A Spring of Young Birders' Field Trips

I've enjoyed a whirlwind spring and early summer of travel to festivals in various parts of the United States. It's always fun to see old friends, make a few new ones, and experience birding in new and wonderful places. Lots of great birds have passed across my field of view. However, my favorite part of all these spring travels has been the opportunities I've had to get out in the field with lots of young birders.

Back in May I was up at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Ohio for International Migratory Bird Day where I've done family bird walks for the past few years. Though the weather was "iffy" we had a nice group of bird watchers show up and we were treated to a mini-fallout of warblers along the trail as well as a great horned owl nest with fledglings in it.

A birding mom shows her daughter the great horned owl nest along the Ottawa NWR walking trail.

 

 

 

Later in May I was a speaker and guide for the Acadia Birding Festival in Maine. We did a family bird walk on Saturday, taking nice long hike along the sea cliffs in Acadia National Park. The birding was just OK but the scenery along the trail was breathtaking! I can highly recommend this festival, by the way, as being the best place in the world to see tons of warblers and tons of seabirds in the same day!

Our family bird walk group in Acadia NP.

Scanning for black guillemots and common eiders in the surf.

In mid-June my family and I were back at the Potholes & Prairie Birding Festival in Carrington, North Dakota. One of the other families attending included Abby and her mom who were from Indiana. While birding along the Sheyenne River valley, I got to show Abby a few life birds, including her first-ever common yellowthroat.

That's me pointing Abby's eyes to the common yellowthroat.

We got the bird and celebrated with a high-five!

At the end of June, I was back in Maine with my family for the Hog Island Audubon Camp, guiding, speaking, and contributing to a new week-long session there called "The Arts of Birding." My "art" contribution was teaching three songwriting workshops during the session. These were super fun and I'll plan to blog about them later. There was a teen birders' camp going on that week, too and we got to spend some time in the field with these fine young people. I even coaxed a couple of them to join me in the songwriting sessions! Our final day of birding was spent on the Maine mainland, birding some wet grasslands and pond habitat owned by the Damariscotta River Association. It was a drizzly, foggy morning, but the birding there was excellent! Nearly everyone got great looks at bobolink, American bittern, pine warbler, and Virginia rail.

Birding the DRA lands in Maine, just before the Virginia rail appeared!

All of us probably had a birding mentor at one point or another—someone who helped us get started as a new bird watcher, taught us bird identification tricks, shared the best birding spots, and—most importantly of all—took us out birding! My birding mentor, Pat Murphy, is long gone from this mortal coil, but I try to honor her memory by being a mentor to young/new birders whenever I can. The world needs more bird watchers! Consider "paying it forward" by getting involved in mentoring young birders. 

There are an increasing number of places/event/organizations that are geared to encouraging young bird watchers. Here are just a few:

ABA Young Birders

Leica Young Birders' Site

Cornell Young Birders' Network

Fledgling Birder's Institute

Hog Island Teen Birding Camps

Young Birders' Day at the 2013 Midwest Birding Symposium

Resources & Clubs for Young Birders

There are many statewide organizations for young birders, such as The Ohio Young Birders, Iowa Young Birders, Indiana Young Birders, and Illinois Young Birders. Try searching for a group in your state via the resources link above, or via a search engine.

Finally, if you know a young person who would benefit from a starter field guide specifically designed for young birders, please consider my Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America.

I've written and edited a lot of books, but this one is closest to my heart and my proudest professional accomplishment. The book is available for sale at most bookstores—both online and off—but if you purchase from Bird Watcher's Digest, I will personalize the book with an inscription of your choice for the recipient.

Happy birding to all!

Happy Earth Day 2013!

 

Happy Earth Day!

Yeah, I know that Earth Day has already passed for this year...I guess I feel like there's a little bit of Earth Day in EVERY day. Or there should be.

I'm not going to get too heavy here. Just want to share some images and thoughts that remind me of Earth Day and how much I love being connected to nature. Like the plant fronds above. That's a shot I took on an island in the Philippines, where the natural resources are being exploited at a stunning rate. The endemic species there are disappearing... This image reminds me of a fossilized plant, which reminds me of coal and oil...and our consumption of same.

