging out with other parents. No, birding was not somehow more cool than it used to be. Even though 1 in 5 people enjoy watching birds, being a real birder is not cool.

Just look at us!





Again, for the record, I'm including myself here. Aren't we just a little too White and Birdy? ABA board member John Robinson has written about the need to reach out to non-white audiences in Birding for Everyone. How we doin' on that? Even among white folks, are we covering the demographics? Last I looked, ABA members were mostly upper middle class (and higher), with household incomes over twice the national average. Relatively, we make a lot of money. But we're still on the geeky side.

So, what to do? Can we make birding less geeky? The Big Year movie coming out next summer should give us another look at how the rest of America sees birders and birding.

Just for fun, what if more birders looked more like this?





I'm not saying birding has to be cool. But a bigger tent might make it a little more fun!

ABA Growth Opportunities

I spent a good amount of time last month looking at birding demographics. Here's a chart showing to scale various birding populations in the United States (click to enlarge).

There are various ways to calculate both Audubon and American Birding Association membership, so these should be taken as rough estimates. Either way, you can see that membership in these bird organizations is very small compared to the number of people that are interested in birds, or regularly birding. With 2.4 million adult Americans keeping a life list of birds seen, ABA has huge growth potential just targeting these people.

How does birding membership compare with other groups? Well, there are reportedly 1.1 million duck hunters in the United States. How many of them are members of Ducks Unlimited? 608,154. Over half of all duck hunters are DU members! So, what are the differences between birders and hunters that make it so that half of all duck hunters will join DU, but only a tiny fraction of birders will join ABA? Alternatively, what is it that DU provides its constituency, that ABA isn't providing right now for birders?

Can you imagine an ABA with 500,000 members? Imagine what we could accomplish if 500,000 birders were united in fun and the protection of the wild birds we enjoy!

Vaux's vs. Chimney Swift

Ever seen a swift that seemed a little bit funny, and maybe you thought it might be a Vaux's Swift (if you live in the East) or a Chimney Swift (if you live in the West)? How do you really ID either one if they are out of range? How would you identify an odd, especially silent Chaetura swift?

Kevin Karlson has posted some photos comparing Chimney and a supposed Vaux's Swift online here. Chimney is on the right, Vaux's on the left.

Seems pretty obvious, right? Then take a look at the second photo. Tougher?

Kevin's description of the differences is on the ID Frontiers listserv (5 Oct 2010).

David Sibley has a new discussion on this on his own blog.

New ABA President--Jeff Gordon

This morning the American Birding Association announced that its board of directors has named my friend Jeff Gordon as its new President. I've known Jeff since I moved to Texas in the mid-1990s. Jeff was working for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, and brought me on to lead bird tours at the Harlingen Birding Festival. Jeff moved to Delaware shortly after that and I only saw him infrequently for a few years, but it has been fun to spend more time together since I moved out to nearby Pennsylvania. Besides being an expert birder, Jeff is a great human being, with all the organizational and interpersonal skills needed to be a great ABA President.

The ABA board has clearly signaled that they are taking the desires and needs of the birding community seriously. It is heartening to see all of the congratulations and well wishes going on across the blogs, email lists, and Facebook. But this isn't the end, it is only the beginning. It might be tempting to celebrate today and then go back to birding as usual. For all of us who care about the ABA, and the future of birding as a sport/hobby/be-all-end-all or whatever, what Jeff and the ABA need now more than our congratulations is our support.

Here's what you can do right now to support Jeff and the ABA:

1) Join the ABA. If you aren't a member, it's time to pony up and join the party.

2) Up your commitment. Add an extra donation to your membership to help the ABA grow.

3) Give a gift membership. Especially for a young birder in your local birding club that is just starting out.

4) Get your friends to join. This is OUR ABA. Invite your friends to the party.

5) Give of yourself. If you have an idea for how the ABA can better serve us as birders, contact Jeff and volunteer to make it happen. It isn't the job of the ABA board or staff to do all the work while we members just enjoy the benefits. This is YOUR ABA so take ownership of it and do what you can to make it the kind of organization you want it to be.

