Notes from the ABA: What do you want to talk about?

Back on March 2nd, our intrepid ABA president, Jeff Gordon, posted a video blog in which he asked us, the members, what we wanted to talk about. There have been some amazing comments, issues brought up, questions, and suggestions. You can read all 60 or 70 some here.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to lay on the table. I have always been a big promoter and devout supporter of young birders and getting kids involved in birding.  I decided that I would lay on the table my issues and suggestions for the ABA's Young Birder programs. There have been hitches, glitches and drawbacks in the past, as well as some amazing events and programs. Over the past couple years, they've really started to go downhill. With the new leadership, they are finally starting to go in the right direction. I decided to lay out my suggestions as to what the ABA could do to promote YBs and get more kids interested in birding.  Below is my "blog-post-length" comment:


Jeff,

I've been a member of the ABA for as long as I've known about the organization. I've been a firm supporter of the ABA and a devout promoter of young birders.

Several people have mentioned doing more to get young people involved in birding and promote more interest in birding, particularly the youngest kids.  Few have mentioned ways to do this.  I like the suggestion of a nation-wide Speakers Bureau, to have people representing the ABA doing presentations and workshops.

Getting kids out looking at birds is always a challenge. There's simply too many things tugging at their attention. What the ABA needs to do is use some of these things (particularly social media) to direct and engage youth. Not just at the national level, but at the local levels as well.  I know a few kids who regularly attend local Audubon walks who might just join the ABA if it could offer them something.  Yes, the ABA offers summer camps, but too often these are too expensive and too far from home for the less hardcore birders to attend.  However, many times, these YBs don't even know that the ABA offers things like summer camps or the Tropicbirds Teams.  I never would have been a member of the Tropicbirds Team if I hadn't already been an ABA member and seen the ad in Birding Magazine.
I'd like to see more advertising on this front, more subsidizing of attendance fees and lower attendance fees if possible.

With a speakers bureau, the ABA could have someone do a young birder workshop at local audubon and other nature events that would be designed not just to get kids interested in birding, but also provide some knowledge and opportunity for more serious YBs to find out what the ABA has to offer and take advantage of it.

I mentioned using social media too. I think the ABA is recognizing that Facebook and blogging are excellent ways to reach people.  This new multi-author blog is great.  The ABA's official page is good too. However, frankly, I have been disappointed with the ABA's Young Birder page. I feel that there has not been enough time devoted to it except for the occasional update about the Tropicbirds or the summer camps.  In order to create more of a YB following, I think the postings on the page should be more regular and more engaging. Post things like photo quizzes, trivia quizzes, facts about birds, links to blog posts or helpful websites, ID tips, the kind of things that would get people thinking and get them interacting more. Not just with the FB pagemaster, but with each other.

I don't know if you know this or not, but my friend Jacob Cooper and I, a couple years ago, noticed that the Peeps listserve for Young Birders had died and nobody was posting on it.  Using the database of YBs subscribed to Peeps and our own YB Facebook friends, we put together a more interactive chat group via the website Meebo.com.  We called the group Jocotoco Wanderings.  Unfortunately, there were glitches with Meebo and content couldn't be shared as much as we liked and it slowly died.  Then, Facebook revamped their group pages and offered us a new venue. We moved the group to Facebook.  The opportunity to share photos, links, thoughts, ID tips, etc via the Facebook group is enormous and it quickly took off. We now have 70 YBs as members of the group and many of them regularly contribute to the group.  I have kept it a closed group however (invitation only) because I feel that all too often too many adults join groups like that and the YBs tend to get pushed aside by the (sometimes) superior knowledge and experience of the adults and end up simply listening and not actively joining in the discussions.

I have been thinking of adding a few select "Celebrity" Birders to the group. In the old Meebo chatroom, we had Kenn Kaufman join our discussions from time to time to great success. It allowed those who look up to the "celebrity" birders to actually talk to them and ask them questions.  If the ABA could have select knowledgeable "celebrity" birders like this work to try to engage YBs more, the effect would be to get the kids thinking and maybe give them some spark to work harder to become better birders.

