FB Group Irritations - Part 1

I was struck by the similarity of my thoughts regarding Facebook groups to my response to a domestic circumstance.  You see, my wife has had a sore finger the last couple of nights. She knew it was jammed while playing Pickle-ball. I suspect it was a mild irritation because of the event and that with time her soreness would go away. To ease her concern, I asked her to give the finger a week to heal and if it didn't that we'll go into the doctor and try to find a remedy.

Are Facebook Groups any different?

It seems that as long as I have been on Facebook, I've had irritations with groups. Now don't get me wrong, there are some amazing groups that I thoroughly enjoy. The world of social media allows individuals to self-select into groups and find areas that they enjoy, identify with, and often confirm their own beliefs. Most of you reading this post know me personally, but in case you are blog walking and came across this by pure happenstance let me self-identify for your reference. I prefer knowledge over opinion, have a deep respect for nature even though I still consider myself fairly ignorant to all its wonders, love birds and birding, and got reintroduced to birds through my wife's photography and have since taken many photos myself. Now with that said, there are some groups that seemingly provide mild but constant irritation.

So what is the irritation you might ask? The irritation is when groups try to do everything and cater to all differences of personal motivation that often disguise themselves as a similarity. Perhaps you are wondering what this might look like. In my home state Facebook birding group there are so many differences for why people are part of the group, that we end up with a fairly inactive group in comparison without robust discussions.

Sometimes words seemingly have little relevance without an example, so let's consider a simple difference. While many differences exist, one repeated case is when there are repeated photo posts of the same bird on a daily and even hourly basis. So before I go further, know that this is a mild irritant.  I strategically chose a topic where I often straddle the line and can go either way on the repeated posts. On the one side, you have individuals that are proud of their photo of a species (often a rarity) and want to share it with everyone. On the other side, you have repeated non-informative posts that muddy the news feeds and often hide other posts. Like many policy topics, there are winners (those that gain from this) and losers (those that are harmed from this) when repeated posts are allowed. For what it is worth, I am only part of one group that has specific policies directed toward this exact topic. That policy is "In the event that additional discussion is warranted it is most appropriate in the comment stream within the post itself rather than as a new post." This policy is in support of the primary purpose, which is the dissemination and discussion of rare bird reports in the ABA area. Luckily for me and the nearly 18k members, the information is shared freely and kindly moderated to this one goal. Multiple posts of the same information are deleted after a comment is posted indicated that the information is already found on another post and that all comments about the same rare bird should be directed there. I suspect a simple majority of this group's members know this policy exists.

Other low-stress topics might include the ethics of bird photography, the decision to focus on reporting all birds versus only rare birds, a decision to focus on AOU or Clements, to eBird or not to eBird and nesting the previous issue within it, a larger topic of whether to even identify species or not (or simply just accept inaccuracies), or to discuss bird knowledge and identification skills versus simply providing an answer. These questions seem to be a struggle almost everywhere and, in my opinion, are only alleviated with one of two outcomes. First, the group moderators are experts and willing to politely address almost all topics and enforce the stated goals. This happens rarely and often I see all three items in that logical statement fail. Second, policy revisions that state what the purpose of the goal could be made. I've been privy to these conversations across multiple states. I've seen new groups formed because of rifts. I've seen individuals try to form groups on topics they know little about. All of those items seem to fail to alleviate this irritation and please quite telling me that it is okay because it happens elsewhere too. I am not part of those groups for a reason.

This fall I've enjoyed looking through a ton of Red-breasted Scoter photos in the same tree, Black-White Pelicans at the feeder, and those adorably cute American Nuthatches that I simply want to take home and snuggle with.  They have so much personality I can't stand my own excitement and my love for that gorgeous upside-down orange bill.