The ABA is just over 40 years old. In 40 more years, in 2050 there will be 110 million additional Americans. How many of these people will be birders? How many birds will there be for us to watch? If population trends continue, some of our birds aren't going to make it. What will we think looking back on these next 40 years? Did birders come together as a force for good in protecting the wild birds that we love? Will the ABA remain an organization for mostly white, well educated, and economically prosperous members, or will its membership reflect the ethnic, educational, and economic differences among the birding community and larger American society in general? Now is the time to answer those questions, and to build the birding community and an ABA that we will all be proud to have been a part of.

So Jeff, congratulations. But even more than my congratulations you have my support. I look forward to a future of ABA and birding that will be both more fun for more people as well as a greater force for good in the world!

How Well Do You Know--Blue Jay

So, how well do you know your common birds? There are three things "wrong" with this Blue Jay. What are they?

Birdchaser at University of Pennsylvania

My upcoming talk to the Precolumbian Society at the University of Pennsylvaina Museum on October 9

The Woodpecker is a Witch! Birds among the modern and ancient Maya

Birds have played important roles in Mesoamerican cultures for thousands of years. Rob Fergus explores the connections between birds and various Mayan cultures and presents results from his ongoing field work with Kerry Hull among seven different Mayan language groups in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Bird names and bird lore--including notes about birds as social and environmental prognosticators--shed light on modern Mayan world views as well as scenes involving birds in ancient Mayan art and ethnohistoric accounts of later historic Mayan societies.

Best Bird Guide for Beginners?

So yesterday I spent an hour with my Rowan University students teaching them how to identify birds with a field guide. We did it as a game, with each team having two field guides to use, and each team getting points for how fast they were able to identify each bird slide using their guides. I had the teams switch field guides several time, so the students got to try out different ones.

So the exercise served two purposes--the students learned how to identify birds with a field guide, and I got to see how they did it and which guides they liked and why.

I was surprised on both accounts. These students, who have had just one lecture on SPASTIC bird identification and one half hour bird walk, were remarkably quick at finding the birds in the guides. And it didn't seem to matter which bird book they used. I definitely had prejudices about which guide I thought would be easiest for them to use, but they surprised me. Here's a few comments:

Old Peterson: Most didn't like it, mostly because of the black and white plates.
Little Sibley: They liked it a lot, especially the quick index in the back.
Kaufman: They liked it, especially the onces who figured out how to use the quick index.
Smithsonian: Several students really liked this, and they were able to get on birds as quickly as with the other guides.
NWF Guide: Again, like the Smithsonian Guide, the students seemed to do find with this one too.
Nat Geo: A bit too much for them, not preferred.

Overall, there weren't too many strong feelings expressed one way or the other (they are college students and not always the most forthcoming!). But they had fun, and watching them, they seemed able to use all the guides fairly well, though Nat Geo and Old Peterson were the least preferred and students using them were never the first to ID any bird.

So, not a scientific focus group, but fun and interesting. Makes me want to do more field testing of field guides with absolute beginners. Anyone else out there put field guides head to head in field trials with beginners? What makes a good field guide for beginners? Which ones do you recommend and why?

Global Birding

Birding, more than anything, is characterized by dreaming. While birdwatchers may be satisfied to enjoy the birds they happen to see in their yard or wherever they may be, birders are always seeking and dreaming about birds unseen. If you have birds that you want to see, but haven't--you are a birder.

Global Birding, the latest National Geographic book by Les Beletsky fans the fuel of such dreams. Written primarily for North American birders with dreams of shiny exotic birds, each chapter of its 320 pages introduces the reader to the birds and birding possibilities of a continent, with sections on regions within each continent of special interest to birders--and since this is National Geographic, the requisite gorgeous photographs of birds and landscapes, as well as basic maps for the geographically challenged. Global Birding provides tips on traveling in each region, as well as an overview of the significant bird families and species in each region. This makes Global Birding useful to would be travelers, as well as arm-chair travelers who may never save up the serious coin that it takes to reach some of the more exotic birding destinations. You may never actually get to see a Helmeted Vanga, but after spending some time with Global Birding, you will at least know what it is, where to find it, and what it might take to find one.