I attended a presentation the other night by Richard Crossley.  He made one point that really hit home. In his home country of Britain, there is a birder by the name of Bill Audi. He's a TV star in a show called The Apprentice.  People will follow what their Celebrities do.  If their celebrity is a birder, then there's a greater chance that they too may take up the sport.  This new movie coming out with Steve Martin and Jack Black I think is going to make an impression among the American public; two mainstream actors who are promoting the sport of birding.   Crossley also mentioned that the US needs celebrity people like this. He held up James Currie, host of Nikon Birding Adventures TV as our current and future "TV celebrity birder"  His point being that people who are well known draw attention. If they can draw this attention to birding, more people will become involved in it.

But, getting back to what I was saying earlier, If the ABA is able to do this and offer something worth joining in, the YBs will come. Friends will tell friends who tell friends and the network reaches YBs around the country.

But how does the ABA engage new, potential YBs?  That has more to do with groundwork. Being there on the local level.
Birding is beginning to go mainstream. Even with youth. I'm seeing Young Birders clubs springing up around the country.  These clubs and the Audubon societies will find the youth interested in the outdoors and birding. It's up to the ABA to engage them and take them to the next level,  to promote birding with them and do what it can to help them become better birders. Offer them ways to connect with other YBs, offer them camps, workshops and field seminars to attend, do everything possible to keep prices for these events to a minimum. Try to make workshops that are free to attend.

How do you find the best places to go to do workshops? Again, the local level. Talk to local Audubon societies, YB clubs, even local birders who know a few kids who would be interested.  Every little bit counts.

I owe the ABA a lot in my training as a birder. I used to (and still do) attend Audubon field trips, various local birding field trips, but it wasn't until I applied to (and was accepted onto) the ABA/Leica Tropicbirds Team that I really took off. Here was birding on a completely different level than what I was used to, with birders who were skilled far beyond anyone I had previously known.   I took in everything as fast as I could, learning everything I could during the few days I spent in Cape May.  The next year, I was eager to try again. This time, was with you and Liz. This time, I was older, a little more experienced, but again, birding on a level I wasn't used to, my skills jumped again.

Then came the camps that I found out about. The High Island Camp that didn't have enough people sign up to officially go, but thanks to some quick thinking and background work by the then Youth Education coordinator, Lori Fujimoto, I and another YB were able to spend a week at High Island living at the Tropical Birding house and birding alongside the TB guides. Again, it was a huge jump in my skills and knowledge as a birder.

In '08, I attended the YBC in Minot, North Dakota. This was one of the best events I've ever attended. An entire week spent birding not only with people my own age (which is a rare occurrence where I live) but also having mentoring by world-class birders (Michael O'Brien and Louise Zemaitis, Steve Howell and Ron Martin along with Jane Kostenko and Tyler Bell). The daytime field trips were awesome and the evening presentations and the photo quiz were superb. Again, it made a huge difference in my skills and knowledge as a birder.

I would really love to see something like this back on the ABA's agenda. From what I heard about the camp in California and Camp Colorado, they weren't even on the same level.  I sincerely hope that the upcoming Camp Rio Grande will be about more than just birding the Rio Grande valley but really go into depth about the natural history of the birds and wildife present and the actual history of the area, how it came about as a birding mecca and where it's going.  Past, present and future are always important to know.  Presentations and workshops at the camp about ID, molt and other things is always engaging as well.  I have a whole list of things I'd like to see at ABA camps, but I won't go into that here just yet.

Speaking of camps, I would also really love to see a Young Adult Birders Conference. An event designed for birders who are between 19 and 25.  Design it so that it caters to all levels. Help out the beginners who want to come, but also offer the more technical, in depth things that the more hardcore birders will enjoy (I particularly liked Steve Howell's presentation about Molt at the YBC '08 in Minot).

I think the most important thing with any camp is that the camp leaders need to be more skilled and knowledgeable than any of the attendees.  I would also suggest having one or two "Camp counselor" type positions (which I know the ABA has something along these lines already) at their camps for older (over 18) YBs who want to help out and give back to what the ABA has given them. I hold this in substantial importance because these are the people who will (hopefully) be the biggest promoters of YBs and the future camp leaders, the future teachers of the next generation of YBs to come through the ABA camps.