Don't worry if I confused you, it is all in satirical jest of three awesome birds the American-White Pelican, Red-Breasted Nuthatches, and Black Scoter. Each of which has a ton of information available online and most sights have better photos than my linked ones or those shared in the groups. Moreover, the jest clearly ignores the informational gap about sharing bird sightings by included anthropomorphized interactions that could only be made more irrelevant with camera settings. Luckily the love of birds is contagious and often we give each other a free-pass when you know that items are shared in the excitement. Don't worry, I keep names of people that seemingly post purely to get photographic comments and are more excited about that attention than the cool bird.....you go on the naughty list, get birding coal for Christmas, and I hope are involved in photo groups where you are required to comment positively on 5 photos before you can post one of your own. Those groups have the absolute best photographers  based purely on comments ;-)

So for those of you that are still curious to what the author thinks on the topic you will have to wait until I get a second post drafted about  nuances of Facebook group policies regarding photography and birding. If not, I wish you well even if you are someone that could help this mild irritation go away. To the best of my knowledge, there is no medical remedy and I found out that when I left Facebook, only two people took notice and sent text messages regarding rare local birds. 

To end, perhaps it is time for me to get that sore finger finally looked at.

A Merlin sitting on this post. Ironically this blog post may be more intriguing with an unrelated photo too.  

Southwest California

After visiting the Salton Sea we drove through Joshua Tree National Park at dusk before spending the night in Riverside California. With plans to meet my sister's family around noon our morning was relaxed. Others slept in while I borrowed the family van, woke early, and went searching for a Painted Redstart near Box Springs Mountain Reserve Park with Danielle. 

  

Danielle like the Burro family best from our walk. A family photo from Joshua Tree National Park.

I've been conflicted recently with alternative opinions regarding reporting species. Some individuals have a strong preference for GPS locations for rare birds and the ability to drive up and tick the species. Reporting at this level makes it easy for visitors to maximize their life list with the limited time and allows locals to find the rarities easier. Some individuals report rarities but add it to a general list with a broad description of where to find the bird. This information is extremely helpful for anyone determining where to go and can give a starting point, but often requires at least a minimal amount of work to chase the bird. I've seen more than a couple individuals pissed off at people reporting this method since they want the easy tick. Not surprising given this response, a third type of individuals chooses not to report rarities knowing that the circus might come to see it.

I see merits for each of the decisions listed above and depending on previous reports and the likely affect on the species I will actually alternate between them. Sadly another type of individual actually exists, but these are people that don't understand or consider the effects of their decisions on others. They seemingly share photos of rare birds on social media but don't tell where. Seriously, if you choose not to share locations that is your choice and nothing wrong with it but if you have to share a photo to a birding group you immediately reveal your lack of respect for others.  Just in case you fit in this last category please understand that we all have an @$$hole but most people prefer not to let that be the part of body that that others remember you by.

The Painted Redstart had been reported to the general area with a broad description "Continuing just south of 3-way trail intersection". So Danielle and I walked the trail and focused on where it split (from at least three locations) a couple of times. I would have loved to known where the bird had been seen with more precision but was okay not knowing as we left without seeing that bird. It was reported the next day again and I likely just missed it.

Seeing a new bird is great and the rush and excitement is addictive. A peaceful walk enjoying what birds were around at first light with my daughter is awesome as well. While it wasn't the bird I had hoped to see for the first time that morning, a Nuttall's Woodpecker was a pleasant addition to the life list.   

 

(L to R) California Towhee and Gray Flycatcher. 

We met the rest of family after lunch and described out day plans. I didn't really want to walk around a museum so I dropped others off at the train station so they could visit the USS Midway Museum while I was free until supper time to do as I pleased. 

My two goals were Red-throated Pipit and Nazca Booby. These were the two code 3 or higher birds in the area! I knew where both had been reported and took off. The Red-throated Pipit was regularly seen from Berry Park, a very small park in San Diego County. It was right next to a school and when I arrived there were three other birders there looking through a scope and binoculars toward the vacant school playground.  I decided to simply stop as close as I could to the birds and start scoping.  Within 5 minutes two of the three left and the remaining individual walked down to say hi.  They hadn't had any luck the last half an hour!

The guy introduced himself, and unfortunately I have forgotten his name, and asked if I had any luck.  I revealed that I had no initial clue what plumage this bird was in, that I saw an odd looking American Pipit in the group at one point and opened the book and think I saw it, and was left wondering how the heck anyone picked it out based on those subtle differences. He pulled up a photo of this bird and informed me that it was likely identified first by call.  Well duh! The proverbial light-bulb turned on in my head.

Within minutes I was able to pick it out of a small group when it flew and vocalized! I didn't know what it sounded like, but it was easy to tell it wasn't an American Pipit. The other gentleman could not hear it but with my scope we both got amazing looks at the streaking on the back!  Red-throated Pipit Lifer!!

