September 2009

Who Are We?

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently released their report, “Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis”. This document offers interesting insight into the popularity and demographics of birding.

Birder is defined rather broadly for the purposes of this report. A birder is someone who has driven at least a mile for the primary purpose of watching birds or someone who closely watches and tries to identify birds around the home. People who happen to see birds while mowing the lawn or kayaking do not qualify as birders.

The report indicates that 48 million of us, 16 years of age or older, are birders. That number translates to 21% of the North American adult population. Backyard birders include 42 million birders. Twenty million birders travel to see birds.

The average birder is 50 years old. Only 8% of citizens between 16 and 24 years of age and only 13% of citizens between 25 and 34 years old are birders. For citizens above 55, birding is more popular with 27% of this age group participating.

The data show a clear pattern of birding participation rate increasing with income level. Birding interest increases with education as well. Only 12% of citizens without a high school degree are birders while 28% of college graduates are birders. Female birders outnumber male birders, 54% to 46%.

Birding is primarily an activity of white people. Over 24% of white citizens classified themselves as birders, contrasting with 8% for Hispanics, 6% for African-Americans and 7% for Asians.

One might expect that people who live outside of major urban areas would be more likely to be birders. That expectation is borne out by the survey. Only 17% of citizens in major urban areas are birders compared to 27% of Americans who live in townships under a population size of 250,000.

The popularity of birding varies greatly among the 50 states. I am pleased to report that Maine with a 39% participation rate is second only to Montana with a 40% participation rate. Other high-ranking states are Vermont (38%), Minnesota (33%), Iowa (33%), South Dakota (32%) and New Hampshire (32%). Birding is least popular in Hawaii (10% participation rate). Four of our most bird-rich states (Florida, Arizona, California and Texas) are near the bottom of the list with participation rates of 17% or lower. Lots of out-of-state birders do visit these states.

Changes to North America bird names

The American Ornithologists Union (AOU) publishes the official Check-list of North American Birds. North America is defined broadly as all countries from Panama north. The Caribbean Islands, Bermuda and the Hawaiian Islands are included as well.

The most recent Check-list, the seventh edition, was published in 1998. Scientific and common names are given for each species along with a brief habitat description and a textual description of the geographic distribution.

The AOU has a Check-list Committee that is responsible for updating the Check-list. Bird distributions change. Ornithological research, especially the analyses of DNA, forces ornithologist to reassess the classification of birds at the genus, family and order level.

The most recent supplement to the Check-list was just published in the Auk, the journal of the AOU. Most of the changes pertain to Central American species. However, some changes are made to birds that occur in Maine. I will restrict my discussion of the changes to those birds. You may wish to update your field guide.

The scientific name of the Boreal Chickadee is changed from Poecile hudsonica to Poecile hudsonicus.

Recent DNA analyses have shown that some of the birds formerly classified as tanagers (family Thraupidae) are actually closer to the cardinals and their relatives (family Cardinalidae). The tanagers that occur in Maine are in this group. So now, Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager and Western Tanager should be reclassified into the cardinal family. The committee stopped short of changing the common names. Now we are left with the confusing situation that a Scarlet Tanager is not really a tanager.

In an earlier decision, the Check-list Committee split the old Sharp-tailed Sparrow into two species, the Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow and Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Both nest in Maine. That decision is supported by subsequent research but the common names are a mouthful. The committee has changed the names to Saltmarsh Sparrow and Nelson’s Sparrow, respectively.

Lastly, the genus Carduelis contained a number of the small finches. That genus is now split into several genera. For Maine species, change Common Redpoll to Acanthis flammea, Hoary Redpoll to Acanthis hornemanni, Pine Siskin to Spinus pinus and American Goldfinch to Spinus tristis.

[First published September 9, 2009]

Blackburnian Warbler, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Swainson’s Thrush, Lincoln’s Sparrow. The common names of all of these birds, common in Maine, are based on a person’s name. I’ll bet most of these people aren’t familiar to you. In today’s column, I will give you a little background on the people whose names are commemorated in the bird names.

