Why Do People Bother Keeping Lists Of Birds?

(first of year Northern Mockingbird)

At the beginning of each year many birders start a list to track their first sighting of the year for each bird species they see (foy=first of year). Some organize these into month lists, year lists or whatever type of list seems relevant to them. I've never been particularly interested in keeping lists but eBird has made it so much easier that I've tried to keep up with it the last couple of years. 

I've sometimes wondered why people bother keeping lists of birds and gain a sense of satisfaction as their lists gets bigger. I think  human beings have an instinctual need to organize things. It makes us feel more secure and in control. People in general also like to strive towards achieving goals. So the desire to lists birds is really not much different than a desire to complete a puzzle or score points in a basketball game. 

first of year House Finch

Some of us may not be as competitive or organized  and are content  just to watch birds or take photos of them. Either way anything that gets us outdoors to appreciate nature has to be a positive!

Spring Census Mystery Bird Makes Number 100

 I've been working on the Spring census for the town of Portland and having a blast! It's so much easier to look for birds in your own town because you know where everything is. If you want to add a Great Blue Heron to the list just visit the local rookery. Of course it doesn't matter if there are 150 herons there because you can only count 1. I also found one Great Egret at this sight which was pretty cool.

I visited some of the nature preserves but found more flowers than birds. What kind of flower is this? 

I can usually count on finding Peregrine Falcons around the bridge this time of the year. They like to spend time making friends with the pigeons before giving them the bad news. I didn't have any luck on this particular morning but it was a nice view of the river though. I don't know where the falcons are hiding but I still have until this weekend to find one.

You never know what you'll find this time of the year. I went looking for warblers and then just when I Least expected there was a sandpiper.

My most exciting moment so far came when I heard a bird singing a song at the power-lines. I was unable to get a good look at the bird because it was hidden back in some cedars. It kept repeating the same song but I had no idea what it was. I recorded the song and the members of Birdforum identified it for me. It's a White-eyed Vireo which aren't that uncommon along the shoreline but I've never seen one in Portland. Later I was able to go back with my spotting scope to get a decent look at it. Don't bother watching the video but if you listen closely you can hear the White-eyed Vireo singing which turned out to be the 100th recorded species for the Portland Spring Census this year. Update: final total was 117.

Big January Ends With Both Bills Crossed

Saturday was my last chance to add to my January list. I met up with a group of birders at the commuter parking lot in Chester for what we called missed species trip. Our plan was to make several stops along the shoreline between Old Lyme and Stratford until we ran out of daylight. The morning started out on a good note when I was able to add Purple Finch to my list at our very first stop. Hammonasset proved to be a worthwhile visit. There were loads of people there to watch a charity event which features swimmers taking a plunge into the ice-cold water. Too bad I was busy birding, or I might have joined them. It was during an extended visit to the rest area at Meig's Point Nature Center that we saw an American Bittern fly across the parking lot into a nearby gully. That was a bird that many of us needed for our list, including me. We made a stop at Meig's point where we were able to find a few Purple Sandpipers at the end of the jetty.

It was during a lunch break in the West beach parking lot that I spotted these White-winged Crossbills having a lunch of their own. Even though I didn't need this bird for my list, it was nice to finally get a close up view of them. The top photo of the female shows a little bit of her crossed bill. The bottom photo of the male shows the overall red coloring . The wings are darker with white markings on them.

click to play
Somehow, I felt that the sighting of these birds was a sign of good things to come. When I saw them last week, they were gone as soon as they sniffed the pine cones , but on Saturday they just couldn't seem to get enough of them. I'm looking forward to spotting some more at some other unexpected location during the winter. One way of finding them is to look for bits of cone debris falling from coniferous trees in an area where you suspect they may be. In the video, you can hear some other birders conversing. You can hear our trip leader joke that the lone male crossbill had a harem after a second female showed up.

I forgot exactly where this spot was, but check out the mega- lens on that camera. The photographer also used the lens to spot his birds. I'm hoping he may send me a photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk he took during our trip. It was taken from about 100 yards away. I'm curious to see how it came out.

After lunch, we worked our way towards New Haven. On the way down, I saw a flock of Wild Turkeys grazing on the side of the highway. I tried to get every one's attention but it was difficult to do when we were traveling 75 miles-I mean-65 miles an hour along I-95. That was one of the target species that I was able to add to my list. I was disappointed to have missed Common Grackle and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker for the month of January. I guess I just wasn't in the right place at the right time.

It was at a stop in a restaurant parking lot in New Haven where we saw all of these scaup in the photo . We also had a surprise sighting of 4 Greater Yellowlegs just down the road from there. In a way, I guess you could say that we saw 8 yellow legs since there were 4 birds and each had 2 legs. We missed out on finding a Black-headed Gull or a night heron, both of which we were hoping for.

I must say that it has been a long and challenging month of birding for me. If it weren't for the fact that I like birding so much, you could say that these all-day birding marathons were like a hard day of work. From dawn to dusk you have to drive, set-up and move on constantly. The weather was very cold and our breaks were very short. As I said though-if I didn't like birding so much. One of the guys in the group called it microwave birding (done in 2 minutes). That was kind of the joke for the day. I could tell that he was anxious to make use of his new scope but there were some stops that he didn't even have a chance to look through the eyepiece before we were off and running again.