I was a tad more excited than the other guy, as he had seen them in Alaska before. The gentleman from North Carolina thanked me for my ears and scope as he figured he never would have picked it out of the small flock using only binoculars. I thanked him profusely for the knowledge he had shared. I was not prepared to identify this bird and likely would not have been able to without the help of a stranger.  This was now twice in two days that I had been on the receiving end of stranger kindness. Amazing! We went our separate ways as he had already seen the Nazca Booby and was contemplating a stop at the Thick-billed Kingbird just down the street.

I drove to Attu Avenue hoping to spot one of the birds first seen two weeks earlier by Paul Lehman. The names of both inspire dreams of amazing birds for many. I scanned the bay once without luck but then on the second pass saw a distant bird. Using a satellite image I figured the bird was just over a mile away. Fortunately there was no fog and almost no heat shimmer with air and water temperature similar on a light overcast day.  

I grabbed the crappy digiscoped photo for documentation. Walking back to my car I encountered an elderly gentleman, with only binoculars, that pointed out a Say's Phoebe perched on the brush. I decided to turn around to offer the use of my scope, knowing the bird was sufficiently distant that it may likely not be picked out without a scope. A third gentleman joined us and quickly they got scope views of the bird. The views were not ideal, but the given patience we could see the blue base of bill with orange tip that separate this species from the more common to these waters Masked Booby.  Here we were a person from northern California, another from Texas, and myself from Kansas hoping for closer views and discussing renting a boat to see it better.  Based on other's photos we figured we had a chance. Alas, time was against us so we went our separate ways. I shared pipit location information with the Texas gentleman and passed along KC field-trip information. Fortunately he found the pipit and three months later drove up from Texas to see American Woodcocks! 

I still had an hour and half free before the family was expecting me to pick them up on at the train station.  I quickly backtracked to the Thick-Billed Kingbird location. I really wish that I could learn calls of flycatchers easier but at last consider myself fortunate being able to hear them. An odd call note was different from the many Cassin's Kingbirds in the area and minutes later I was looking at the target bird! I had hit the jackpot; I saw both target species for the afternoon, had added four life birds this day, and spent most of the day outside enjoying nature with others that loved it as well.

 

(L to R) Thick-billed Kingbird and Lesser Goldfinch.

I made it back to the train station 5 minutes before the family returned (whew) and started to think about what else I could look for the rest of 2017. A return flight on December 31st for my mother had us heading back east in three days. Those birds are left for the last post from this trip.

Salton Sea

I loved the morning walks and two full days of Yuma, in fact, I would have loved to simply stay in one spot to take photos longer, I was thinking ahead to the change in habitat and what birds might be down the road. We loaded our van for the final destination of San Diego with 7 people and 4 generations, a limited pile of clothing and the necessary hodgepodge that couldn't be stored in Yuma for our return trip. An hour and a half later we arrived at Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. As we drove up we saw a pair of photographers near the entrance, who kindly stopped at our vehicle as we lumbered out informing us of the Burrowing Owls they had just been watching.

 

Danielle and everyone else got a good look at the two "Burrowing" or pipe borrowing Owls. 

The visitor center offered many different directions that I wanted to go feeders close by with plenty of birds for me to look at, an opportunity for a walk near the trees and maintenance buildings away from people, and access to the Salton Sea. I started with the feeders!  Luckily Christine grabbed a camera as well while the girls ran off with grandparents.

 

Top (L to R): Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Bottom (L to R): Common Ground-Dove and Gambel's Quail

 

I had seen these four species before but I was very happy to have seen them all in an environment where they expected people and were close enough for one of us to get a photo. By the time we spent 30 minutes taking photos of these birds the rest of the family was ready to go.  The parking lot that was about half a mile away from the Salton Sea and any potential for scoping shorebirds or gulls.  Normally the half a mile is not an issue, but when you have non-birding and non-lounging family that half a mile might as well be up-hill, through 30 inches of snow, 6 miles both there and back! No one really wanted to walk with, so I hastily walked to the Sea only to find shorebirds and gulls sufficiently distant to be unidentifiable. The girls had driven the area with Grandparents and spotted a Greater Road-Runner, but considering this was one of two stops I wanted to spend time at on our entire drive west (Hassayampa River Preserve fell through when Eric got sick) I was frustrated. I crawled in the back and decided it was time for a nap to cool off mentally as we drove for Joshua Tree National Park. I suspect my frustration was palpable, for when I woke the family said it would be okay to stop somewhere else if I wanted.

