ABA Blog

ABA Convention! Corpus Christi, Texas from April 22-26, 2014

I’ve been managing ABA Events for just over a year now and the one question I am asked perhaps more than any other is: “When are we going to have another convention?” 

Now I can happily say NEXT YEAR, in 2014! The convention will be held April 22-26, in Corpus Christi, Texas! It’ll be the peak of spring migration and we have a fantastic array of speakers and leaders lined up.

 

The birds in Texas, like this Great Kiskadee, are always phenomenal

 

Our last ABA Convention was held 5 years and for those who attended ABA Conventions regularly (a few diehard members hardly missed a single one), this seems an eternity. ABA Conventions were pioneering events, and one of the key influences on today's myriad birding festivals and events. This was a model we developed quite successfully and now there are many great birding festivals all over the U.S. and Canada, and the ABA takes an active part in many of them. Now we are excited to announce this Convention in Corpus Christi; the first of what we hope represents a new generation of ABA Conventions. As we continue to evolve as an organization this event represents another landmark for the organization, as we both honor our past and look to the future of the ABA; the new ABA, if you will, now in our 46^th year. In addition to celebrating our traditions while creating new ones, we will raise money for hawk research in cooperation with HMANA (Hawk Migration Association of North America) who are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Congratulations to HMANA!

Convention Speakers:

Gerrit Vyn is a multimedia producer and staff photographer at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Recent work has found him documenting the last remaining Spoon-billed Sandpipers in the Russian Far-east, as well as wildlife poaching in China, and the breeding behavior of birds on Alaska’s Yukon Delta. Gerrit’s images appear regularly in books, magazines, websites and multimedia productions.  He was the primary image provider for the 2009 and 2011 State of the Birds reports that were delivered to the Obama administration and congress by a coalition of leading environmental organizations. He has produced two CD compilations, Voices of North American Owls and Bird Songs of the Pacific Northwest, and is an affiliate of the International League of Conservation Photographers. Gerrit will present a talk on his expedition to capture the first ever high quality media of the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Chukotka, Russia.

Brian Sullivan is project leader for eBird, and photographic editor for the Birds of North America Online at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. An expert lecturer on hawks, he is a co-author of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors, and the forthcoming Princeton Guide to North American Birds. Brian is also co-authoring a book with George Armistead to be published by Princeton titled Essential Birding. He served as photographic editor for the ABA’s journal North American Birds from 2005-2013.

Jeffrey Kimball has made a career in film as a music supervisor/executive on films including A Bronx Tale and Good Will Hunting. But in 2012 he debuted his documentary Birder’s: The Central Park Effect. Jeff will air this film and discuss how and why he made this insightful movie about birders.

ABA Convention Staff: Jeff Gordon (ABA president), Tom Johnson (Birding photo quiz editor), Jen Brumfield (Tropical Birding Tours and Leica Birding), Jennie Duberstein (Editor of The Eyrie), and George Armistead (Events ABA Coordinator), among others.

Join your ABA event staff and fellow ABA members for a fun and educational birding extravaganza on the Gulf Coast of Texas. See what the new ABA is all about. It’ll be the peak of migration with Mississippi Kites and warblers pouring through, and of course the many South Texas specialties will be in place. If you are interested in hearing more about this convention contact Nancy Hawley at nhawley AT aba.org to register your interest. Let’s go bird Corpus, together. Registration opens July 10^th!

ABA Events Update!

The ABA’s Institute for Field Ornithology traces its origins back to 1983. It was created to offer novel opportunities for the study of birds. IFO programs combine education with field birding to enrich your appreciation of birds. (See below for more info on upcoming IFO Programs).

Fresh off our sold out IFO Program in Philadelphia, PA, here's a quick rundown on The Cradle of American Ornithology. Our group of 16 members along with instructors Ted Floyd, Bert Filemyr, and myself met up in Center City Philly for 5 days of educational birding. We retraced the steps of luminaries like Audubon, Wilson, Cassin, and James Bond among others, touring a number of historical sites. We also partook of some bird study ourselves, visiting several choice birding sites and seeing some fantastic birds along the way.

Here at Barnegat Light, NJ we enjoyed tremendous (practically broomstick-length) views of specialties such as Long-tailed Duck, Purple Sandpiper, Great Cormorant, "Ipswich" Sparrow, and Harlequin Ducks.

