Birding and Birders

In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. A report of the analysis of the data from that survey was published earlier this year.

In today’s column, we will take a look at the demographic and economic factors that influence birding and other wildlife-watching activities.

The survey indicated that a third of U.S. citizens 16 years and older engaged in wildlife watching in 2016. Wildlife watching was broadly defined as observing, feeding and photographing wildlife, visiting parks and natural areas because of wildlife, and maintaining plantings and natural areas to benefit wildlife.  Wildlife watching was categorized as either close to home (within one mile of the residence) or away from home (more than a mile away).

About 45 million people observed birds around home on trips in 2016. Most of these people (86 percent) watched birds at or near their homes. Thirty-six percent also took trips away from home to see birds. Birders spent 105 days birding close to home and 16 days on more distant trips.

Wildlife watchers contributed $75.9 billion dollars to the economy in 2016, an average of $1,193 per person. Nearly three-quarters of those expenditures were for binoculars, cameras and other equipment. About 15% of the expenditures were for travel (food, lodging, transportation). The remainder went to miscellaneous items like land purchases, bird seed, field guides, plantings and membership dues.

For around-the-home wildlife watchers, 70% fed the birds in 2016, 38% photographed birds and 10% made plantings to improve the habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Although birds were the wildlife most commonly observed around home (88% of observers), other wildlife drew interest as well. In decreasing order, these were mammals, insects and spiders, reptiles and amphibians, and fish.

Nation-wide, 32% of people observed wildlife at home.  The most enthusiastic watchers are in New England; 36% of us watch birds and other wildlife in our yards and gardens. The least avid watchers are in the Rocky Mountain West, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana (26-27%).

Wildlife watching around home is greater for males than females; 58% of such watchers are male. Wildlife watching increases with age. Only 16-18% of 16-24 year-olds watch wildlife. Participation increases to 38% for 45-54 year-olds and peaks at 48% for 55-64 year-olds.

For away from home watching, 28% of wildlife watchers took trips to observe or photograph wildlife. About 69% only took trips within their state of residence, 10% took trips both inside and outside their state with the remaining 21% only taking trips beyond their state borders.

Birds were the focus of the majority of these trips. The most popular types of birds sought were waterfowl and birds of prey with songbirds close behind.

Nationally, 9% of wildlife watchers made trips away from home. We are a little more active in New England with12% of watchers venturing on trips to enjoy wildlife.

The gender bias for trips away from home is more biased than the bias for at home watchers. Two-thirds of wildlife watchers taking trips to see wildlife are male. Age does not vary greatly in terms of trip participation. Observers between 55 and 64 years old are most likely to take a trip (13%) but youngsters 16-18 are nearly as active (11%).

Household income does not have a strong effect on the proportion of observers taking wildlife trips. Three income classes are tied for highest proportion (13%) of observers going on trips: $20,000-$25,000, $35,000-$40,000 and $100,000-$150,000.

Only 4% of watchers with less than 12 years of education took wildlife trips away from home, while 12% of college graduates and 20% of people with more than four years of college went afield to see wildlife.

Participation rates by race showed great variation. Eleven percent of whites took trips to see wildlife but only 2% of African-Americans and 1% of Asians.

Let’s take a look back at the year 2017 in terms of bird listing accomplishments. In 2016, two birders shattered the old year list record for North America. John Weigel’s Big Year resulted in a list of 780 species, narrowly beating Olaf Danielson’s count of 778 species.

Those records were not broken in 2017 despite three impressive Big Years. Comparisons of North American Big Years is problematic now because the American Birding Association, the keeper of listing records for North America, redefined North America to include Hawaii. The decision is defensible on geopolitical grounds but makes little sense to me on biological grounds.  Nonetheless, birders attempting to break the North American Big Year record will need to plan a trip to Hawaii, like the three top Big Year birders in 2017.

Yves Morell found 813 species with an additional four rarities that will require confirmation by a state or provincial rare bird committee before they can be counted. Brothers Ruben and Victor Stoll also found 813 species but only have three provisional species.