Following up on eBird reports I walked the campground as everyone else walked to the water and paid for a day-pass. A lady came up to me asking if I was a birder and if I was looking for anything specifically.  I told her that I try to be a birder and that I was looking for a wintering sparrow.  What happened next completely blew me away.  She said that she had been reporting them the last three days and was willing to show me where they were!  YES PLEASE!!!! After quick introductions, half the family joined us as we walked through the brush, and then there they were. A couple of Sagebrush Sparrows. They were the target bird for the stop and a new lifer! Christine's photo is below.

Trying to better respect the diverse interest of the family we quickly returned to the van to get down the road further. It was nice chatting with the amazingly kind lady, as it turned out that her daughter lives in the KC area. Tina and I swapped contact information and I hope to always remember the act of kindness that turned the day from okay to amazing. The birding pushed everything else a bit late into the day and we didn't get through Joshua Tree as early as expected.  This merely afforded me an opportunity to get out early the next morning while everyone else slept in. 

Yuma Area

After adding a handful of life birds walking around the cemetery in Phoenix, I felt satisfied being able to spend time devoted to birding and over the next couple of days devoted most time to family. With three full days around the Yuma area (mid-day on the 24th through mid-day on the 27th) it gave me an opportunity to simply enjoy the local birds. We took daily walks as a family, we visited sand dunes and even completed a little project. Here are a handful of photos of the local birds seen while walking around the Fortuna Foothills area. I added Common-Ground Dove to my life list, but the birds were not photogenic.

  

(Top to Bottom & Left to Right) Costa's Hummingbird, Verdin, Cactus Wren, and Gila Woodpecker

  

The birds pictured above were all life-birds from this trip.  Other birds from that area are the same species that I see more regularly around Kansas City.  Surprisingly, many of these species were very tolerant of people walking right next to them!

  

(Top to Bottom & Left to Right) Loggerhead Shrike, Red-Tailed Hawk (Likely Western subspecies), with female and male American Kestrels

  

After a mid-afternoon Christmas nap and with nothing else planned I took off to bird away from town. I had read online ahead of time and tried to figure where to look around Yuma but eventually, I gave up and simply reverted to BirdsEye and eBird for identifying potential life birds in the area. The Mountain Plover was the second new species from my time in the Yuma area.

After seeing distant views of a couple Mountain Plovers I drove to where they were headed and patiently waited for them to walk right up!

In my preparation for birding this area, almost all materials suggested birding the Salton Sea. We made a quick stop with the entire family (now up to 7 in the van) in tow on our way west.  Those birds will be the next post!

Sandia Crest

 

The girls perched on the center console to stand through the sunroof and look at the northern visitor. 

We packed the van and set off on our Winter 2017-2018 road-trip after the girls finished school on Wednesday, December 20th, 2017.  We could have taken the most direct route but, with the support of two little girls, we stopped for a Snowy Owl

It is often easier to look at birds from a car as many species are not disturbed by a vehicle, yet would flush if a person were to be walking, and the warmth of the car on a winter evening is tough to give up.

We drove through the night, switching among the three drivers so that we were able to spend the morning at Sandia Crest near Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Initially I planned to bird around Yuma Arizona, San Diego California, and wherever else we stopped.  Fortunately, I overheard others talking about Rosy Finches and this location during a Burrough's Audubon Society Field Trip and after a short conversation with my wife, we rearranged our schedule to give us the opportunity to see these high altitudes and northern birds.

You are able to drive to Sandia Crest, which was a necessary condition for us to visit given the cold morning temperatures and the strong winds. I am not sure how if or when the Sandia Crest House is open, it was closed the day we arrived but fortunately, the feeders had been maintained and a mixed flock of birds were below eating.