We were blessed with good weather throughout as the picture above from Barnegat Light, New Jersey proves. In route to that magnificent birding spot we stopped near New Egypt, NJ, where two Northern Lapwings were still in place and satisfying birders. Also there were a handful of Pectoral Sandpipers, and mess of Wilson's Snipe.

Instructor Bert Filemyr enjoys a lighter moment at the Academy of Natural Sciences's library, while discussing the angst between rivals J.J. Audubon and George Ord.

In the Academy of Natural Sciences archives treasures abound. We were privileged to see a range of rare and valuable historical artifacts including Alexander Wilson's fowling piece, as well as original hand-written communications between Wilson and other famous ornithologists of his time.

Doug Wechsler of VIREO shows us a spread-wing of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker from the Academy's bird collection.

A visit to the specimen collection yielded more treasures and we got to see actual Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, Bachman's Warblers, a skull of a Great Auk, Passenger Pigeons, a couple of Heath Hens, Carolina Parakeets, and the last documented Eskimo Curlew (a specimen from Barbados, killed by a local hunter in 1963).

A visit to Old Swede's Church in South Philly, a national historic landmark, landed us at Alexander Wilson's grave site.

At Alexander Wilson's resting place, Bert taught us about Wilson. He mentioned how Wilson wanted to rest some place where birds were flying above him. As if on cue, a Sharp-shinned Hawk cruised overhead.

Never lacking for enthusiasm, Birding editor Ted Floyd is happy to be back on his old stomping grounds in front of the Philly skyline, birding Bartram's Garden. Soon a Merlin appeared!

On our last full day, we visited Mill Grove, the site of John James Audubon's home, and also Bartram's Garden, where both Wilson and Audubon studied American birds. While at Bartram's we received an excellent tour by curator Joel Fry. Our perusal of the Gardens there netted us Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a couple of Brown Creepers. The latter was described by Wilson from a bird he collected at Bartram's. Also there we saw a live specimen of Franklinia (tea plant family), the most famous of the John & William Bartram's botanical discoveries, and the plant featured in Audubon's plate of the Bachman's Warbler.

It was a fantastic five days. Thanks to all who participated!
Join us for this event in 2014.

Other UPCOMING IFO Programs in 2013 include:

Cape May Magic
Cape May, NJ
Instructor: Clay Sutton, Pat Sutton & Mark Garland
Price: $645                Limit: 18 people
Bird migration is a spectacle of course, and no where is it more so than at Cape May, perhaps the most storied birding location in the ABA area. Three friendly local instructors have a long history with the area and teaching birders about this fantastic destination for birds and birders.
Register Today

Winter Sparrows of the Southwest
Sierra Vista, AZ                      Dec. 5-13
Instructor: Homer Hansen
Price: $1395                Limit: 6 people
Visiting the semi-desert grasslands and riparian woodlands to observe the behavior and habitat selection of 20+ species of sparrows. Outings are followed by classroom lectures on identification, vocalizations, ecology, natural history, and conservation.
Register Today

 

Video: Releasing a Rosy-Finch; Looking Out for their Future

Michael Hilchey at the crest. Photo ©Raymond VanBuskirk

For many of us there, the high point, altitudinally and ornithologically, of the ABA's recent Albuquerque Rally was visiting the famous rosy-finch banding station at Sandia Crest. Above, you can see Michael Hilchey, one the dedicated crew from Rio Grande Bird Research that keep this valuable and challenging project going. At the far right, the feeder and finch trap are visible.

Below is a shot of Raymond VanBuskirk, another of the rosy-finch researchers, returning a just-banded Black Rosy-Finch to the flock. Check out the concentration on Raymond's face. These guys, along with all the RGBR gang, are fun, dynamic folks. But, boy, do they bring serious attention and care to the work they do. It's a pleasure to witness.

Raymond focussing. Photo ©Jesse Swift

I went up to Sandia the second of the three field trip days. Things started off very well, with single male Gray-crowned and Brown-capped rosy-finches visiting the feeder shortly after we arrived. A bit more waiting and some skillful trap operation, and we were fortunate to see one gorgeous male Brown-capped Rosy-Finch in the hand, a bird which had been banded there some years before.