I guess in all of this, the best thing the ABA can do is to be able to offer something to YBs that is worth their time to check out and get involved in.  Work on engaging YBs via social media like Facebook and offer things to get them out in the field and teach them about birds and birding.  Whether that be sponsoring workshops, or YB clubs or whatever else or simply just being a presence that can help mentor YBs who want to become better at what they're doing and give them opportunities to advance their skills and knowledge through camps, workshops, birding with other their own age and birding with the best birders the ABA can offer them.

The value comes in knowing that there are other kids about your age who love to do what you do. Nobody likes to do something alone. Birding with others your own age is really the most fun thing I can think of doing. Seeing old friends and making new friends, working a network of people your own age. It's a really comforting thought that you're not the "only one" so to speak who is the "nerd" in your school.

Something else too, is not just to promote birding with youth, but to promote the older YBs and encourage them to help out the younger generations.  Kids will look up to a celebrity birder who is older, but the real value comes in someone closer to their age who is willing to help them out. That is the person who they will look up to and follow.
Having gone through all the steps to get to where I am now and having been through the ABA's programs and knowing how to do things, I have tried to be that someone to the YBs I know;
the leader of the group and the one who encourages, engages and promotes. I have done it with moderate success. Especially in the Jocotoco Wanderings FB group.  It really makes a difference when kids know that there's someone they can go to and ask a question, any question, and get a good answer. Even if I can't answer the question myself, I'll find someone who can.  Whether or not my method is the best one or not, it works for me and I do whatever I can to promote youth in birding. The more YBs we have, the better. They are the Sibleys, Kaufmans, O'Briens, Crossleys and Jeff Gordons of the future.  That's why we need them and why they need someone to look to for guidance and support.

When someone you really look up to takes the time to help you do what you want to do, that is the best thing that could happen to anyone. I'd like to see the ABA be that someone who gives kids a little nudge out the door so to speak.


At any rate, that's my 5 cents worth.

--Chris W


One thing I neglected to mention here is probably the most important. Schools. Go to the schools. This is an environment where you have the kids full attention without other distractions and you can tell them about all the awesome and amazing things there are to see in the natural world.
I spent a week last fall working for the Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI.
My job was to go around to area schools and talk to them about birds. These weren't high school kids, these weren't college kids. Many of them weren't even Middle school kids. The targeted age group was Elementary school. 1st-4th grade. Why? because that is the age at which kids are developing their interests and when they are interested in everything. That is the age at which their interests can be directed to things like birding.  I tried to keep my presentations friendly, interesting, engaging and most important of all, I tried to show birds that the kids would like. Owls, Tanagers, Buntings, etc. The really colorful birds are the ones everyone loves to see. It was my hope that I would spark some interest in birding in at least a small percentage of them. Did I?  I certainly hope so. As I stated above, kids are really the Sibleys, Crossleys, Jeff Gordons and Petersons of the future. All our hopes and dreams lie with them. The more kids interested in birding, the better.

Winter in review and the upcoming spring

So I have neglected this blog for too long. I've been somewhat busy writing for the NA Birding Blog which is a collective of voices around the country contributing posts about various bird-related topics.
I've been writing a weekly feature called Rarity Watch which summarizes the regional and ABA rarities reported around the ABA area.
Recently, I also wrote a Book Review about the new Crossley ID Guide that just came out in bookstores nationwide.  The new guide will be a superb addition to any birders library. While not a field guide in the true sense of the phrase, the book will certainly be an asset to birders looking to improve their ID skills.

What else have I been up to you ask? Well, let me see:
Christmas Bird Counts for one. I counted 3 CBCs this season and am the new compiler for one of them.  We totaled 56 species for the new CBC I am compiler for. Interestingly enough, I came up with 48 of those...

I spent 3 days in Sax-zim Bog at the end of Dec which resulted in (finally) my lifer Great Gray Owl. We also cleaned out the bog and saw pretty much everything that could be seen there with the exception of a Goshawk which I have not seen for a few years now.