As Grandpa and the kids took in the scenery, I quickly realized my lack of knowledge regarding the individual species and attempted to sort through the flock with hopes of being able to find each of the three different Rosy Finch species. I seriously struggled to keep them separate in the field, but after taking a few photos felt comfortable that most of the flock were Black Rosy-Finches, a few were Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches, and that there were either a handful of first winter birds (which I had expected to be tough to ID based on my readings) or Brown-capped Rosy-Finches.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong and help educate me to what I should be looking at.
Top (Left to Right): Brown-capped Rosy Finch and Gray-crowned Rosy Finch.
Bottom: Gray-crowned Rosy Finch (Hepburn’s subspecies) and Black Rosy Finch

  

Taking photos for half an hour left almost everyone frozen, but we took a couple of quick panoramic photos with the phones and packed up to head down the road.

We made our to Flagstaff that night, approximately 1160 miles from where we started just over 24 hours before.  Fortunately we spent a couple of days in central Arizona before heading on, but those birds are for the next post.  Here are two other species that we saw at Sandia Crest.

  

(Left to Right): Mountain Chickadee and Steller's Jay

Have you seen a Bald Eagle?

Bald Eagle
A shot from the hip by being in the right spot.
The day was a dip on a Harlequin Duck chase.

It happens during the winter months almost anytime I stop near a body of water to look at birds. A stranger will stop to see that I am alright, what I am doing, or ask "Have you seen a Bald Eagle?". 

I tend to be looking for anything other than Bald Eagles and prefer to focus on waterfowl or gulls. Sometimes I even fail to notice the eagles or at least struggle to accurately count the number of Bald Eagles. Almost always I or one of the group I am with (often the kindest and most patient) walks over and describes what we are doing when the stranger expresses interest in our activities or in birds. Often the group of birders discuss more colourful responses to the question "Have you seen a Bald Eagle" but rarely have I heard it given in person. In rare instances, the stranger engages in the dialogue and wants to look through the scope, look at a field guide, or wants to look through a non-plastic non-collapsable pair of binoculars. Also on rare occasions do we engage about their passion and desire to see or photograph a Bald Eagle.

I perceive a radical change in my breadth of knowledge and time-usage as it pertains to nature and birding. To a smaller extent my goals, focus, and passion have also changed. Peculiarly I thoroughly enjoy listening to stories regarding how others have changed their habits and passions as well. It is easy for myself to focus on the recent past. I enjoy listening to others as they tell of their spark bird, share/brag of successes, and share/laugh off their misses and dipped chases. Somehow I have unconsciously omitted stories of pure joy and overwhelming awe of nature, yet those stories are the ones that I recall the best. My memories are full of these stories but almost none of them include a rare bird or chase.

By now some of you have correctly deduced the two paragraph themes are related. Others who managed to read the disjointed and seemingly unrelated paragraphs are asking what the heck is Malcolm thinking about now. Micky and I volunteered both days at the 2017 Wyandotte County Lake Eagles Days at Mr & Mrs F. L. Schlagle Library and helped participants view Bald Eagles. I was shocked at the number of individuals who felt overwhelmed by the joy of watching or seeing a Bald Eagle. Micky had expressed a similar reaction when she volunteered last year. Micky "had a memorable experience at Eagle Days at Wyandotte County Lake. [She] was helping people look through the scopes to see eagles and other birds. A man and his visually impaired wife came in and [she] had 2 adult Eagles sharply contrasted on some dark ice. He wasn't sure she could see them but she stepped up to try. The look of wonder on her face when she could make out the white-heads on the dark ice brought shivers up my spine. She couldn't see their bodies but she was so joyful for what she could see. That was my best moment all day."

   

(L) Micky followed John Bollin's lead and brought step-stool the second day! (R) I help kids look through the scope.
Photos courtesy Micky Louis.

Three adults Bald Eagles and left-over Snow Goose.
Photo courtesy Micky Louis.

I suspect that all of us that volunteered (there were five of us in total that helped for an hour or more across the two days) likely had a similar experience in helping others see the Bald Eagles. The simple amazement of watching a Bald Eagle soaring, perched, or eating was exhilarating for many of the participants. I spent much of the time crouched low to the ground helping kids look through the scope. One young boy looked through the scope at the perched eagles eating on the ice. They were distant enough that it was possible to miss them without the use of optics. His face revealed the shock that many other kids had but his actions were the most surprising. He quickly ran to the objective end and looked back through the scope asking "Where is the Eagle?" Without seeing it on the other side of the scope he returned to the eyepiece and once again asked his dad, "Where is the Eagle? I see it here [looking through the eyepiece], but where is it?" The simple joy of nature was quite apparent from the kids. That young boy returned three times throughout the day to look again.

