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Each species of bird can conjure up different thoughts and emotions for us as birders. Some can be seen as just flat out beautiful, like a Northern Pintail or a first winter Iceland Gull are for me. Some are cute, I’d put the Atlantic Puffin and Snow Bunting in that category. And we all have our favorites, often for inexplicable or a large variety of reasons ( for me: Upland Sandpiper, and either species of Cuckoo spring to mind). There are also certain birds that I consider inherently “cool”. I stole this idea from Corey Finger, who made mention of it in a post on 10,000 Birds back in 2012. It has stuck with me ever since I read it because it struck a chord with me – I do feel like certain birds just have a coolness factor. It popped back into my mind after my recent trip to the Jersey Shore where we had a Razorbill (very cool bird!). Here is my personal top 5 “cool” birds list; I’d love to hear which birds others might put on their list.

1. LAPLAND LONGSPUR: The coolest of them all, in my opinion. Beautiful and awesome looking in any plumage.
2. BARNACLE GOOSE: I love this bird, the coolest of the geese for sure. We need one to show up in our area, it’s been a while (2012? I never caught up with that bird…).
3. RAZORBILL: While the Atlantic Puffin is cute and the other Alcids are all sharp looking birds, the Razorbill stands above as the coolest. I think it’s that large ridged bill with white lines.
4. NORTHERN SHRIKE: I would venture to guess this might be on a lot of birder’s list. A cute killer, how cool is that?
5. BUFF BREASTED SANDPIPER: I lose my mind when I see this bird.
6. Honorable Mention – BARN OWL: A wonderful combination of beautiful, elegant, and so rare for our area.

So, I seem to be ending the year on a high note. I picked up 2 additional Orange County birds for 2018 in the final week of the year: Eastern Screech Owl and Cackling Goose. I’ve been trying for a Cackling Goose for ages; most years I just happen upon one before too long but this year it took 363 days. This has been my most productive December in regards to OC birds – I’ve added 7 species to my county year list this month.

I spent much of the past couple of days running around Orange County in hopes of adding a bird or two to my 2018 list. My most likely candidates are Cackling Goose, which I can’t believe I haven’t had this year, and Winter Wren, which is a bird that apparently hates me very much. I failed at locating either of my targets, and frankly, the birding was not very exciting.

This morning was slightly better than yesterday, and I ended up getting some good looks and decent shots of several raptors. It started early this morning when I had a huge number of Black Vultures in a neighborhood in Warwick, having their way with a road-kill deer. There must have been upwards of 40 Black Vultures, around the carcass, on lawns, and on rooftops. Then, at Wickham Lake, there were 5 Bald Eagles present – 3 adults and 2 young birds. Later, I ran into the leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in Warwick for the first time in absolutely ages. On my way home, I spied a light morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK hunting over 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary. It was only my 3rd RLHA of the season, and my first decent look; the bird was kind enough to circle directly overhead.

With raptors on my mind, I decided to head up to the Shawangunk Grasslands in the evening. It was good to see Ken McDermott and also Justin Schmidt, who I hadn’t seen in who-knows-how-long. The place is absolutely loaded with Northern Harriers – it’s hard to put a number on it, but I’d say at least 15 or so. The Short-eared owls came up just as it was getting dark; my best count was 7 of them. They put on pretty good show, in spite of the fading light, and it was really good to see and hear them.

Well, today was quite a day. It started out like any other work day, but it took a bad turn during my commute when I was rear ended on the highway. Traffic had come to a screeching halt; the driver behind me was not quick enough and slammed right into the back of my car and launching my car into the car in front of me. The airbags were deployed, but thankfully I was uninjured. My car, on the other hand, did not fair as well. It was towed away and it looks like it might be totaled.

A little later in the morning, after I’d contacted the insurance companies and made a reservation for a car rental, Kyle Dudgeon offered to pick me up and take me to his house to see the EVENING GROSBEAKS that they’ve been getting there recently. I took him up on the offer, Rob Stone joined us, and fortunately the EVGRs did not disappoint. They were easily heard at first and then we had them in his front yard before the flock of 8 birds settled down to grab a snack at his feeders. This definitely made my day more than just a little less terrible. The EVENING GROSBEAKS were an OC life bird and my 225th species in the county for 2018. Huge thanks to Kyle for the hook up (and the cheer up!).