For the truly obsessed, the World Big Year beckons. In 2015, Noah Strycker identified 6,042 species, birding in over 40 countries. Noah’s record obliterated the previous World Big Year record of 4,341 species. Noah’s record did not last long. The Dutch birder Arjan Dwarshuis listed 6,852 species in 2016, nearly two-thirds of all the birds in the world. I am not aware of any 2017 Big Years that threaten that record.

Closer to home, Josh Fecteau of Kennebunkport set a new Big Year record for Maine. His total of 317 species edged out the previous record of 314 species set by Doug Hitchcox.

Josh did not begin 2017 with the intention of doing a Big Year. Seeing Pink-footed Goose and Great Gray Owl in January provided the impetus to bird intensively for the rest of the winter and spring.

Every year brings a few rarities to Maine and those species can make or break a Big Year. Vermilion Flycatcher, Fieldfare, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, and Little Egret were among the rarest of the rare in 2017. Other unusual birds seen included Ross’ Goose, Red-billed Tropicbird, Black Vulture, King Rail, Connecticut Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Painted Bunting.

Josh reached the 250-species mark on May 18 and the 300-species mark on August 29. A Summer Tanager seen on November 1 is the species that broke the record. A Dovekie seen on New Year’s Eve was the 317^th of Josh’s odyssey.

For most kinds of organisms, species diversity increases as one moves from the polar regions to the tropics. That pattern is evident by comparing Josh’s impressive Big Year total of 317 species to the current Big Day record, set in 2015 in Ecuador, of 431 species!

That Big Year record was set by a team of four international birders: Dušan Brinkhuizen, Tuomas Seimola, Rudy Gelis and Mitch Lysinger. The previous Big Day record was 354 species, conducted in Perú.

The Ecuadorian team felt that a Big Day in excess of 400 species was possible since Ecuador has over 1700 species of birds. The challenge is how to sample the many habitats with the mere 12 hours of daylight.

The strategy was to thoroughly bird the Amazonian forests along the eastern slope of the Andes beginning at midnight. At dusk, the plan was to hop on a plane to the shore and bird the coastal regions after dark.

October 8, 2015 was the day. By 4:49 the list stood at 16 species with the fabled dawn chorus yet to come. By 8:45, the list had 195 species and grew to 329 species by 2:00 PM. By the time the team reached the airport, they had 392 species, shattering the old record.

Surveying heron and seabird roosts on the coast and observing night-feeding shorebirds, the team added another 39 species. An amazing day.

Grocery lists, to-do lists, bucket lists.  Making lists is a common human behavior.  Birders engage in this practice, keeping lists of birds seen on trips or birds seen at their feeders.  But the most common such list is the life list, a compendium of all the species of birds one has seen in one’s lifetime.

Some birders keep a life list but don’t even bother to count how many species are on their list. Others keep close track but keep their totals to themselves. Yet others are interested in publishing their list totals and comparing their lists to others.

Let’s step back in time to 1970. Jim Tucker of Texas had envisioned a birding publication that would focus on the publication of top species lists for different areas, identification tips for hard-to-identify birds and descriptions of sites where rare species might be seen. The first issue of his brain-child, Birding, was published in February, 1970 and soon thereafter the American Birding Association (ABA) was created with Birding as its flagship journal. The early members of the ABA thought Birding should not contain articles on ornithological research or on conservation efforts but rather should fill a perceived void for competitive birders and birding hobbyists.  Thus, a formal mechanism for competitive listing began.  Birders submitted their list totals and could see how they stacked up against other birders. The game was on!

The ABA has thousands of members now.  The mission has expanded considerably to cover avian conservation, book reviews and ornithological history. However, maintaining members’ list totals is still a mainstay of the organization.

You can check out list totals at the Listing Central page on the ABA website (http://listing.aba.org/). For Maine, the top lifetime lister is Doug Hitchcox with 374 species seen.  The top year list for Maine (the total birds seen in a calendar year) is also Doug Hitchcox for his 2011 effort.  Frank Paul has the largest life list for Cumberland County.