So you might wonder, where does that leave me? My simple take away is that I hope to engage strangers better to understand their moments of wonder. I simply want to share the joys of nature with others better. This might include irrelevant stories of their common yard birds but I suspect it will also include me asking "Have you seen a Bald Eagle?"

Can a Larophile be confused by a bird?

A couple of months back a friend identified as a Larophile. My first thought was to console her, as that long of a scientific word usually reveals a short-life span and some obscure illness. Using the physical cues she gave while mentioning this I was afraid that a high-five to celebrate the accomplishment might be more appropriate though. This was a situation where my bluntness and directness came in quite handy; I simply asked "What the heck is a Larophile?" The basic premise is a Larophile is some one that gulls. I somehow managed to avoid an even more embarrassing situation by not going with either of my first thoughts. I was surprised to find that there are even gifts for the Larophile in your group of friends and family!

Adult Laughing Gull - Madison Wisconsin June 2007

The first gull on my life list is an adult Laughing Gull from Madison Wisconsin in June 2007, a rarity visitor to the state of Wisconsin and a bird that is usually found further south. In 2007 we were taking photos of all birds and going home trying to identify them after the walk. This bird is on my lifelist only because of Peter Fissel. Peter describe the field marks of this bird at and let us look through his scope. We snapped a quick photo of the bird but were actually more interested in the Mallards than the gull even though Peter's enthusiasm for this bird was contagious. He shared the knowledge and scope with a complete stranger. It was one of many kind gestures from Madison Wisconsin birders when I first got started in birding.

I've been looking at birds for over a decade, but still remember that experience. In the winter of 2007-2008 I receive my first of three Sibley Guide to Birds and spent many nights trying to understand North American birds. I hope that I left the first two copies at someone's house or in someone's car but fear I likely left them on top of my car and drove away in the field. They both treated me well and had significantly torn covers, but alas RIP beloved books.

After five years I slowly started to expand my knowledge of different bird families with specialty guides but those included Shorebirds, Hawks, Warblers, but no Gulls. Each winter I spend a bit of time looking at gulls but didn't really care that I was missing maybe one or two species. Where I've lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota it was fairly easy to differentiate Bonaparte's Gull, Franklin's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and Herring Gull. Of course there were different species around where I lived but I didn't know them.

During my first 5 years of birding I tried to differentiate between Iceland Gull, Thayer's Gull, and Herring Gull but without studying that time is more accurately described as a self-imposed frustration. Rather than jump in the deep end and read specialty guides I took a more conservative approach a few years back and starting reading the Anything Larus blog and following posts on the North American Gull Facebook Page. A dear friend gave me a copy of Gulls of the Americas and I think I'm officially hooked. So I accept any apparent good-nature ribbing or questions regarding my sanity, as I am a Larophile with limited experience in the Midwest. I feel comfortable with some Gull species but know that there is still a long ways for me to go; specifically I have a ways to go before I can go out in the field and correctly identifying gulls.

Immature Ivory Gull - Duluth Minnesota January 2016

It is likely that I have muddied the lines on what a Larophile is but that was not my intention. Rather, I am confused by a gull! My thoughts on identification of that specific gull will be in the next blog post. The answer to this blog posts title question is unequivocally yes in my opinion. Many birders I know accept that birds in the field can be confusing, some are living in denial and don't admit confusion, some of the happiest people I know enjoy birds but don't care about identification, and then unfortunately there are too many that don't appreciate birds or nature.

I've had help from many to identify gull species in my past and look forward to opportunities yet to come. Arriving home and sharing excellent photos of most species remind me of the day and even inflate my ego through social media a bit, but blurry photos represent time lost that I could have spent studying the bird. Generally I prefer to use binoculars and identify bird in the field. With Gulls I still rely on photos as blurry distant photos often provide fuel for studying. If you like gull photos here is a link to my Flickr album of Gulls. Click the slideshow option in the top right of the screen to see them easily.