In January, a mixup, some miscommunications and new assignment of territories led me to not completing my entire section for the Annual Golden Eagle Survey. I did eventually find a Golden Eagle, but the numbers of other raptors were much higher.  

February was highlighted by another trip to Sax-zim Bog. This time to guide at the annual Birding Festival along with my friends Alex Stark, Seth Cutright, Erik Bruhnke, Lars Benson and Alex Watson.
What better way to enjoy the winter boreal birds than doing something I love with some awesome friends? I can't think of one. :D

Otherwise, I have been trying to keep busy planning stuff for the spring and summer.  What sort of stuff? Various trips, both national and international, Bird surveys, leading various field trips and a new job. What new job? oh don't worry, I'll be talking about that later. :)

This winter season has been fairly slow lately.  Skyrocketing gas prices have kept my birding to a minimum. I haven't been out much except for the odd WSO trip here and there.

Monday, I'm headed to Milwaukee to attend a presentation at the Urban Ecology Center by Richard Crossley, author of that excellent new guide.

Next weekend is another WSO field trip. This time to Sheboygan. This is always a fun trip usually with some awesome birds around. What's up for this year? Purple Sandpiper anyone? Maybe? We haven't had one on this side of the lake for a few years now.

At any rate, this coming season should be a fun one. Hopefully everything will play out like I want it to.

Til next time, Happy Birding!

Brian Jacques

"Who are we but strolling players,

Wand'ring through the long ago

Joys and sadness, hopes and longings,

Keep us traveling onward through

The laughter and applause of others,

Who view the passing cavalcade,

Leave echoes hovering some far summer,

Floating round a woodland glade.

'Twas but a tale for your amusement,

Like my small unworthy rhyme,

Gone, alas, into those realms,

The land of once upon a time." --Prologue to Marlfox

James Brian Jaqcues passed away Sat, Feb 5th at age 71 at his home in Liverpool England.

He was one of the greatest writers of the last century, and one of my favorite writers ever.

"You will find me in Noonvale on the side of a hill

When the summer is peaceful and high

Where streamlets meander, the valley is still

'Neath the blue of a calm, cloudless sky

Look for me at dawn when the earth is asleep

Till each dewdrop is kissed by the day

Neath the rowan and alder a vigil I'll keep

Every moment that you are away. 

The earth gently turns as the seasons change slowly

All the flowers and leaves born to wane

Hear my song over the lea like the wind soft and lowly

And come back to Noonvale again." --Rose's song from Martin the Warrior

RIP Brian. You will be sorely missed.

May you find your own Noonvale of eternal peace.

The Best Bird of the Year, or, the simple things in life

Scaled Antpitta, Tandayapa, Ecuador

Every year, once a year (usually between the last week of Dec and the first two weeks of Jan), the infamous question arises, "What was your best bird of the year?"

In past years, this question has been relatively simple.  The American Flamingo I saw near Corkscrew Swamp in the mid 90s, the lifer Western Kingbird I found in Kansas one year, the lifer Lazuli Bunting that flew over the hood of the car in Colorado a few years later.  More recently it was birds like the Purple Sandpiper or the White-faced Ibis or the Band-tailed Pigeon I saw in Cape May, NJ in the spring of '06, or the Roseate Tern or the Curlew Sandpiper that I saw there the following year.
Perhaps the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in early Spring of '08 during a week spent in High Island, TX, or the Baird's Sparrow seen during the Young Birder's Conference in Minot, ND that June, or maybe it was the Flame-colored Tanager at Madera Canyon during VENT's Camp Chiricahua that July. All of them the best in their own way, even though the Tanager eventually won out.

'09 became slightly more difficult when more birds were seen and more rarities were found.  Perhaps my best bird in '09 was the 15th Arizona record of Crescent-chested Warbler, a bird that I had always wanted to see. Maybe it was the 1st New Mexico State record Clapper Rail that I found at Bosque Del Apache one day in mid May, or maybe it was the highly cooperative Sinaloa Wren that always seemed to know when I was coming and never failed to show itself. Perhaps it was the 1st ABA record Gray-collared Becard that decided to show up in Cave Creek Canyon one day in early Jun that only a handful of people ever got to see, or maybe it was the 1st ABA record Brown-backed Solitaire found by my friends at Camp Chiricahua that year.  My birding travels later that summer made it even more difficult. Yellow-footed Gull at the Salton Sea, a 1st known record of a hybrid between Great Knot and Surfbird that hung out at a Snowy Plover Reserve in San Diego for a few weeks, many lifers on my first ever pelagic trip on Monterey Bay, the Yellow-billed Magpies that I found on my way back to Arizona.

My trip home that year made it even harder.  Green Jay, Audubon's Oriole and Magnificent Frigatebird near Corpus Christi, TX, White-tailed Hawk sitting on a telephone pole near Aransas NWR in a total downpour, Audubon's Shearwater blown up off the gulf by a freak storm in Louisiana.  I had nearly 500 species to choose from that year.  Rarity again trumped all others on my list with the Becard, the Wren and the Solitaire all tying for first place.

This past year however has been different.  Before last year, I placed a high priority on keeping a year list and keeping my life list totals as exact as possible.  2010 started out the same. I spent the first few months of the year running up my year list as much as possible. Then, I took my first (and very much unexpected) trip out of the country. The 8 day tour to Costa Rica with VENT changed a lot of things for me. All of a sudden, I was seeing more birds in a single week than I could see in the US in several months. The birdlife of Costa Rica in March was extravagant, Toucans, Toucanets, Parrots, Parakeets, Tanagers, Orioles, Warblers, Sparrows, Motmots, Antbirds, Oropendolas and many others, all vying for attention. Each seemingly trying to outdo the previous one with spectacular colors and progressively wackier songs.  How could anything back in the US compare with these birds of the tropics?

A month later, I was in Ecuador, living and working at Tandayapa Bird Lodge in the Andean Cloud Forest near Mindo. These birds were not quite as gaudy or spectacular as the Costa Rican ones, but they were special in their own way. Each with its own unique set of habits and its own character.
After a month in Ecuador, I flew home thinking that birding would not quite ever be the same again.

Back home in Wisconsin, several really good sightings found their way into my year. Multiple Ibis of two different species all over the state, nesting Black-legged Stilts at Horicon Marsh, my second WI Ruff turned up in Dane county in April and, along with it, my 600th ABA lifer in the form of a female Smith's Longspur.

A trip to Colorado in June cleaned up almost all possible lifers for me in that state and included some quite rare birds for that region. My lifer Lewis's Woodpecker was quite a welcome one as it was a bird I had long searched for without success. Another was my lifer White-tailed Ptarmigan which was finally done eluding me.  Shortly after, my family took a trip to the Medicine Bow Mountains of Southern Wyoming where I found more Three-toed Woodpeckers than I believed possible. They were overshadowed however by only the 3rd ABA record of an Orange-billed Nightingale-thrush that chose to skip its usual Texas stopover all together and land in Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a feat unheard of before.

September yielded my 3rd trip to the tropics, my second trip to South America, and my first real taste of birding in the Amazon Rainforest.  Here, birds abounded everywhere. Daily lists exceeded a whole year's worth of birding back home in WI, and the entire trip total for the 18 days I spent in Southern Peru nearly matched my whole life's worth of birding in North America.  It was about this time that I lost track of my lists entirely. inundated with more birds in two weeks than I had seen in 10 years left me with a pile of paperwork almost too big to tackle.  My ABA life list is fairly complete and easy to keep track of, but I haven't the slightest idea what my world life list is except that it's somewhere around 1600 species give or take a hundred or so.

Birding the Tropics is at once both exciting and frustratingly difficult. A lifer around every corner, and yet, that's only if you can get a good enough look to identify it.  Over my 3 trips to Central and South America this year, I learned many things about birding and bird identification. I especially learned to study a bird for as long as it is cooperative and not just glance at it because, especially for some species, there's a good chance you may never see that bird again.  The excitement of another lifer around every corner drives you on and on to see every part of the tropics and eventually the world.