Keep in mind that not all birders submit lists to ABA Listing Central. The popular eBird site (http://tinyurl.com/c8atyh) has the capacity to generate lists at different geographic levels and for different time intervals. I see that Pat Moynahan has a Maine life list of 380 species. I know there is at least one other birder in Maine whose lists do not appear in the ABA or the eBird database who has seen even more species in Maine.  Some top listers simply choose to not play the game.

I’ve been thinking about listing lately because of the success of four birders who are doing a Big Year in North America. These hard-core birders are traversing the continent to try to surpass the total of 749 species seen in 2013 by Neil Hayward.

Completing a successful Big Year requires finding all of the 671 species that occur regularly and widely in North America.  One must target another 82 species that occur in North America each year but are rare.  Finally, one has to make trips to places like the Aleutian Islands, southern Texas and southeastern Arizona to find vagrants.  The time and money to be able to jump on a plane at a moment’s notice to see a rare bird is essential.

It turns out that 2016 has been a phenomenal year for rarities. Four birders have broken the 700 species mark, the first time that has ever happened in a calendar year. Furthermore, the record of 749 species was shattered in July!  John Wiegel, an Australian, saw a Buller’s Shearwater on July 16 for his 750^th species. Olaf Danielson, a physician from South Dakota, racked up his 750^th with a Red-faced Cormorant in Alaska. Currently, Wiegel is in the lead with 770 species to Danielson’s 765. Wow!

Laura Keene has found 737 species to date, besting the prior women’s record. Finally, Christian Hagenlocher has tallied 734 species.

Spring birding in Maine is phenomenal.  Many birds like warblers and flycatchers return to Maine from more southerly wintering areas to nest.  Other birds like most sandpipers and plovers are passage migrants; we get to enjoy them briefly as they migrate through Maine to more northerly breeding grounds.

Birding festivals have become popular in North America over the past decade.  These festivals are scheduled to maximize the diversity of birds present or to enjoy an ornithological spectacle like the staging of Sandhill Cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska.

This year, I am aware of three birding festivals in our state scheduled for this spring.  The first, Feathers over Freeport, is scheduled for April 28 and 29.  This festival is advertised as a bird watching weekend for all ages.  Bird walks for experienced birders, for beginners and for children will be offered.  A workshop on bird feeding is planned.  You can hone your skills in hawk identification and then put them to good use by participating in the Bradbury Mountain Hawk Watch.

Presentations with live hawks and owls will be popular as well as an evening talk on April 28 on Project Puffin by Sue Schubel.  The Saturday activities will take place at Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal and the Sunday activities will occur at Wolfe Neck State Park in Freeport.

You can find the complete schedule at http://maine.gov/doc/parks/feathersoverfreeport.shtml

The eighth annual Downeast Birding Festival will be held over Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28).  This festival is centered around Cobscook Bay, taking advantage of the great birding at West Quoddy Head State Park, Shackford Head State Park, Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Campobello Island and a number of conservation properties in the region like the Boot Cove Reserve in Lubec.  Trips are planned to Machias Seal Island to see Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills and Common Murres.

Several talks and workshops are planned.  I’ve been a regular participant in this festival and will lead a field trip and give a talk this spring.  To see the full schedule and find details on registration, visit http://www.downeastbirdfest.org/

The diversity of birds in the Cobscook Bay is amazing. The cumulative species list of birds seen on the seven festivals to date is an eye-popping 221 species.  The Cobscook Bay area is a great place to see boreal species like Spruce Grouse, Gray Jays, Boreal Chickadees and Black-backed Woodpeckers.  The peak of shorebird migration will be past but one can still expect a nice diversity of plovers and sandpipers.

The Acadia Bird Festival will occur between May 31 and June 3 on Mt. Desert Island.  The list of trip leaders is impressive in number and in expertise.  A participant can be exposed to all of the many birding habitats on Mt. Desert Island.  A seabird trip is scheduled for June 2 to see pelagic species like Great Shearwater and Pomarine Jaeger.  The cruise will stop at Petit Manan Island where nesting Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Arctic Terns, Common Terns and Roseate Terns will be easy to see and photograph.