In thumbing through Global Birding, I was glad to see that Beletsky provides the names of the local birding and conservation organizations in each region--along with web addresses. Sidebars provide recommendations on the best field guides and site guides for each region. There are also dozens of sidebars with information on birding unique locations or tips on spotting high profile species like Gray-necked Rockfowl or Dwarf Jay.

As a geographer, I really enjoyed the introductory chapter on The Geography of Birds, with its review of bird diversity by country and bioregions. Tables provide information on Endemic Bird Areas within each country, as well as how many restricted-range species occur there. Sidebars also show the reader which countries have the most endemic species, as well as the most globally threatened species. All the while stoking the fire of bird lust with gorgeous photographs of birds you may never even have heard of--like Peruvian Plantcutters, Upland Goose, or the Coral-billed Ground-Cuckoo.

Now the sad part, where I complain that I wish the book were bigger. I wish there were more info on more birds--but of course, that itch can never be fully scratched. I'm a birder. I always want more. More pages. More birds. But lets not get carried away. There have to be limits. But when it comes to the maps, I think the book could have done more with what it already had. The maps are pretty basic, and could have provided so much more information on birding locations, endemic bird areas, etc. For example, major rivers are often depicted but not labeled. The map of Asia doesn't even have political boundaries. We know National Geographic can make some sweet maps, but the ones here aren't anything to write home about.

Other than that, my only other concern is that this book is dangerous! You can't just show a birder pictures of exotic birds and landscapes without fueling a desire to get out and see those places and birds--which in this case involves considerable expense. So be forewarned. The more time you spend with Global Birding, the more you will want to be a global birder. The book is a call to adventure, the adventure of birding on a global scale. It is not for the faint of heart. Peruse at your own risk!

Disclosure Info

Name that Peep

A nice morning walk around the reservoir at Pine Run this morning.


Not a huge amount of shorebird diversity (see list at end), and didn't get any great digiscope shots. For example, name that peep!


Best birds were two lingering Stilt Sandpipers. Mostly it was just fun to be out and walk in the mud. Brings back memories of shorebirding on the coast of Oregon as a kid before I had a scope and I had to wade out into the estuaries to see my first Semipalmated Sandpiper. Here's where I had to turn around this morning because I sank up to my knees in mud. Fun.



Location: Pine Run--Bucks Co.
Observation date: 9/20/10
Number of species: 29

Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 2
Mallard 8
Green-winged Teal 4
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 2
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Semipalmated Plover 3
Killdeer 4
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 9
Semipalmated Sandpiper 12
Least Sandpiper 74
Stilt Sandpiper 2
Ring-billed Gull 2
Mourning Dove 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 12
American Crow 30
Carolina Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 2
American Robin 6
European Starling 35
Song Sparrow 5
House Finch 6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Let's Go Birding!

Last night at the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club meeting I was able to hang out with Ted Floyd and pick up a copy of his latest Let's Go Birding! booklet published by the American Birding Association.

While the 32 page booklet was written "with the modern beginner in mind," it is probably more useful for someone who is off to a decent birding start already. For instance, there are no tips about how to choose or use binoculars, or even much about the specifics of identifying birds. What Let's Go Birding! delivers is more of an extended essay on what makes a good birder. And we're not talking Kenn Kaufman's "Birding is something that we do for enjoyment, so if you enjoy it, you’re a good birder" kind of good birder. What we are talking about here is a serious, or maybe better yet, a more detail oriented birder.

What Floyd is urging beginners, and all of us really, is to take up a regimen of more rigorous bird study. Floyd wants us to slow down, spend more time looking at individual birds, and study their every move, feather, habit, and song. He wants us to really know our birds, and he offers plenty of thoughts about how to do that by keeping a notebook, learning bird songs, and regularly birding a local patch.