Raymond VanBuskirk holds "our" Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. This species breeds almost entirely in Colorado. I wonder if it might be one of those that nest on the tundra of Pike's Peak, visible from ABA HQ?

 Once this lovely bird was quickly weighed and measured and otherwise processed, Raymond gave rally participant Pat Blyer the honor of releasing it. I shot a quick video of the event that I thought you'd enjoy.

 

After an eventful and exciting first couple of hours, our patience and cold tolerance got a bit of a workout. Though it was hardly a brutal day on the mountain weather-wise, it was chilly for sure, especially when standing still for long periods. But we still hadn't seen Black Rosy-Finch, ironically the most numerous rosy species wintering at Sandia.

So we waited...

And we waited...

And we huddled in the vans and ate our lunches. Then we waited some more.

But in an instant, the waiting and the cold were forgotten, as a squall of Rosies shot up over the ridge crest and settled in the trees above the feeders.

Rosy-Finches aren't exactly nervous...they can be incredibly confiding sometimes. But boy, are they ever active! We marvelled as the flocked flowed all around the feeders, and we used our newly-honed ID skills to pick out all three species, plus the distinctive gray-faced "Hepburn's" form of Gray-crowned. It was a thrilling couple of minutes.

We left Sandia Crest smiling and headed lower, where the birding was a little warmer and more diverse. But our time at the banding station was really something to treasure. I've known of the Sandia finches since the early 2000's, so getting to see them and the project members in action is something I've waited for quite a while. It was more than worth it.

As great as our time up high with Raymond, Michael, the rosy-finches was, in some ways we learned even more from the presentation they gave to the entire rally group Sunday night. In it, they shared not only some of the exciting discoveries they have made and important questions they are working to answer, but also how much the Sandia flock, both avian and human, has meant to the shape, direction, and quality of their lives. It was inspiring, all the way round.

Speaking of those discoveries and questions, as miraculous as rosy-finches and their extrordinary life histories are, there are many, many reasons to be concerned for their future. Climate change poses an exceptional threat to them, living as many of them do in tiny islets of tundra habitat which are shrinking rapidly. High altitude stocking of non-native trout and other game fish may also be having a serious impact on their survival. And there are the more prosaic but still essential issues of where exactly the rosies that winter at Sandia, their southernmost outpost, come from and go back to.

All of us from the ABA who got to visit with the birds and birders of Albuquerque came away with a deeper appreciation of the vibrant birding scene there. And we wanted to do our small part to help the rosy-finch study and the other ongoing projects of Rio Grande Bird Research continue. 

The final night of our rally, we passed a basket for donations to the finch study, collecting nearly $700 from the ABA audience. On top of that, the ABA donated $1000 to RGBR in support of all the great work they do, which includes not only rosy-finch project, but also banding in the bosque along Albuquerque's Rio Grande, and the painstaking study of Black-throated Warblers done by Ashli Gorbet, another of our primary leaders on this rally, along with her husband, Larry.

I'd like to invite you to participate in all the great times and sound conservation science that is being done by ABA members like Ashli, Michael, and Raymond. If you're able to contribute funds to support their efforts, you can send checks payable to Rio Grande Bird Research. Write Rosy-Finch on the check if you want to restrict your gift to that project. Mail to P.O. Box 6557 Albuquerque NM 87197

And if you'd like to join Raymond and Michael in New Mexico or elsewhere, check out their newly-formed tour company, High Desert Birding Adventures.

Additional info on the history of the rosy-finch project can be found at www.rosyfinch.com. For the most current updates go to the Sandia Rosy-Finch Project Facebook page. Audubon magazine did a great profile on Raymond, Michael, and the rosy-finches that you can read here.

Thanks to all of you in Albuquerque who welcomed the ABA to your patch! We're looking forward to seeing all the great things you'll do in the future.