A double rainbow in fall, shot from our birding tower in southeast Ohio. Being up high like this lends us a perspective that we don't get from the ground. It shows the vastness of the habitat in some views, but it also reveals fragmentation and all the things that come with it. In our part of the world we're beginning to experience the impact of hydraulic fracking for oil and gas. I wonder if our beautiful vistas will be the same in 10 years.

Each spring I get to experience the miracle of the songbird nesting season on our farm. Monitoring our nest boxes is such a treat. To watch birds such as these Carolina chickadees go from eggs to hatchlings to flying tots in just a few weeks—well, it boggles the mind.

I took this image of Phoebe on Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. It wasn't posed. She loved climbing out on the rocks as the tide came in and I couldn't resist the image. Maine may very well be the place that my kids connect most closely with the natural world because it is so very different from the habitat and landscape (or seascape) where we live. I'm just happy they're connecting.

 

And speaking of young people...one of the best things about Earth Day is all the various activities that are available for youngsters to experience—and to connect with—nature. But we don't have to wait to do that until Earth Day NEXT year. Why not invite a young person (or a whole classroom!) to go outside with you and your birding/nature club or companions. It's the very best way to keep the spirit of Earth Day alive.

Tomorrow morning I'll get up before dawn to lead a passel of people on a long hike down the New River Gorge in West Virginia. There will be nature fans of all ages—a few youngsters and a many young-at-heart bird watchers. I'll do my best to show them a good time and to let them know why I think this area is so wonderful and special. But, you know, that's true of anywhere, as long as it's outside!

 

Happy Earth Day!

ABA Young Birders' Conference

On Saturday, September 22, 2012, I'll be speaking to and birding with a passel of young birders at The American Birding Association's Mid-Atlantic Young Birder Conference. This important event is sponsored by the ABA and Leica Sport Optics, in conjunction with the Delaware Nature Society and Ashland Hawk Watch and hosted by the Delaware Dunlins Youth Birders Club. It will be held at The Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, Delaware beginning at 8 am. My fellow featured speaker is Marie McGee winner of The ABA's "Young Birder of the Year" contest.

It's so reassuring to see events (like this one) and clubs for young birders springing up all over the place. If you started watching birds as a young person (as I did), you probably remember wondering if there was ANYone else out there in the world who also enjoyed birds. It was a lonely feeling. Lucky for today's budding nature fans it's a billion times easier to connect with like-minded souls. And with events and clubs and regular field trips and camps where you get to spend time with other young birders—well it makes an older birding dude like me very happy to see that the future of birds and bird watching seems to be getting stronger all the time.


I've arranged for all registrants at the ABA's Mid-Atlantic Young Birder Conference to receive a copy of my Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. It's going to be a blast.

If you have a young person in your life who is interested in birds and nature, please encourage them to attend one of the many organized events for young birder/naturalists.

Another resource is the newly redesigned and relaunched Young Birders' section on the Bird Watcher's Digest website. It is sponsored by our friends at Leica Sport Optics. I'm especially proud of the birder/blogger content we're highlighting, as well as the list of clubs and organizations for young birders.

I look forward to meeting these new bird watchers—in Delaware later this month, and at events in the years ahead. How exciting!

New Site for Young Birders!

I have a great deal of respect for individuals who "pay it forward" at some point in their lives. By that I mean, doing something nice or supportive for someone else just because it's the right thing to do—not because there's some big payoff in it for them. You know what I mean, right? The dad who coaches a little league team long after his own kids have left for college; the teacher who runs an after-school science club on her own time, funded out of her own pocket; the teenager who mows the elderly neighbor's lawn; people who voluntarily pick up trash in parks just because it makes things better for everyone!

I also admire companies who invest in causes that they care about. One such company is Leica Sport Optics which has invested many thousands of dollars over the past couple of decades in support of programs for young birders. Leica has co-sponsored youth birding camps, conferences, young birder teams in birding competitions, optics giveaways for young birders, and special youth-oriented events at birding festivals.