The Blackburnian Warbler is one of our most striking warblers with its fiery orange throat and bold black plumage above. This warbler is named after either Anna Blackburne (1726-1793) or her brother, Ashton Blackburne (1730-1780). Anna was an English naturalist. She never visited the New World but did have a strong interest in the birds of the New World. She maintained a collection of North American birds in her natural history museum in Orford in the north of England. Ashton moved to North America and lived in Hempstead, New York. He collected birds in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey that he sent to his sister for her museum. Among the specimens Ashton collected was a Blackburnian Warbler. Thomas Pennant, a naturalist from Orford, saw the specimen in Anne’s collection and prepared the first scientific description of the species. He gave it the name of Blackburnian Warbler but it is not clear if Pennant named the warbler for Ashton or Anne.

The Wilson whose name is commemorated in Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Wilson’s Plover, Wilson’s Phalarope, Wilson’s Warbler and Wilson’s Snipe is Alexander Wilson (1766-1813). Wilson played an important role in the development of North American ornithology.

Wilson was a Scot who immigrated to the United States in 1794. He taught school for seven years in the Philadelphia area and then decided to make a collection of the birds of eastern North America. From 1803 until his death in 1814, Wilson devoted himself to producing the first book on the birds of North America, which he called American Ornithology.

Wilson’s travels took from Philadelphia along the eastern seaboard to Savannah, Georgia and then north via boat to New York. Another trip took him from Philadelphia to the southeast through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana with another boat trip back to New York from New Orleans. His visit to Natchez provided one of the ornithological highlights of his life, the darkening of the skies for hours by millions and millions of Passenger Pigeons.

Wilson was a contemporary of Audubon and they met briefly. Wilson’s artistic skills were rudimentary compared to Audubon but Wilson’s keen eye and perseverance made him a better field ornithologist than Audubon. In addition to the bird species listed above, Wilson’s name is commemorated in the name of one of the major ornithological associations in North America, the Wilson Ornithological Society.

Swainson’s Thrush was named after the Englishman, William Swainson (1789-1855). He had an early interest in nature. His father secured a post for him in Italy in 1808, which gave him plenty of time to study animals, particularly fish and snails. Poor health forced him from the army in 1815 but by 1816, he felt well enough to travel to Brazil for a collecting expedition. He returned to England with 760 bird specimens and large numbers of other species.

Swainson developed skills as a wildlife artist, drawing the biological material he had collected. In fact, he was a far more prolific wildlife artist than Audubon. Based on specimens collected by William Bullock in northern Mexico, Swainson drew and described a number of birds common in the United States including Acorn Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Violet-green Swallow and Western Bluebird.

Audubon visited Swainson and his family on a trip to England. Audubon asked Swainson to help write the Ornithological Biography, the text that would accompany Audubon’s volumes of prints, The Birds of North America. Swainson refused because Audubon would not give him co-authorship nor a sufficient fee.

Swainson’s name is commemorated in three species: the widespread western raptor, Swainson’s Hawk; the southeastern Swainson ‘s Warbler and our Swainson’s Thrush.

Lincoln’s Sparrow is a fairly common breeder in bogs and cleacuts in the northern half of Maine. The name commemorates a Mainer, Thomas Lincoln (1812-1883). Lincoln met John James Audubon in 1832 and accompanied Audubon on an expedition to Labrador in 1833. Their trip began in Eastport and included stops in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The only new species discovered on this expedition was a sparrow, which Audubon described and named after his companion.

After the trip was over, Lincoln returned to the family estate in Dennysville and never did much traveling after that. He studied briefly at Bowdoin College but left before receiving a degree. He and his brother managed the 10,000 acres of the family property. The Lincoln house still stands. It is now the Lincoln House Country Inn, the oldest house in Dennysville.

[First published August 8, 2009]