Some of the RGBR gang at Sandia Crest. From left: Jason Kitting, Steve Cox (another of our core rally leaders and president at RGBR), Mary Ristow, Nancy Cox, Lee Hopwood, Micheal Hilchey, and Raymond VanBuskirk. Thank you ALL for welcoming the ABA! photo ©Jane Kostenko

Albuquerque Rally Bits

I've had the honor and pleasure of leading at the recently concluded ABA Winter Birding Rally in Albuquerque this week, and thought I'd share a few personal photographic highlights.  It is really nice to see the growing lineup of upcoming ABA offerings, and even more tantalizing events were announced at the final evening's dinner so stay tuned to this blog and/or check back on the ABA Events Page frequently for the news!  I'd like to thank ABA Events Coordinator George Armistead for inviting me and also thank the crew of ABQ experts for having me along on their trips (Andy Bankert, Steve Cox, Ashli Gorbet, Michael Hilchey, and Raymond VanBuskirk.)  Thanks also to John Puschock for his leadership on the Bosque del Apache trips, and to Jennie Duberstein, Jeff & Liz Gordon, Nancy Hawley, Jane Kostenko, and Tyler Bell for completing the A+ ABA staff roster.  I feel very fortunate whenever I can be a part of such a keen crew!

The birds were great but the birders were even better- one of my favorite parts of these events is meeting folks from all corners of North America and I look forward to crossing paths again out in the field!   If you haven't yet had the pleasure of attending an ABA event I hope you'll consider giving one a try soon.

One of the three destinations in the rally's daily rotation was the world-famous Bosque del Apache NWR.

Pursuing the elusive Sage Sparrow on one of Bosque del Apache's desert trails.

No winter trip to the Bosque would be complete without a study of light geese such as this swanky Ross's Goose.

Scads of other waterfowl call Bosque's network of wetlands home for the winter including these dapper Northern Pintails.

A covey of Gambel's Quail near the Bosque del Apache Visitor Center gave crippling views in the early morning sunlight.

Neotropic Cormorants catalyzed a nice discussion on cormorant ID along the Bosque Tour Loop road.

 

This brilliant but angry-looking Pyrrhuloxia is a denizen of the Bosque Visitor Center's lovely cactus garden.

 

Our trip to Bosque del Apache didn't disappoint in the Northern Harrier department.

 

 

Another day found ABA Winter Rally birders at Albuquerque localities, including Embudito Canyon on the east side of town where we sought the elusive Crissal Thrasher.

Embudito Canyon also had its share of confiding Canyon Towhees.

Embudito Canyon offers wilderness trails and excellent birding habitat right above Albuquerque.

Curve-billed Thrashers and Cholla Cactus- a match made in Albuquerque.

Albuquerque's Valley Nature Center offers excellent riparian birding habitat along the Rio Grande River as it courses through town.

I'd say this Canada Goose has the Valley Nature Center feeder program figured out...

A Greater Roadrunner kept watch on us while visiting the Valley Nature Center.

Further downriver near Tingley Beach (yeah, that's a thing in ABQ), our group found an inert porcupine in the woods.  Discussion and debate ensued about whether it was still in the land of the living, but when it stretched and yawned the issue was settled.

The bosque at Tingley Beach hosted more nice birds in good riparian and pond habitats.

 

 

 The third trip in my rotation was up to Sandia Crest, famous for hosting all three North American Rosy-Finch species.  We were treated to all three, plus the Hepburn's subspecies of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch.  To compliment their evening Rosy-finch talk, Michael Hilchey and Raymond VanBuskirk were atop the Crest to demonstrate their research project methods and show us a few in-hand birds.

Raymond VanBuskirk with a fine Brown-capped Rosy-Finch about to be released.

Another treat high above Albuquerque on Sandia Crest was a flock of Red Crossbills tearing through Douglas Fir cones.  

On the lower flanks of Sandia Crest we saw hordes of Mountain and Western Bluebirds.  

Winter birding above 10,000 ft. involves snowy hiking!

Thanks again, everyone, for making the ABA Winter Birding Rally such a huge success!!

Barrow's Arctic Bonanza

The Ross's Gull Expedition to Barrow, Alaska is an upcoming ABA Event, Oct 4-8, 2013. Our own John Puschock has led this tour four times with his own company and will be a guide on our event. We asked him to talk a little about his 2012 tour.