Why I bird

Someone I respect posed the following set of questions to a Facebook group "I'm always trying to understand other birders and what motivates them or why they are in this. We have seen such an explosion of numbers in the "birding world" over the last 15 to 20 years that I'm trying to understand why. Is it just being outdoors? is it the photography angle (due to the revolution in photography because of digital technology). Is it the competitive side or birding (listing), or is it "The Big Year" effect? Or is it something else completely that I'm totally missing?" There were more questions on the friend's post but the first set of questions is rich enough that I felt it most appropriate to answer these separate from the other questions.

A new blog?

While I could have simply responded on Facebook I thought it would be more appropriate as a blog post and the perfect time to separate my blog into one that focused on family and one that focused on birding. I will continue to post birding stories about the family on the other location, but hope to write my thoughts on this blog going forward. Blog post and Facebook response are different!

1. Threads on Facebook are extremely hard to find and get overwhelmed and buried with other threads. I expect that I will want to come back to my thoughts for future reference and see how they have changed. I posted a few years back about chasing. I find it interesting that I now regularly chase and that I did not foresee the a move to Kansas City changing how I bird so dramatically.
2. Any post that goes longer than a few sentences is not read even where long answers are expected on social media. By nature, blog posts are longer and almost everyone knows it. I don't pretend to know the reasoning for this observation, but at least this platform is designed to show the entire post. In addition this format allows for using paragraph formatting and indentations and wish that posts and responses were consistently at least at the middle school level.

Starting out as a bird watcher

My first memories of birds were with grandparents and parents. My grandparents had a large feeder setup in their backyard, my parents had a smaller one, and my father loved duck hunting. Growing up we would look at the birds out the kitchen windows while eating and playing cards. I hunted to be with dad, but in college I learned that hunting afforded me the opportunity to get out in nature. I soon got to the point where hunting success was not determined by bringing anything home, but rather the experience of being with nature. College and grad school slightly detoured my time in nature, but once our eldest (approx 11 years ago) was born it all changed.

My wife and I starting taking walks to get her to sleep. We had recently purchased a DSLR to take pictures of our daughter, but my wife also took photos of anything along the trails. Birds were a fun subject for her photos, as they seemingly changed more often than the flowers, trees, or sky. My spark bird was my wife's photo of a Song Sparrow, as this experience revealed that I nothing almost nothing about birds but was curious. I soon bought a handful of guides and attended a Madison Audubon Field-trip for the first time. With an extremely stressful @#$%y situation in grad school birds became a personal and family retreat from hypocrisy, politics, and human 2-sidedness that seemingly invaded many aspects of life.

I escaped self-imposed stress and personal insecurity with the frivolity of attempting to identify every species. I found being a new birder to be easy and carefree! I simply introduced myself to respect others, asked questions when they would be received, was appreciative of kindness, took care to try and recognize knowledge versus opinion of other bird watchers, and celebrated excitement regardless the reason. I had hopes of being able to identify all photos, but soon realized that it was more enjoyable to have a willingness to be wrong.

Over the next couple of years my wife or myself took photos of 200 species. Identifying birds in the field is a challenge and I was slow to learn this skill as I put in little time on the topic. Photos were easy for me and were weekend enjoyment away from school. I thanked others for pointing me in the right direction and would go look up information afterwards. While I loved the information and learning side of photos I soon realized that my photos and others were judged unwantingly. I saw the same hypocrisy of people saying one thing but thinking another, saying something different behind others backs, or acting and speaking in a way inconsistent with previous words. It is odd that I find the subject of the photos beautiful, the memories of the experience figuratively priceless, yet the photo is repulsive because of the human interactions and words of a few.

This Sandhill Crane family walked across a field on one of our first walks!

A transition from bird watching into birding

For work reasons I moved away from Madison three years after getting into bird watching. I struggled as an inexperienced birder having moved to a location with less people and almost no birders. I did not know where to go nor how to find many birds. I had to change tactics from following others to figuring things out for myself. I often considered myself a miserable failure for not see many birds, for not being able to identify them, and I foolishly compared myself to others. I occasionally gave up on birding endeavors even during spring migration.

At the same time something else happened. Within a month of moving I found myself at a local wildlife area and shortly thereafter started volunteering with them. I was reminded that my love for nature was fostered and returned to my personal beliefs on the educational component of bird watching! I did not devote enough time back then, nor now, to learn quickly. I accepted that I did not know as much about birds as I wanted to and got back to loving the journey of learning. So, I led nature and migration walks on campus. I completed bird surveys for the DNR and reached out to others in the area even though I did not consider myself anything more than a novice.