The booklet features photos by Bill Schmoker. They are mostly decent, but I did wonder why were are given a fuzzy Long-tailed Duck image on page 16. And the printing quality of the copy I got seems dark and muddled--for instance the cover shot looks nowhere near as clear as the image online here.

In the end, I enjoyed the booklet, and it did inspire me to take a look at my own birding. I too frequently fall into the "identify everything that moves" groove, where I dart from looking at one bird to the next, rather than spending much time looking at any individual bird. After reading Let's Go Birding!, I did follow Floyd's instructions to go outside and really look at a robin. Fortunately there was one on the power line along the alley behind my house. It was fun to just watch the robin, and I think I will start sketching birds again--something I've let slide for the past few years (except when I see a rarity). I fully expect my own birding skills will improve as I take Floyd's message and methods to heart.

So while you can be a good birder (ala Kaufman) without following the path of a good birder (ala Floyd), it is nice to read one very dedicated birder's take on how to be a better birder. I also enjoyed musing about Floyd's encouragement to "think of this little book as your personal guide for exploration and self-discovery." Birding as self-help. But in a nice way.

"Our basic human nature endows us with the skills, the wisdom, and most of all the mindset to become expert birders. All we need to do is turn off the television and power down the computer. All we need to do is step outside, smell the flowers, and look for robins."

And there you have it. Let's Go Birding! is a guided meditation on birds and how to be with them in a way that you will become more intimately acquainted with them, and hopefully, derive more enjoyment from the deeper acquaintance. The Way of Birding outlined here isn't the only way to bird. But it does represent one path to development as a birder. And maybe even enlightenment and freedom:

"We live in a land of plenty, but our lives can be empty and unsatisfied. We crave beauty, but sometimes we don't know where to look for it. Do yourself a favor. This weekend, head out into the woods or off to the shore. Take a young birder with you. Together, you will rediscover beauty, abundant and free."

What's not to like about that?

I think this would be a great little book to give someone with a casual or growing interest in birds. Backyard birders especially, who regularly watch birds, but are perhaps open to developing a closer connection to the birds in their yard and neighborhood. It might be a good tool to help some of the tens of millions of casual birdwatchers become a more serious or committed birder. I would think wild bird feed stores would be a good place to sell these booklets, and it might be nice to pick one up for your local public or school library.

As Paul Baicich told us Wednesday night in his talk to the Delmarva Ornithological Society meeting (it's been a full week of bird meetings for me!), bird conservation depends on growing the number of people connected to and supportive of birds. Let's Go Birding! is a fun little tool that will surely inspire some folks to take their enjoyment of birds to a deeper level. Again, what's not to like about that!?!

Eagle Grabs Dog

Here's another email I get all the time over at AbsoluteBirdControl.com:

I live in a residential city area. I often have my 2 small dogs, a West highland Terrior and a King Charles Cavalier in the yard. Recently my neighbor noticed a hawk flying over my yard and sitting in a large tree in the back neighbors property. How do I deter this hawk from coming and killing my dogs? Is there a fake wolf or something I can put in the yard? Will it swoop down with me back there with the dogs? The dogs love to romp around in the yard. Thanks for any information you can provide.

Fortunately, eagles (let alone hawks) are not much of a threat for dogs. This is one that lives more in the realm of urban legend than reality. I have to wonder how much this Sandra Bullock film has planted fear in the heart of small dog owners. There have probably been a few dogs snatched by eagles over the years, but it has to be a very rare occurrence and not something most dog owners should worry about. So just for the record, in case you are wondering--your dog is safe!

Stilted Birding

This morning I went out for some stilted birding. The standard definition of stilted is "stiffly or artificially formal; stiff." Well, that doesn't describe my morning at all. I heard there was a good shorebird movement over at Pine Run--where I had been on Friday but hadn't seen too much. So I headed back over there and ran into local bird photographer Howard Eskin. I'm always happy to run into Howard, especially since he survived a scary incident on the jetty at Barnegat. We're lucky to still have him around.

Anyway, I spent a fun morning chasing shorebirds around the edge of Pine Run with Howard as he snapped away with his giganormous telephoto lens and I scanned the roving flocks for a Baird's Sandpiper that was reportedly limping around the lake with a stick and fishing line wrapped around one of its legs.