--=====--

Ever since the first edition of A Birder’s Guide to Alaska (part of the ABA Birdfinding Guide series) was published, I wanted to run a tour to Barrow for the fall migration of Ross’s Gull.  The idea of seeing flocks of this species passing by the northern tip of Alaska sounded fascinating. But would others feel the same? Could I get people to sign up for a tour? I didn’t know if anyone would be interested in going up there for just one target species. The book mentioned Ivory Gulls formerly being there in early October too, but it implied that with the sea ice no longer being around at that time of year, the Ivory Gulls were no longer showing up then. But in 2008, two small private groups, one included Larry & Michael Schwitters and the other had ABA board member Lynn Barber, separately visited Barrow in early October. Not only did each group see Ross’s Gulls, they also saw one or two Ivory Gulls. Now that I knew there was a reasonable shot at seeing several hard-to-get Arctic species (and a chance for polar bears!), it was time to make the tour happen.

I ran the tour for the first time in 2009, and with thousands of Ross’s Gulls (with perhaps over 10,000 on one phenomenal day), an adult Ivory Gull, and several Spectacled Eiders, it immediately became my favorite one. Since then, I’ve run the tour every year. Each one has been different, but it’s still the tour I looked forward to the most. Here are some highlights from the latest tour, which went from Oct 3-7 last year:

We didn’t have to wait long to find our first “good” gull, and by “good” I mean something other than a Glaucous. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great gull, but some things are reversed in Barrow. Unlike in the Lower 48, here it is the haystack that hides the needles. In this case, the needle was a Slaty-backed Gull on the beach a few hundred yards from where we had just gotten out of the van. As luck would have it, a front-end loader was coming down the beach right then. The gulls flushed before I could set the scope up, but the Slaty-backed flew right by us on its way to a nearby lagoon. My camera, of course, was sitting snugly on the driver seat of the van. (I doubt I’ll ever learn the lesson to always carry it.) Anyway, the Slaty-backed settled on the back side of the lagoon, and everyone was able to get scope views.

I didn't get a photo of the Slaty-backed Gull, so here's a shot of Glaucous and two immature Thayer's Gulls (center and far left).

About an hour later, we came back to the Slaty-backed spot. This is where the locals butcher the bowhead whales caught during the traditional fall hunt. One was brought in the night before, so there were plenty of scraps for the gulls. As we were scanning through them, a group took flight, and I noticed one that looked just a bit paler. My first thought was “It would be nice if that was an Ivory Gull”, but I was expecting to see an immature Glaucous Gull as I brought the camera to my eye. Whoops, no! It was an adult Ivory Gull. I’ve had one on every tour, but only one, so I still sweat finding one. It was a relief to get it right at the beginning. It cooperated by circling us twice before flying off down the shore.

Ivory Gull.

After lunch that first day, we drove to the north end of the road that parallels the coast to do some seawatching. We were still in need of Ross’s Gull. After scanning for a bit, someone noticed a pod of belugas swimming along the shore towards us. These were the first I’ve seen at Barrow. There were adults and immatures in the pod. While the adults are white, the immatures begin life dark gray and lighten as they age. There were a few tiny ones in the pod, probably less than a year old. We followed them down the shore, driving out ahead of them, and watched them pass. We repeated this several times until…

Baby belugas.

As we watched the belugas swim by a third time, my co-leader, Marlene Wagner, spotted two gulls flying just offshore and getting closer. They looked smaller and more tern-like. As they approached, we could make out a pinkish color on their underparts and saw their distinctive body shape – Ross’s Gulls! As it turned out, these were the only ones we saw on the tour. Previous tours saw hundreds or thousands, and this time we had just two. Maybe migration was later this year? I don’t know, but seeing these flying over a pod of belugas was cool nonetheless. And we had another first for this tour to make up for not having insane numbers of Ross’s…

OK, I cheated. This photo is from the 2011 tour when the Ross's Gulls were much more cooperative.

The next day we were back where we first saw the belugas. I was scoping gulls on the beach about a mile away, near where the remains of the bowhead whales are disposed. I noticed a large lump on the beach that I didn’t think was there the previous day. I quietly asked Marlene to take a look, and she confirmed my suspicion -- it was a sleeping polar bear. As we watched, it started to move, revealing that we were partially wrong. It wasn’t just a polar bear, it was actually three: a mother with two cubs. After soaking them in, a juvenile Sabine’s Gull put on a show foraging in the surf right in front of us, and then as we walked back to the van, an adult Ivory Gull, presumably the one from the previous day, flew right over our heads and briefly landed on the beach before continuing on. It was quite a show. (The next day, a Barrow resident took us out to the point, where we got much closer looks at these bears plus two more.)