A fresh start as a newbie birder

For work and family reasons I moved again after 2 years in central Wisconsin. I loved seeing new species and common species, but the lifers were extra special. I joined another group and quickly volunteered with them. With the move to Minnesota something changed however, I fell into a couple of birding friends that expanded my view birding of convenience and beyond local patch birding. They were my personal introduction to the world of listing, big days, chasing, and big years. I like numbers for personal goals and because of my analytical nature. I like getting out to new areas and exploring even though my discomfort for being lost can be crippling. I like that competition with others forces me to consider my own methods and identify areas of personal deficiency. Even more importantly though, I felt the joy of birding with others and their friendship. I asked questions why they birded this way and part of me likes each of these reasons for birding because of them.

I was quite happy for a friend when his MN state list surpassed mine; a topic that I had not considered relevant or important before. We had met on campus when I sent an email based on an eBird report. Shortly there after we had went looking for a few rare local migrants together. I suspect that he might have skipped a class or two to do so and a friendship was formed. The state list is a fun topic of conversation between friends where I hold no animosity for lagging behind, yet know others that hold grudges and judge others based on the same numbers. He is an amazing wealth of knowledge and a genuinely great person; I love that he gets to share is passion with others regularly. State, life, or year list comparison between us would be for pure silly fun and good nature ribbing rather than any sort of ranking.

Moving as a birder and where I am today

Once again for work reasons I moved, this time to Kansas City. KC is an area where we have no family, had no friends, had almost no experience in the area, and where birds and birding was sufficiently different from MN and WI. Using all the past experiences I tried to reach out to KC, Kansas, and Missouri birders to learn from them on where to bird. My offer to volunteer locally fell on deaf ears and I ended up focusing my attention back on birding. Even though Kansas City has many green spaces, birding the areas often requires that I drive somewhere first. I suspect I drove more in 6 months to go birding around KC (I didn't go all that often even) than in the first 3 years of birding in Madison or 2 years in MN where I regularly when birding locally!

The identity I had in two previous locations was no longer easily available and I tried to find my niche in KC. I love birding and the beauty of nature, but also enjoy being part of something bigger than myself and being with others that share the same interests. The birding community seemed fairly small and surprisingly disjointed. There were distinct groups in the area and they seemingly didn't overlap all that well. The most active of these was a small FB group with a few active experienced birders on it but many were in the situation I found myself in just a couple years back. Expertise and knowledge was present in the KC area, but largely not on social media. There are so many positive aspects of social media and I am very grateful for the ability to connect with "friends" and share information quickly. I suspect unintended consequences of any group is the unwittingly classical conditioning that tends to have some individuals be identified as experts incorrectly and for personal image management savy individuals to be the focus of Brad Paisley's song.

So where does that leave the ardent reader that went through this entire post? The background information does little other than to explain my answer to the question "why do you I bird?"

1. My love of birds that is rooted in a love of nature with family memories.
2. I personally love that nature and bird watching reveal something new regularly.
3. I want to nurture a respect for nature in others and birds offer a great conduit for that goal.
4. My personal ability to meditate, find centering on creating and love, and hopefully avoid judging apparent hypocrisies of the world.
5. In as much as it is possible given the above answer, find friendship and spend time with others that accept me for the insecure quirk I am.

What's next

I have had the wonderful fortune of meeting many bird watchers, listers, and birders throughout the state of Kansas and country. I feel truly blessed to be part of a wonderful community and where I currently reside. My personal beliefs are often at odds with others regarding expertise and knowledge. Through many conversations I sense that many people want to be experts (perhaps more simply just listened to) but few are willing to be wrong enough to learn from their errors or listen to others. For that I am thankful for the few people that accept me as a relatively inexperienced birder with much to learn, as an individual with enough experiences to help some, and have the enough self-awareness to know the difference between knowledge and opinion.

So what's next? Perhaps I will birding alone or maybe I will with others. I will likely bird locally but may also chase a distant bird. I might take a photograph yet will often let memory go wild with creative formation and purely observe instead. What unfortunately has not changed over the years is that I will almost always avoid individuals that say one thing but do another; love and respect nature for any reason and perhaps we'll get some time to share outdoors together.