Hi all,
A friend of a friend shared with me this very well-written email he wrote
about listing and 5MR birding that was sent to several California
listservs. It is in no way meant to talk smack on listers, but offer some
other ideas for those that might want them. Though the locations and birds
mentioned are Cali-specific I imagine most of you can come up with Oregon
variations of the same concepts.
In Oregon birding news, our backyard Lincoln City Pacific-slope Flycatcher
continues.
Good birding and happy new year!
Jen Sanford
Vancouver, WA and Lincoln City, OR
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Birders,
As the final days of 2019 pass, and January 1st looms, many organizations
(eBird, BirdsEye, etc.) are promoting more and bigger birding in 2020,
often with a “How to Do a Big Year” theme. Meanwhile, I had been
contemplating writing an email proposing a different strategy: one
discouraging the seemingly perpetual *county year* listing habit that has
developed in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. Granted, we all
bird for different reasons, with different styles. However, while some
think of Big Years as primarily exploratory (and perhaps they are in less
populated areas), long year lists are usually comprised of large numbers of
species found by other observers that required chasing, often with few
rarities or unexpected birds actually found by the owner of the list. Big
Years on any scale have increasingly become a product of how successful a
person is at chasing birds found by other people, with little time devoted
to exploration and a great deal of time earmarked for running after
reported rarities. Clearly birding with this approach is satisfactory for
many, but there are other, potentially more gratifying ways to bird than
just being caught in an empty, unending cycle of chasing year birds.
Admittedly, year listing has a long tradition. However, since the inception
of the Top 100 in eBird, the ephemeral year list has taken on a life of its
own. Chasing rarities has always been a part of birding, but chasing the
rarity du jour is now repeated every year by everyone scrambling up the Top
100 until falling back to zero on January 1st. (Clearly Sisyphus kept a
year list.) A major downside to this is increased visitation to sensitive
or restricted areas, with many eBird users not plugged into local listservs
simply setting their maps app to direct them to the coordinates of the
rarity, with no understanding of access restrictions. Behind the scenes,
eBird reviewers are cringing, dreading the onslaught of all of the known
winter rarities being reported again and again the first week of January by
dozens of birders anxious to get all the known rarities out of the way. So,
as January 1st approaches, I’d ask that people reflect on how much Needs
Alerts from eBird drive your behavior? Are they set to Hourly for Year
Needs? How much time do you spend going to look for birds found by other
people for your year list? Does that bring you the same satisfaction as
unexpected discoveries or birding in new areas? Are public data displays
like Top 100 your primary motivation?
Late last year, after learning about the 5-mile radius (5MR -
http://www.iusedtohatebirds.com/p/vancouver-5mr.html
<https://deref-mail.com/mail/client/JURv_Mf4uJc/dereferrer/?redirectUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iusedtohatebirds.com%2Fp%2Fvancouver-5mr.html>
) approach to birding, I encouraged many birders to try it out, and several
did. (Missed out? It’s not too late! Draw your circle with this tool:
https://www.mapdevelopers.com/draw-circle-tool.php
<https://deref-mail.com/mail/client/BbIYZoiJgZM/dereferrer/?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mapdevelopers.com%2Fdraw-circle-tool.php>
) This has been a very successful style of birding for a lot of people, a
new way for folks with limited time or money to stay active and engaged,
and a number of new local hotspots have been found. Many folks have told me
it has rejuvenated their interest in birding! The main point of this
challenge was (and is) to encourage exploring the local nooks and crannies
around your neighborhood. (I, for one, largely ignored Point Loma this fall
as it fell outside my circle.) Not all circles are equal, and the
competition was really just intended to be with yourself – how many can you
find, regardless of what others (in perhaps better locations) are finding?
Where to get shorebirds if you’re land-locked? Checking that golf course
pond repeatedly in hopes of a snipe or Spotted Sandpiper. Scouring small
parks or residential streets for a rare warbler or vireo versus visiting
the same famous hotspots every day. And so on. Exploration and discovery is
major part of learning the status and distribution of birds in your
neighborhood, your county, or your state. What is expected and not
expected, when and where. Let’s do it again next year. It need not be a
year listing approach, but simply adding to your cumulative patch total. Or
– just throw the list out the window and bird with a sense of discovery and
contribute to the ever-changing status and distribution of our local or
state species. Yes, one is allowed to travel outside your circle, and visit
famous sites, and chase rare birds, but I encourage you to spend more of
your time exploring under-visited areas of the county or state.