Polar bears near Point Barrow. Please forgive the blurriness; they were taken through the van window.

Well, I’m close to my word limit for this post, so just one more of my favorite moments from the tour: We were back at the spot with the whale scraps. Marlene was wandering around, looking through the gull flock while the rest of us scoped the sea. We heard her shout “Hey”, so we turned around, and there between her and us sat the Ivory Gull, giving us our best looks yet.

Ivory Gull (and Marlene).

Ivory Gull.

ABA Announces 2013 Young Birder Camps!

The American Birding Association (ABA) is pleased to announce their 2013 Young Birder Summer Camps - Camp Colorado and Camp Avocet. 

Camp Colorado, running from July 21-27, will be held once again in Estes Park, Colorado, bordering the majestic Rocky Mountain National Park.  Campers will find plenty of opportunities to take their birding skills to the next level, meet other young people with similar interests, explore careers in birding and ornithology, and, of course, learn about the bird life and natural history of northern Colorado. 

ABA’s newest camp, Camp Avocet, running August 11-17, will be held at the stunning Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware, only minutes away from two major National Wildlife Refuges and a short ride to the northernmost cypress swamp in North America.  Migrating shorebirds will be a main study and focus for this camp but due to the grand diversity of southern Delaware’s bird-rich habitats, over 150 species of birds will be seen and studied during this seven-day camp extravaganza! 

As always, both ABA Camps will be staffed by world-class adult birders specializing in educating today’s crop of youth birders.  Our camper-to-teacher ratio will be 3-to-1, with guest instructors contributing their unique talents each day.  For complete details, information and registration, please visit  www.events.aba.org  or contact Bill Stewart at bstewart AT aba.org. 

Scholarships made possible in part through our Legacy Sponsor - Leica Sport Optics, plus the DuPont Company and the Richard E. Andrews Memorial Scholarship are available for young birders aged 13-18 interested in attending either ABA Camp.

THE TOP 10: Birding Taboos

We’ve all got’em. Flashpoints. No-no’s. A little illicit indulgence here and there. Such subjects are usually best left undiscussed… but not today. Here we shall have it out and get’em all on the table, in plain sight, for all to see. What follows is a list of the Top 10 Birding Taboos. On some subjects I offer some opinion, and hopefully some insight, but for others enough has been said already!

And see the info about ABA Events below.

10.       Hawai’i and amending the ABA Area

This has been much discussed as folks have strong opinions for and against adding the 50^th state to the ABA Area.

 

If Hawaii becomes part of the ABA Area, the Bristle-thighed Curlew could become a much easier bird to see; provided you are able to make it to Hawai'i. (Photo by G. Armistead)

 

9.         Laser Pointers

Many birding guides have found laser pointers a godsend. They are great for showing people birds in areas where spotting or relocate birds is difficult (especially in forest). Other folks find them disruptive. In many instances laser pointers greatly aid in showing birds to fellow birders, but they do have some drawbacks. Surely by now everyone is aware, or can intuit, that shining a laser beam into the eye of any animal is a very, very bad idea that could result in permanent damage to the eye. Given that, laser pointers should be used with caution, and it only requires a little conscious effort to use one safely. Some birds (like hummingbirds) are frightened by lasers and so using one will only hasten a bird’s disappearance. Occasionally birding guides are careless with them and over-use them so that the birders in their charge become unpracticed at receiving directions the old fashioned way and then are slower to find birds in situations where a laser pointer won’t work. Personally, I rate them on the plus side; in some situations, used properly, they really improve the quality of a group birding experience.

 

8.         Records Committees

Avidly followed by some, records committees are loathed by others.

 

7.         Listing and listers

Somewhere along the way listing picked up a negative connotation in certain circles. Being a slave to the list is unhealthy, as you don’t want to reach a point where you fail to enjoy the birds in front of you, but listing actually generates a lot of good and healthy activity among birders. Keeping a day list, a month list, a county list, or even doing a big year will lead to a bunch of interesting experiences while forcing you to think about bird distribution and behavior. It’s this peeling back of the layers that is surely part of why eBird is the success that it is. In fact, some of the most expert among us are serious listers who enjoy it for the knowledge it has brought them.