Tonight, Tricia and I are flying to Ireland for a week of vacation. It’s been a while since we were there and I am excited because I feel like both my birding and my photography have improved to an extent that will make the trip that much more enjoyable for me. Because it’s a family vacation, I don’t have any concrete plans yet for birding; I think I’m going to mostly play it by ear, but regardless I know I’ll get out a good bit and it should hopefully be interesting. Stay tuned – with any luck, I will publish my first post about it a week from Sunday (07/15/18).

BY KAREN C MILLER

I spoke about needing young birders in my last post and am happy to tell you about an encounter I had this week. The children from one of the local Bruderhof communities were at the Basha Kill doing a Big Day of Birding, trying to find as many species as they can in one day. My guess is that this group consisted of about 15 kids ages 8 – 11 and five adults.  I first saw them on the road through the orchard and the children told me about the Wilson’s Warbler and other birds they had seen.  We met again on the Nature Trail where one young girl pointed out a nest occupied by a pair of Yellow Warblers.  I was impressed by her spotting ability.

Thank you to this student for showing me where the nest was perched in a large rose bush so I could watch the birds and get a few pictures.  I expect that this group will give us a few adult birders in time.  They already have a great start on appreciating birds and observing nature.

WHY DO WE BIRD?

This is a question that I ask myself from time to time to time. I’ve thought about this in terms of the big picture – as in birders in general, and also in terms of myself – what drives me to be out birding nearly every single day and how does that compare to other birders? To try and get some answers, I emailed a questionnaire to a number of birders that I know and I received responses from 11 avid birders.

Based on the responses received, it appears that “getting back to nature” is the main reason most birders bird. Over half of the respondents included something along these lines in their answers to the opening general question of why they bird. Terms such as “escape”, “peaceful time”, and “relaxation” were used to describe the experience. At the end of the questionnaire, I asked directly about this aspect of birding, and it was nearly unanimous that this was an important part of birding, and 8 of the eleven considering it either the most important or very important. Karen Miller wrote that getting back to nature “…helps you remember what’s important in life.”  Additionally, I think it goes hand in hand with stress reduction, which was inferred by most and mentioned specifically by 4 respondents. According to Scotty Baldinger “When I was still working it was the great stress reliever being out in the field and at one with nature.  Now that I’m retired it still is as good.”, while Judy Cinquina wrote “Birding, being outdoors, even just in my own yard, clears my mind of all the detritus that seems to get caught up in there and keeps me sane.”

I would consider a “sense of adventure” or “excitement” as the next most popular reason for birding. Four of the 11 respondents refer to this concept in their in their answers to the opening general question of why they bird and 7 refer to this idea elsewhere in their answers. You can add me to the list, as I know that this has always been a big part of birding for me. Walter Eberz put it very well: “When I was introduced to birding, I quickly felt the excitement of finding a species for the first time.  I think that sense of adventure is what drew me into birding.” Birding can be and is often very exciting, as Kyle Dudgeon wrote: “there’s always something new around each and every corner”, and I also like Bill Martocci’s take on it: “It may be my natural hunting instincts being fulfilled without killing an animal.”  For many, this excitement is linked directly to seeing rare or unusual birds. I asked the respondents how important it was to see and find rare or unusual birds which was nearly unanimously considered important. Most indicated that it was exciting and enjoyable; John Haas wrote “I have been birding for 25 years and seeing rarities and observing different birds and their behaviors help keep the hobby fresh and exciting for me.” Sharing the excitement appears to factor in as well and was mentioned a few birders. Ken McDermott writes: “Part of the fun and rewards of birdingis that we get to see species that we have never seen before whether on ourLife/State/County/Home/Year list they are all enjoyed. The “who finds it” is not so important as seeing it. If one DOES find a special bird a huge portion of the enjoyment is sharing it with other interested birders.”

Other significant aspects of birding that were part of the questionnaire or raised in the answers include: participating in citizen science, the social aspect, the study of birds and bird behavior, and bird photography.