Will you consider making a detour to check a park on your return from a
(un)successful chase across the county? Large gaps in coverage are evident
from looking at eBird maps – how much of this is being driven through
without checking?
Take a look at this map of House Finch observations in San Diego, for
example: https://flic.kr/p/2i6ptDH
<https://deref-mail.com/mail/client/FHR7N_f6Qz0/dereferrer/?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fflic.kr%2Fp%2F2i6ptDH>
This species likely occurs across nearly all of empty space on this map,
but they’ve not yet been recorded there by eBird users, almost certainly
due to poor coverage.
Let’s look closer at North County: https://flic.kr/p/2i6n3uf
<https://deref-mail.com/mail/client/cn4oNAuAOvM/dereferrer/?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fflic.kr%2Fp%2F2i6n3uf>
And now the southeast corner: https://flic.kr/p/2i6qzCF
<https://deref-mail.com/mail/client/qvK4Q8DIprw/dereferrer/?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fflic.kr%2Fp%2F2i6qzCF>
The red pins in the very southeast are from Jacumba, related to searches
for a recently found Lark Bunting. To the northwest of that, the Laguna
Mountains, and the trail out to where Evening Grosbeaks and Red Crossbills
delighted many. What awaits discovery between your house and Jacumba, and
how many of you stopped somewhere else on the way to or from the Laguna
Mountains?
If the eBird coverage of something as ubiquitous as House Finches is
incomplete, just think of what the situation is for species of local and
conservation interest like California Gnatcatcher or Cactus Wren. And how
many rarities are hiding out there awaiting discovery? I get it, many
people have stated that they don’t want to bird in residential areas or
business parks. (However, many of these areas are certainly visited by
folks when rarities are reported from there!) But what about the large
swath of rural and undeveloped habitat in east San Diego County? Or any
number of the more aesthetic state and county parks?
Not all of these unexplored areas are public, and most of them will not
turn up anything “rare” on the first visit. But they may after multiple
visits at different times of year. More importantly, however, by simply
birding these hinterlands, you are updating and expanding our combined
knowledge of status and distribution. By submitting eBird checklists from
these areas, we fill in gaps on the maps. Another Greater Pewee checklist
from Balboa Park this winter is a drop in the bucket compared to a visit to
Barrett Lake or Portrero County Park. (Ever been to either of these
locations? Me neither!)
Will you return to Jacumba in 2020, regardless of what’s reported from
there? Will you check *other* trails in the Lagunas or the Cuyamacas for
crossbills this winter? On the way to or from these spots, will you stop
off for a quick 5-minute stationary eBird count in the middle of nowhere?
Hopefully, while you’re out in the far corners (or in the nearby nooks and
crannies) you’ll be using breeding codes in your checklists, when
appropriate. See the following link for a full explanation on when and how
to use them:
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48000837520-ebird-breeding-and-behavior-codes
<https://deref-mail.com/mail/client/oXi-Zk1lGxQ/dereferrer/?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.ebird.org%2Fen%2Fsupport%2Fsolutions%2Farticles%2F48000837520-ebird-breeding-and-behavior-codes>
Noting a bird on a nest, or one carrying nesting material increases the
value of your efforts. A revisiting of Unitt’s *San Diego County Bird Atlas*
(which included coverage through spring 2004) is overdue, and eBird data
may one day be utilized as the basis for a new version, much in the way
iNaturalist data helped drive the *San Diego County Mammal Atlas*.
We all, well most of us at least, enjoy listing. I’ll be on my way as soon
as possible to see a new county bird, and given the distance, a state or
life bird, but in the mean time I’ll try to focus on finding one on my own,
or trying to familiarize myself with some new part of our vast county and
state. Hopefully, by foregoing a list driven by Year Needs Alerts from
eBird (Unsubscribe! As noted 5MR birder Karl Marx said, “You have nothing
to lose but your chains!”), you’ll reduce stress in your life, explore
parts of the county or state you’ve never heard of or been to, and, with
luck, build a more satisfying list of “self-found” species of your own
discovery. And, yes, reduce the workload of your poor eBird reviewers! By
all means, bird more in 2020, but bird differently!
Best birding in 2020, regardless of your approach.
Justyn Stahl
San Clemente Island