 

6.         Dirty Birds

We’ve all got a couple. These are the “BVD” (better view desired) birds, “heard-only”, or “questionable origin”-type of birds. Entries we have counted on a list but that aren’t supported by the best views, or any views, or that conceivably have just escaped from a cage inside somebody’s home or waddled off a freighter.

 

5.         Stringers

Every state/province has got at least one and we all know who they are. They’re the birders who always find rarities while they are by themselves and always fail to photograph them. For these birders most of their birds are dirty. In some cases these folks come up with one incredible find after another, but they almost always fail to document their sightings with recordings, video, photos, etc., and so we are left to wonder what they really saw. Often there is little wonder, and we can be certain that the reports are nothing other than figments of hope that mutated into a “sighting”. In other cases we are simply left to wonder….what did they actually see? Was it really a ….?

 

4.         IBWOs

Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in 1937 (Photo by James Tanner)

 

Y’all knew this was coming. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker has become perhaps the biggest taboo in birding. The “irrefutable evidence” that came out of Arkansas, then Florida, then a host of other spots, looks a lot more like hearsay in hindsight. Hope gone awry. In the process reputations were soiled and relationships between many folks who work in ornithology and conservation were strained or even ruined. The whole thing was a mess and a shame.

 

3.         Hunting

My good friend Marshall Iliff once told me that he figured birding is sort of a hybrid between hunting and stamp-collecting and I think that’s not far off. There is actually a fair amount of overlap between birders and hunters, but I know some hunters who are birders and keep their hunting hobbies quiet around other birders. Undeniably, hunting is a (the?) driving force in conservation.

 

2.         Playback

While guiding in the UAE, George tries to draw out a Sand Partridge using a recording of its call. (Photo by Rich Kuehn)

 

Playing recorded bird songs to attract birds is another hot-button issue. Initially, it seems like disturbance, and so it typically incites a reactionary response. A more nuanced accounting reveals that in many instances using playback is a pretty responsible course, considering the alternatives (e.g. having large groups of birders loitering in a bird’s territory for prolonged periods). The real answer lies in exercising common sense and caution and being self-aware.                                                                                                         

1.         Outdoor cats

The jury is in on this one. Keep your cats indoors. Simple as that.

Why not explore birding taboos together, in person.

Come be a part of these upcoming 2013 ABA Events:

The Cradle of American Ornithology
Philadelphia, PA                     Mar. 27th-31st
Instructors: Ted Floyd & George Armistead

Rarity-hunting in Alaska's Pribilofs
St. Paul Island, AK                Sept. 25th-Oct. 2nd
Guides: Doug Gochfeld & Scott Schuette

Ross's Gull Expedition to Barrow, Alaska
Barrow, AK                            Oct. 4th-8th
Guides: John Puschock & George Armistead

 

ABA Kiptopeke Rally in photos

The recent ABA Rally held at Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore of Virginia was, by all accounts,a whole lot of fun for those of us involved.  Events Coordinator George Armistead has put together a slideshow showcasing some of the event’s highlights, both avian and human.

You can find that slideshow here.

If the birds and camaraderie get you intrigued about spending some time in the company of the American Birding Association, make sure to check out the schedule of upcoming events on our events site and plan to join us in the future!

Join the ABA at RGVBF!

The ABA is once again proud to help sponsor the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen, Texas.  Among many birders across the continent, this is the high point of the birding year, an opportunity to renew friendships among the fantastic weather and phenomenal birds of South Texas.

In addition to having a presence on the trade show floor, the ABA will also be involved in a couple additional events during the week, both of which look to be a lot of fun. 

You've likely already heard about the inaugural ABA Young Birder track, a series of field trips over the course of the week aimed specifically at appealing to birders aged 13 to 18.  

But the second is open to every member of the ABA attending the festival.  On the opening night of the festival please join the ABA for an Sundowner event at beautiful Los Ebanos Preserve in San Benito, Texas, hosted by ABA President Jeff Gordon and first lady/adjutant/magician Liz Gordon and joined by webmaster Greg Neise, Winging It editor Michael Retter, Young Birder Program liason Jennie Duberstein and hopefully lots of ABA members from all over the continent.