When I arrived back home after this 3rd trip, birding seemed dull, boring and easy. These were birds I saw all the time, there were no possible lifers here and I could look at them whenever I wanted to. So, with nothing else to do that's what I did.  Until November that is when a Ross's Gull showed up in Denver, CO. With this new lifer so close (Ross's Gulls live north of the Arctic Circle), I and 5 other friends gave chase and made the long drive overnight out to Denver to see the bird.  Twitching and chasing birds long distance is, has been, and I think, always will be fun. The thrill of driving long distance just to see something with wings, a body, a head and feet keeps even the most exhausted birders wide awake, crossing our fingers, hoping the bird will be there when we arrive if nothing else, simply to make the long drive worth it. Then comes the exhilaration of actually seeing that bird you drove so far for, and then the mental and physical exhaustion taking over on the long drive home.

I ended the year of 2010 with a short trip to my favorite winter birding hotspot, Sax-zim Bog where I finally found a long-awaited lifer, Great Gray Owl.  Another of the many birds I had been wanting to see for many years, it was quite a nice end to the year.


Last week, one of my friends just asked me the yearly, expected question, "What was your best bird of the year?"

I thought about this for a long while. I thought of all the places I had been and all the things I had seen.  What could I really, truthfully call the best bird of the year?

Was it the Snowy Owl on Jan 1st at Buena Vista Grasslands? Or was it the Northern Hawk-Owl at Sax-zim Bog a month later?  Maybe it was the Rufous-naped Wren in Costa Rica that was my 600th world lifer, or perhaps the Toucan Barbet in Ecuador a month later? Or was it my 600th ABA lifer Smith's Longspur in WI in April? Perhaps it was the stunning Resplendent Quetzal of montane Costa Rica or the Snowy Cotinga of the lowlands? Or maybe it was my lifer Lewis's Woodpecker or White-tailed Ptarmigan in Colorado? or all the Three-toed Woodpeckers in Wyoming? Or perhaps it was the Orange-billed Nightingale-thrush that so randomly chose to appear in the Black Hills?  Maybe it was hearing Black-faced Solitaire in Costa Rica or White-eared Solitaire in Ecuador?  Or was it the Spangled Cotinga or the Flame-faced Tanager or the Scarlet Macaw in Peru?  Was it the Ross's Gull in Colorado this fall?  Or was it the Great Gray Owl at Sax-Zim Bog so recently? Or perhaps it was the Inca Terns and the Diademed Sandpiper-Plover of Peru?  Perhaps the spectacular Lyre-tailed Nightjar in Ecuador? or the Mangrove Cuckoo at 8000ft in Costa Rica? A bird seemingly so far from its regular habitat that it looked completely out of place.  Was it the two species of Ibis in one scope view at the same time at Horicon Marsh? or was it the Black-necked Stilts that were doing their best to raise a successful nest so far from their normal range.  Perhaps it was seeing Giant Antpitta up close in Ecuador or finding the beautiful Cinnamon Flycatcher?  Was it the Eye-ringed Thistletail or the White-tufted Sunbeam or the Royal Cinclodes in Peru? or was it seeing a very out of place Black-billed Cuckoo in Colorado?  Perhaps it was finding a cooperative Eastern Screech-owl near my home in WI or finding a pair of Whooping Cranes in my home county?  Or was it being the first person to photograph a Chuck-wills-widow in WI or seeing my lifer Kirtland's Warbler?
Maybe it was the Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl or the Peruvian Pygmy Owl? Or was it the spectacular Sword-billed Hummingbird of Ecuador?  Was it the Northern Shrike I found on almost every CBC or the Audubon's Warbler I found in WI on a CBC in western WI?  Or maybe it was the Great Potoo of Peru or the Common Potoo of Ecuador? Or maybe the overly cute Collared Redstart in Costa Rica or the stunning Flame-throated Warbler or the young Torrent Tyrannulet sitting on a branch over a rushing stream begging to be fed?

Or maybe, just maybe, I told them, it was that Tufted Titmouse at my backyard feeders the other day gathering sunflower seeds to stash for a colder, less fruitful time of year.

Merry Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!