Two birding celebrities from New Jersey, Kevin Karlson and Pete Dunne, will give evening talks.  Karlson will give a talk entitled Visions: Birds and Nature.  Karlson’s photographic skills will be on display with the images he will show.  Dunne will give a talk on the life, accomplishments and lasting impacts of Roger Tory Peterson. Both will serve as guides on the seabird trip.

The variety of field trips and workshops is impressive.  Marshall Iliff from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology will give a workshop on using eBird to record your bird sightings and keep track of your life lists while contributing at the same time to our knowledge of the distribution and abundance of birds.  Activities are on a pay-as-you-go basis.

[Originally published on April 1, 2012]

Shopping lists, grocery lists, to-do lists.  People love to keep lists.  That habit is found in many birders who keep lists of birds they have seen.  Such lists are called life lists.

The first mention of a bird life list that I can find appeared in an editorial in 1927 in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology.  A life list was defined as “a total list of birds with which the observer has made a field acquaintance”.  The editorial writer advocated listing of species but not subspecies because the latter cannot often be identified in the field.  The writer thought that a life list of 150-250 birds would be a reasonable expectation for most regions of the United States.  Higher totals would require the observer to travel.

The editorial concluded with thoughts on the value of a life list.  Keeping the list and adding to it is certainly enjoyable.  But is knowing a few species well better than having a passing acquaintance with many species?

Although the concept of the life list was associated with ornithologists, most people who keep bird life lists are not professional ornithologists.  For a portion of these birders, a life list represents the medium of a competitive sport.

The American Birdwatchers’ Association (now the American Birding Association) was organized in 1968 primarily to support birding (and listing) as a hobby.  List totals of subscribers were published so members could see how their lists compared to others.  The game was on!

A great milestone was reached in 1972.  Joe Taylor reported a North American list of 700 species, the first person to reach this then lofty goal.

The ABA continued to grow, fueling the growth of competitive birding, but also through the pages of Birding magazine, providing tips on identification of tricky species and site guides to birding hotspots.

Each year, ABA members have the option of reporting their list totals for publication.  Much has changed since Joe Taylor first cracked the 700 species barrier.  Increased communication has made reporting of rarities much more efficient.  In the 1970’s and 1980’s, one could pay to subscribe to a North American telephone rare-bird-alert to learn of unusual birds on our continent.  With the development of the Internet, cell phones and digital cameras, reporting of rarities became even more timely.  Now, a birder on a remote Alaskan island can send photographs of a Terek Sandpiper to the world only minutes after taking the photograph.

The twin effects of increased competition and efficient communication can be seen by looking at the most recent Life List report, reporting totals through 2008.  One can see that 282 birders have cracked the 700 species barrier and 28 birders have seen 800 species or more.  The highest total reported is that of Macklin Smith, an English Professor at the University of Michigan; Smith reports 879 species.  The next closest is Ted Koundakjian of California at 868 species.

Competing at this level is difficult because of the time and financial resources required.  If a super-rarity shows up in southeastern Arizona, these birders need to make a special trip because their competitors will likely be making the trip.

Both Smith’s and Koundakjian’s lists are notable because they do not contain any heard-only birds.  The ABA allows the listing of birds that are heard but not seen.  In part, this rule is an effort to minimize disturbance of nocturnal birds like owls or secretive birds like Yellow Rails or Black Rails.  These species can usually be reliably identified by voice.  There are purists, however, who will not put a species on their life lists unless they see the bird.

For birders with more limited time and money, life lists can be kept at more local levels.  People can report state lists for the ABA Life List Report.  For Maine, 423 species have been reported in the state.  Julie Suchecki reported the highest total of 349 species with Frank Paul a close second at 338.  I suspect other birders in the state have comparably impressive lists but choose not to report their totals.

Some people keep county or township lists.  Yard lists are popular as well.

Annual lists are kept by many birders.  These lists can be over large geographic areas (world list, North American list) or more local areas.  For 2008, Doug Hitchcox reported the highest total of species in Maine (219 species).

Some birders do not bother to keep any life lists.  Others will maintain lists for their own personal satisfaction but do not report them.  And yet others enjoy the competitive side of birding that listing provides.

[Originally published on December 27, 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]