If you're a member, come on out!  If you're not yet a member but you'd still like to attend the event, all you have to do is join. 

If you plan on coming out, please RSVP via this link. 

Reflections on a Rally - Kiptopeke 2012

    For a few days last week I had the good fortune to spend some time on the eastern shore of Virginia, soaking in the experience of the ABA's first rally, held at Kiptopeke State Park on the southern tip of Delmarva.  My responsibilities were simple - help out on a few field trips, make an airport run, cut up some fruit into salad-sized chunks - but I couldn't help but feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of it all, for reasons both personal and professional. 

    When I came on to manage the ABA Blog, I wrote about my relationship with the organization from my days as a kid birder thankful to the American Birding Association for a scholarship to go to "bird camp" to a concerned bystander to someone charged with taking an idea, that of a multi-author blog geared towards making a somewhat staid group more relevant and immediate, and successfully integrating it into the ABA's larger mission.  What I meant, but left unsaid in that old post, is that I came in as an outsider, as one largely ignorant of the organization's history and baggage.  And yet, I have been brought into that fold, made welcome, and now endeavor to make others feel welcome too.   

    In living a great deal of my birding life online it's easy to feel as though the needs of the modern birder are, in many ways, fulfilled by the myriad options available in interspace.  As the proprieter of this here weblog, I have to hope that this is at least somewhat the case.  But we are social animals after all.  And we do well to remember that often the best thing about being a birder is having the opportunity to be around birders.

Events Coordinator George Armistead (in blue) gets the group on some Great Cormorants in the shadow of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

    This group gathered on Virginia's Eastern Shore to take in the mind-numbing spectacle of fall migration on the Mid-Atlantic.  In my first morning, before many of the guests had arrived, I stood on the hawkwatch at Kiptopeke State Park and watched flock, yes flocks, of Red-breasted Nuthatches pass southward between a gap in the pines.  I watched kettles of Turkey Vultures and lines of falcons in three species sliding past.  I saw more Yellow-rumped Warblers in more places than I have ever seen.  None of these birds are particularly rare, but one cannot help being moved by the gravity of watching great masses of birds go by in one direction with one purpose. 

Yes, I'd say that part of the rally was a great success.

One of the many hundreds of Red-breasted Nuthatches moving southward

     We ate well too, local seafood in soup and sauce and cake form.  Smith Island Cake from the Chesapeake Bay cut with a fishing line. Lunches in the field and at the park.  Coffee, bird friendly, of course.

    But best of all were the birders.  This site was chosen for the first ABA rally because it is near and dear to the heart of ABA President Jeff Gordon, who hails from up the coast in Delaware, but because events coordinator George Armistead has been birding the area since he, himself, was a kid birder.  Though based in Colorado Springs, the ABA staff has a strong mid-Atlantic connection anymore, and additional help was provided by Bill Stewart of Wilmington, Delaware, whose work with the ABA Young Birders has been phenomenal, and New York based birder and finder of rare birds in Alaska, Doug Gochfeld.  It was a great lineup to say the least.

An "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler, arguably the bird of the event, and a source of bemusement among our western participants

    And between the hawks and the nuthatches and the food, birders got together.  It is perhaps an understatement to say that, for many of us, birding takes up an inordinate proportion of our lifes.  When I talk to people about my interest in birds they'll occasionally ask what else I do.  What else?   Are they unaware at how easily birding can envelop your life?  Of how every day offers new opportunities?  Every trip new birds?   I've often thought that it is only around birders that we can truly be ourselves, to completely geek out on migration and molt and bits of ornithological arcana that the rest of the civilized world doesn't see or doesn't want to. 

    That's not, by any means, a call to insularize, to further pull ourselves into our own little cliques be they online or off; birding needs us all to be ambassadors for nature. But it is a call to appreciate those moments and opportunities to get together, be they at events such as these or your local bird club's monthly slideshow.  We need these, for our own well-being if for nothing else, and the American Birding Association wants to continue to offer those opportunities. 

    If you are not yet a member of the ABA, please consider joining.  And take a look at the updated schedule of ABA Events to see if any interest you.  This is only the beginning of what we all hope will be an exciting time for the American Birding Association.