Counting and reporting common bird sightings is on the rise, thanks to eBird

  • By Bruce Glick
  • July 11, 2013
  • 378
                        
Counting and reporting common bird sightings is on the rise, thanks to eBird Columnist Bruce Glick summarizes happenings in the local birding world. This week Bruce reports on a visit with an eBird birder. Read more in the "Gone Birding" column. My wife Helen and I just got back from three days in Goshen, Indiana. While we were there we connected with Bob and Christine Guth. In the early 1970's Bob and I shared our interest in birding, which for both of us started at an early age. At the age of 11, Bob was already learning as much as possible about birds. He heard about ornithologists who walked the same route every day, keeping track of all the birds seen or heard along the way. Bob found a route near his home in Illinois and faithfully birded it every day. Recently he and Christine were looking over his early records and realized that in 1963 he had notes from every day except November 22 - the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Bob said he decided to stay home and watch the news that day. As Bob got into high school, he began sending his data to Audubon Field Notes. I remember being amazed that someone his age would be published in one of the national birding journals. I also decided to get out more regularly and to count all the birds each time. While I never sent data in to be published, I got in the habit of counting birds rather than just keeping track of the different species found during a birding walk. For many years Bob was heavily involved in work, church and family and while all those are still important, the advent of eBird got him back in the habit of counting birds again. He lives about a mile from where he works and each day he walks to and from work, keeping track of every bird heard or seen. As he jokingly stated, that means lots of House Sparrows and European Starlings on the walk through town. I have been hearing many stories in the last several years that have a similar theme - ebirding has gotten both experienced and novice birders interested in keeping track of how many birds they see as they go about their daily routines. Instead of just keeping written records, which for many of us will never find their way into any useful database, eBird provides an easy way to add great amounts of data which is then available both to the individual birder and to ornithologists doing research anywhere. For Bob Guth, who is a numbers person (he is the actuary for an insurance company), eBird provided the nudge he needed to get back into birding on an everyday basis. For me it has been a reminder that all those notebooks of birding records that I have stored in files can be entered in eBird, even if they are from 1957. By sending my records to eBird I can insure that they will not be lost, as probably would be the case otherwise. I remember well what happened to the birding journals kept by one of the best local birders in Wayne County. After he passed away, several of us asked about all his meticulous records, only to be told that they had been put in the trash. What a waste of many years of record-keeping. Having said all the above, let me assure you that just enjoying the birds, without keeping any records is just as legitimate, but for those who want to add a new dimension to your birding, eBirding might just be for you. For my friends who don't have access to the internet, keep filling those notebooks and enjoying the birds. Good birding! Bruce Glick birderbruce@yahoo.com 330-317-7798


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