We eventually did see the Baird's when a flock of Least Sandpipers and Semipalmated Sandpipers flew by, that's when it was easiest to see the bigger bird in their midst. But we spent most of the time chasing around a small group of five Stilted Sandpipers (hence the "stilted" birding). I don't get to see too many of these birds here in Bucks County, so it was fun to have them feeding in the water almost at our feet. Here are some of Howard's shots. I tried to do some digiscoping with my HTC Incredible phone, but had a tough time of it.

Anyway, great to spend an hour at the shorebird flats on a Monday morning. Man I love shorebirds!

Birding & Being

My wife is not a birder. She is a runner. Even when she isn't running, when months or years go by without a good run, there is a core part of her that can only be understood when you take into account what it means to be a runner.

For my wife, and many other runners, the magazine Runners World is their lifeline and George Sheehan, who wrote a regular column there until his death in 1993, was their inspiration. His Running & Being, a book length collection of his columns and thoughts is a classic. Not just a classic, but THE classic running book. The bible of runners. As one reviewer at Amazon wrote, Sheehan

tells running as it is, as he is. You'll read this book and continually say, "My god, that's it, that's what I feel, that's how I am too." Soon, things you'd suspected about yourself, become clearer. Questions like, "Why do you run?", begin to have meaningful answers.

Running is more than strapping on special shoes and jogging off down the road. There is a spirit to it. Running takes you to mental and spiritual places you can't get to otherwise.

The more I think about it, birding is the same. Birding isn't just strapping on binoculars and heading out to look at birds. It is a journey that takes you to hidden worlds--worlds that only exist for birders.

Like the world of the Golden-crowned Kinglet. Unless you are a birder, that bird doesn't even exist. I know, because I remember when that world opened up for me. In eighth grade, when the birding bug bit me hard and I started birding every day after school, I remember pouring over my Golden Guide and being amazed at the kinglets. Could such creatures really be out there? How could there be something so amazing out there and nobody I knew had even heard about it? Finally, on 7 Oct 1981 the Ruby-crowned Kinglet appeared in my neighbor's oak tree. Two months later, I was ushered into another new world when the Golden-crowned Kinglet showed up.

Every time you go birding, you enter, like a shaman, into worlds unseen by the uninitiated--the non-birders. Then, even when you aren't technically birding, you may pop in and out of those worlds as you drive down the road or walk down the street. You can't ever not be birding. Birds show up, and call you away, to follow them as they soar over freeways or flit across your path. You are a new kind of being. Once the birds show up for you, you are a birder. Like it or not.

In a world full of interwebs, cable television, and online everything, there is a crying need for more birders--people who can see and enter otherwise unseen worlds. Birders, herpers, fisherman, hunters, gardeners, farmers. Without these spiritual sojourners, the worlds of birds, lizards, fish, elk, and trilliums disappear. Vanish. Perish. This planet is a multipurpose earth. Not Google Earth, to be summoned at will on our laptops. But a living vibrant globe filled with overlapping and interwoven worlds of myriad beings that we barely know exist unless we venture out into their realms.

Life is good. There are birds out there. They call to us and we respond. We are birders.

What would you say?

Some people just don't like birds. Here's an actual email I got as part of my work helping people with their bird control issues at Bird-B-Gone.

I am interested in your sonic system to rid my home property of birds. It is less than an acre with trees all around on the block. My little dog is terrified of the birds going off every morning singing and talking outside my bedroom window. It sounds like a symphony is playing on the other side of the wall and it is driving me crazy. The birds I see are the blue jay; a bird with a white body and black wings; and, of course, the black crow that seems to lurk everywhere. I am sure there are other breeds mixed in; but, these are the big culprits.

I think the sonic system will be the easiest and the quickest way for me to solve the problem. What do you think based off of the birds I described? Will it send the neighborhood birds around me to the next block? I look forward to your recommendations.

So...how would you respond to a situation like this? (Be nice!)