Now Leica is the sponsor of a new online resource for young birders on the Bird Watcher's Digest website simply called Young Birders. The site is designed to help beginning bird enthusiasts to have a successful start in the hobby. And it gives avid young birders a place to share their experiences, adventures, images, tweets, and blog posts with others.


Three young bird watchers are sharing their regular blog posts on the Young Birders site: Corey Husic, Kristina Polk, and Kyle Carlsen. Other resources included in the site are: a directory of young birder organizations in North America, a photo gallery, a running stream of fascinating bird facts, tips for choosing optics and a field guide, and ticker-windows showing Leica's Facebook and Twitter feeds.


The Leica Young Birders site will be streaming tweets that use the hashtag #youngbirders.

I'm so thrilled to see all the resources available to young birders today. How I wish we'd had similar opportunities for connecting and learning back when I was a young birder (in the days when dinosaurs still walked the Earth).

My sincere thanks (and much admiration) to Leica Sport Optics for their years of consistent support for the growing community of young bird watchers.

That's what I call "paying it forward!"

New Podcast: Teen Birders on Hog Island!

Dr. Sara Morris gives a banding demonstration to some of the teen birders at Hog Island Audubon Camp. Photo ©Corey Husic.

There's a new episode of my "This Birding Life" podcast: "Teen Birders on Hog Island." It features interviews with five teen birders who were part of a Joy of Birding/Coastal Maine Bird Studies session at the Hog Island Audubon Camp in late June 2012.

Young birders getting oriented on the session's first day.

Hog Island is quite an experience for nature lovers of any age. But the group of teens that shared our week in late June seemed particularly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the natural world. It was a real treat to have them there with us.

Campers ashore on Wreck Island with instructor Tom Johnson (right) and naturalist Josh Potter (second from right).

Despite the iffy weather, somewhat rugged terrain, and boat trips on unsettles seas, the teen birders seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. After all, an island on the coast of Maine is a very interesting, unique place to spend a week. There are birds to see—including Atlantic puffins!

Atlantic puffin.

And there are others there with you at Hog Island who share your interest in birds and nature. That in itself is a very special thing.

Watching and photographing a northern parula nest with instructors Lang Elliott and Julie Zickefoose.

Give this new episode a listen. If you're a young birder (or just a young-at-heart birder) consider attending one of the excellent week-long 2013 sessions at the Hog Island Audubon Camp.


Now you know I'm also going to encourage you to take a young person birding. There are an increasing number of really excellent events designed specifically for young bird watchers, including the upcoming Mid-Atlantic Young Birders' Conference sponsored by the American Birding Association.

I'll have more news to share about encouraging young birders in the near future. Until then, I'll see you out there with the birds!

O Happy Day! Again!

In the spring of 2008 when I walked into Salem-Liberty Elementary School, and into daughter Phoebe's 6th grade classroom, it was the highlight of my professional career. That was the day that I handed all the 6th graders their own copies of The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America—a book they'd helped me create over the previous two years.

I felt such pride because the book had been a true collaboration. The kids really helped me to get the content, design, and format just right. I was also proud because I knew the book would help aspiring young birders to enjoy bird watching—to connect with the feathered part of the natural world in a meaningful way. It's the book I wish I'd had when I first noticed birds in 1968. And my hopes for the book were realized. Since it came out in early 2008, many thousands of copies have made their way into the hands of young birders (and into the hands of new birders of all ages, too). I've given talks to and led walks for young bird watchers all over the eastern half of North America.

Yesterday I got to repeat this very special event when I took son Liam's classmates their copies of the The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America, which they helped me create. The new book, which I've blogged about before, was created by expanding the eastern guide, and adding 100+ western species, to cover all of North America. Now young birders in the West have a book to get them started birding.

Yesterday afternoon, just as the school day was winding down, I gave the Salem-Liberty 6th graders their books, signed most of them, then we went out in front of the tiny rural school and snapped a photo for posterity (above). All of these kids are in their last days at Salem-Liberty. Next year they will all attend Fort Frye High School on the other side of the county. I thought back on the many dozens of birding walks we'd taken around the school grounds since 2006. I feel so lucky to have been a part of these book projects with these young folks. We've always had fun.

