What do you think of when you think of the word "birding?" For most of us, we think of the active pursuit of lifebirds. Many of us have fallen into the trap of "ticking" off a sighting of that species as a so-called "trashbird." For others, birding is a competitive sport. Each one of us tries to see how many birds we can find in a year, or in a day, or to add to our lifelists. Yet for others, birding is nothing more than a hobby. Birding can be an enjoyable, pleasurable experience if we take the time to look around us.
I enjoy birding mainly for the thrill and excitement it brings, lifebirds or not. The number of species on my lifelist doesn't matter to me anymore. Whether I reach #400 in the near future isn't as important as pursuing those species that I call "prime target" species. These are birds that I've always wanted to see but have never been able to find, or are hundreds or thousands of miles away from home. Last year (1993) was an exceptional year for me, since I found 6 "prime target" lifebirds that I have spent most of my 15 year birding career pursuing. It was a great thrill to find the Connecticut Warbler at Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbus last spring, a "prime target" that I have been searching for for eleven (11) years! And who can soon forget the Yellow-headed Blackbirds that put on quite a show for some very lucky birders along Lake Erie last May? It is always nice to be able to share these experiences with someone else, as when Hank Armstrong and I stumbled upon a White-winged Scoter at the Oxbow last March while searching for the reported Red-throated Loon, or when we specifically pursued the Chuck-will's-widow in Adams county last summer and got it! Hank is a great guy to bird with, and we always exchange "High-Fives" when we get a great find! Other great finds last year were the three Red Crossbills in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, and the Sabine's Gull at Caesar's Creek that has led me on "wild goose chases" many times before.
Hank Armstrong and me at the site of a Red-shouldered Hawk nest at East Fork State Park in 1998. The nestlings were banded by Jeff Hays as part of his ongoing research on the species. Sadly, Hank passed away in October 2007. He will be missed.
But, aside from life listing, there are many other aspects of birding that are just as rewarding. Of course, all of us enjoy spring and fall migration, when we can easily approach 100 species on a good day, but what about bird behavior? How many of us really take the time to observe behavior, which oftentimes in the spring and summer can lead us to a nest? Nest-watching is one of my favorite activities because there are so many fascinating things to be learned and discovered, even with everyday common species such as cardinals and chickadees. For example, how many of you knew that the male cardinal takes care of the first brood of young while the female goes off to build a new nest for a second brood, or that during the summer cardinals will feed on insects, not just sunflower seeds?
Finally, in our present day of conservation needs, it is important that we monitor our bird populations. We must not lose focus in our pursuit of life birds and let populations of our favorite birds dwindle toward extinction. Therefore, I suggest participation in population studies. There are several programs available to amateur and advanced bird enthusiasts such as bird-a-thons, Christmas bird counts, and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes. This perspective of birding is not entirely new, but draws our attention toward the more practical aspects of birding.
I look forward to the surprises that birding has to offer in 1994. I have yet to find that Red-throated Loon, and who knows, maybe one of you will be standing there with me when I do! Happy Birding in '94 and I hope to see you in the field.
[Author's note: This article was published in the Cincinnati Bird Club's newsletter, The Passenger Pigeon, in 1994. The citation is below.]
Brinkman, D. (1994). Beyond the lifelist: Birding from a
different perspective. Passenger Pigeon
30(2), February.
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