I'm not going to get into the specifics of all the birds we saw total number of species for the day was 66. It was at dusk that I recorded my final species for the month of January. A flock of Boat-tailed Grackles landed in a tower at the airport in Stratford, just as the sun was setting. This was a lifebird for me. The photo is a view of the marsh just across the road from the towers where the grackles landed to roost for the night. What a magical way to end the month of January. Thanks to all of you who joined me in participating in the birding tradition known as "Big January." I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Was I able to exceed my total species count of 94 from last year? Did I reach that magic number of 100 species seen during the month of January in Connecticut? Is it possible that I was trying to lull Kathie of Sycamore Canyon into a false sense of security by suggesting that I had no chance of topping her January species count and then surging ahead to take the lead on the final day? --hmm.. that would be an interesting turn of events-wouldn't it. Maybe it's just best to leave the answers to those questions to your own imagination. After all, it's just a game-right? But...For those of you who really feel the need to know,- click here

One Day Birding Marathon Helps Bring Total Number Of Species To 93

The first 78 species on my January list were compiled independently. In order to exceed 90, I would need to visit the western part of the state looking for species that I am less familiar with. On Saturday, I met up with a group of birders who had one common goal; to add as many species to their January list as they could. I arrived at a commuter parking lot in Chester, CT at 7:30am so that we could carpool for the trip. We didn't return to that parking lot until 6pm!
I like the idea of carpooling if you're going to be putting on a lot of miles for a birding excursion. It's cheaper, more efficient, and seems like the environmentally conscious thing to do. Adrian and Beth led the trip, which focused on the Connecticut shoreline. We made numerous stops between Old Saybrook and Stratford.

Here are some of the highlights of the trip:

• At Hammonasset State Park (Madison) we saw several robust Fox Sparrows scratching for food beneath cedar trees. We missed out on seeing a Western Tanager, which has been reported being seen here, but we all had a nice view of a Pine Warbler, which seems strangely out of place in the month of January.

• While at the Stewart B. McKinney Wildlife Refuge in Stratford, we had a fairly close-up view of a Black-crowned Night Heron. We also spotted an American Kestrel which could only be identified by using a scope.

• We visited several other ponds and river inlets in Stratford, which led to sightings of Canvasback, Ring-necked Ducks, Greater Scaup, White-winged Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks (only males have the long tail).

• Our final stop was in New Haven. We were able to see some Northern Rough-winged Swallows which were flying around near a sewage treatment plant in East Shore Park. The last species of the day was a life bird for me! The Brant (below) were seen right at sunset in Fort Nathan Hale Park. From what I understand, they are fairly common in this area. They look similar to a Canada Goose but have some unique features including a smaller bill and an all-black face.

I received a lot of help with finding and identifying the birds that I saw on Saturday, but I was careful to make sure that I could recognize the identifying field marks on each species that I added to the list. This final big day of birding was very enjoyable as well as a great learning experience. I was also able to surpass my goal of seeing 90 species in the month of January!

Here is my complete list of species for January: Red-throated Loon, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Cormorant, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Turkey Vulture, Canada Goose, Brant, Mute Swan, Gadwall, American Wigeon, American Black Duck, Mallard, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Ring-necked Pheasant, Wild Turkey, Black-bellied Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Greater black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Horned Lark, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush -(seen Sunday 1/27/08) , American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Eastern Towhee, American Tree Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Snow Bunting, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Purple Finch, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Common Redpoll, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.

So there it is.....the final list. I actually saw 3 less species than last year, but I was able to find 80 species without help versus finding only 68 on my own last year. A few species that I was surprised not to have seen during January included: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker-(update-just seen today-1/30/08), and Brown-headed Cowbird. Next year I would like to see if I can find ninety species on my own. I had fun this month but I'm looking forward to taking a different approach to the type of birding I do in February. I hope you all enjoyed your January birding! -(This post was edited 1/30/08 to add Pileated Woodpecker).

January Is A Great Month To Keep A List Of Birds

Last year I was introduced to a listing game called "Big January." The goal is to find as many species as possible between January 1st and January 31st with a minimum goal of 90 species(for CT). Some birders take this game very seriously and go at it with a vengeance! With the encouragement of another birder, I decided to give it a try last January and actually ended up exceeding the 90 species- but... I had a lot of help. It was a fun experience. I had a chance to see several new species of birds and visited some great birding areas for the first time. I learned that the key to getting a good list is to make lots of visits to the shoreline areas. On the down side, by the end of the month, I realized that the scope and tripod I own aren't adequate for serious birding. This year, I decided that I probably don't have time to rack up a big list of birds. Who needs to play this silly listing game anyway? At least that's what I thought until I saw Common Redpolls at my workplace bird feeder on January first and a Gray Catbird a few days later. Then I started thinking-Those would make for two pretty good birds to start a list. So I am making a compromise. I'll keep a list of species that I see in January but I'm not going to worry about how many I end up with. If it's 70, that's fine with me. If it's 95, great! Either way, it's a nice way to make the month of January a little more interesting. So far, I've only managed to get out for one morning of birding and stayed in my local area. Besides the two species I mentioned above, here's what I've got so far:

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Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Common Merganser, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant, Herring Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, American Robin, Northern mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, American Tree Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.

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I think that adds up to a total of 43 so far-not much, but it's a start. I will keep you updated on any new additions as the month rolls along. The ones in red are the ones that I considered the more difficult species to find.

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Are you keeping track of the species you see in January? If not, you've still got 21 days to get your list together and join in on the fun! Set your own goal if you'd like to or just keep track of your total whatever it may be. Any species you see in your state for the month of January counts- as long as it's not caged or domestic. You can post your results on your blog or mine at the end of the month.