I believe that birds are the easiest way to connect young people to nature and that's been my mission with these two books. It will continue to be my mission for the rest of my life. But there's no way I could have done it without the great minds and enthusiastic helpers at Salem-Liberty Elementary School.

I'll be forever grateful to those amazing Salem-Liberty kids and their dedicated teachers.

The NEW Young Birder's Guide!

Well, it's finally here and I'm really happy about that. It's my latest book, the book closest to my heart, and the book that I really wish I'd had as a young bird watcher: The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America. That's right, this baby covers the entire continent, not just the East, as the earlier version did.

Writing a book is like baking a cake. You gather the ingredients, mix them all together in the proper order, and pop it in the oven. Then you wait. And 45 minutes and you have a cake! Or, in the case of a book, you wait a year while it bakes to perfection.

This new YBG has 300 of the most common, most commonly encountered, and most awesome North American birds in it. That's 200 species from the original eastern version of the book (158 of which have at least some distribution west of the Midwest) with 100 additional western species added. It's 368 pages and retails for less than $16. If you want one personalized for yourself or the young birder in your life, here's the place to make that happen.

What makes me really happy is that now young (or new) birders in the West have a book expressly written for them—a book that was conceptualized by their peers (my kids' elementary school classes worked on both books. This one is arriving just as Liam is about to leave elementary school and start high school!).

That's Phoebe Linnea Thompson on the left, me in the middle, and William Henry (Liam) Thompson IV on the right.

My hope is that this book, which is intentionally NOT comprehensive in its coverage of North America's avifauna, will be a great starter guide. Any young bird watcher who gets into our wonderful hobby will then be able to step up to a full field guide of his or her choosing.

I'll be hitting the road in a few weeks to promote the new Young Birder's Guide, heading to South Carolina, West Virginia, central and northwest Ohio, Alaska, North Dakota, Maine, and Florida to give presentations on it and, whenever possible, to go out birding with some young folks. If you've got a young birder in your orbit, I hope to see you out there with the birds. Trust me, we'll have fun!

Thanks to my good friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for allow me to be a part of the legendary Peterson Field Guide Series. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this...

New Binoculars for a Young Birder!

What might inspire a young birder as much as placing a live bird in their hands? [That's my daughter Phoebe with a baby bluebird in her hands.]

Placing a brand new, high-quality binocular in their hands would probably be on top of the list.

When I think about the optics I used for the first 10 years of my bird watching, it gives me a headache (or brings back unpleasant memories of the headaches my old binocs gave me.) I've said this many times before, we are living in The Golden Age of Birding!

Think about it:

• You can buy excellent starter binoculars for about $100.
• You can walk into any bookstore anywhere in North American and buy a field guide to the birds (or mammals, butterflies, moths, reptiles, etc).
• You can get bird seed and a feeder at any number of retail stores in your town.
• You can listen to any bird song in North America on your ever-present cellphone.
• You can get up-to-the-second info on bird sightings on the same device.
• You can brag INSTANTLY to all your birding friends about the Bachman's sparrow at your bird bath, via social media.

I remember the first time I look at a bird through a pair of really nice binoculars. And I also am regularly reminded about the power of good optics when I loan out my extra binocs to young bird watchers on the dozens of trips I lead each year. Hearing the gasp and "WOW!" when they get a really good look at a bird—well it's a special moment because it might just be opening their eyes to a whole new world.


That's what happened to me. And if you remember the moment you sparked on birds and birding, maybe you want to help someone else enjoy that same experience.

Our friends at Leica Sport Optics have joined up with us at Bird Watcher's Digest to find a worthy young bird watcher in the United States to whom Leica will be giving a new pair of Trinovid binoculars. If you read our magazine you know that this model is a top-rated binocular, so it's no small thing to give away. It's NOT a $100 starter binocular. That's why we're calling this giveaway Leica's Great Leap Forward for a Young Birder. We think it could provide that very thing for a deserving young person who is interested in birds.

If you know a young birder who would really benefit from some new (and really nice) binoculars, won't you consider nominating them?

The winner and five runners up will also receive an autographed copy of my new book The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America.

Thank you!