Citizen Science: All of the respondents keep birding lists of some sort, and all but one are using eBird. For most, the importance of Citizen Science for the birds is recognized, but it does not play a large role in their reasons for birding. Curt McDermott speaks to this: “I am a supporter of Citizen Science Projects, such as E-Bird, Great Backyard Bird Count and Hawk Watches. Information gathered by participation in these projects, may help to ensure that birding and birds will stand the test of time.” However, only Lance Verderame and John expressed that CS was VERY important to their birding. Lance sums it up well: “As birders our input into eBird is an extremely valuble history of records that could point out key staging and resting habitat that needs protection.” And, on a different note, Kyle brought up a point that I found interesting – that people are using eBird in a way that directly affects the birds negatively: “People abuse it now. Some things (i.e. nest locations, owl locations. Endangered species locations, etc.) were not meant to be reported and ultimately are ruined due to people.”

Study of Birds/Behavior: I think we all engage in this to a certain extent while birding without really realizing it. I neglected to raise this issue in the questionnaire, but both Lance and Judy brought it up in their responses. Judy wrote about a recent change in her birding: “Rare or “Life Birds” used to be a very important aspect of my birding until recently. Now I’m happy to just see bird behavior that I’ve never seen before.”

Social Aspect: Responses indicate that the social aspect of birding is enjoyable but not highly important. AND, birding in large groups was mentioned by 4 as a negative experience. Small groups or birding alone seem to be the preference. Denise Ferrell seems to speak for a lot of birders when she wrote “I enjoy small groups where EVERYONE is working to find birds AND I also enjoy birding by myself. I detest birding in large groups. They tend to turn into chat sessions with only a few people doing all the work finding the birds.”

Bird Photography: This aspect may have had the most diverse response. Two respondents take photos for records or identification purposes only and 3 do not take bird photographs at all. But, for the remaining 6 respondents, photography is an important, integral part of birding. I, of course, put myself into this category as well. All of the birders in this category share their photos by publishing, be it for a blog, website, or social media. For everyone in this group, the words of Bill may resonate: “It is clearly the #1 reason I bird.  I rarely if at all go out without my camera.  I will post great shots of birds or rare finds on group sites on Facebook. But I do keep a gallery of birding photos that few if anyone sees regularly.”

So, I’ve touched on some of the thoughts on my own birding above, but will elaborate here. I can remember growing up in suburban Long Island. My siblings and I (my brother Chris especially), used to absolutely love all the nature shows. I particularly remember one about the wild dogs of Africa. It was exciting and fascinating to see all the amazing animals all over the world. But, in my mind, that was elsewhere, not here, especially not in the neighborhood of Holtsville where we grew up. Meanwhile, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Think about all the amazing birds on Long Island! They were all out there, in Holtsville and at the beaches and lakes not very far away. Birding has given me the opportunity to live out the adventures I dreamt about while watching those nature shows as a kid. Who knew you could find over 200 species of birds in Orange County in a single year? It still blows my mind! And because it blows my mind, I am compelled and I enjoy very much sharing it here on this blog.

Getting back to nature another huge aspect for me. Being out in the field gives me great enjoyment as well as life-saving stress relief. I cannot imagine my life without it and I think that would remain so even if I wasn’t birding. This ties into the social aspect of birding. I particularly enjoy getting out by myself and really getting “lost” out there, but that being said, I do enjoy birding with smaller groups and I have made many really great friends through birding. The exception to this (and Judy mentioned it in her response as well), is hawk watching. I’m not sure why this is different, perhaps because we have such a great group up at Mount Peter, but I really enjoy my time up there; the more birders the merrier.

Regarding bird behavior, I think I am just starting to scratch the surface here. I think that as I become more experienced and learn more, the exploration of bird behavior will become more important to me. And when it comes to Citizen Science, like many birders I am happy to contribute and I see the importance but it is not a deciding factor in my daily birding.

As for rare or unusual birds, for me this is a driving force. It links directly to the sense of adventure or excitement I am looking for in my birding. I find it very exciting every time I see any bird that is out of the ordinary; it can just be a personal first of year bird and I will get jazzed. And, I’ve always wanted to be the one to find the birds. Ever since I became a member of the Mearns Bird Club and I started getting notifications, I thought to myself that I wanted to be the one finding the birds. It is exciting, satisfying, and great fun to share a good bird.

**PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST; I AM REALLY CURIOUS TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHY EVERYONE IS OUT THERE BIRDING! Thanks.

And, finally, a huge thanks to all the birders that help with this post, I, of course, could not have written it without them: