How to "fledge" a birder

For a first-time birder, something like a male Baltimore Oriole, shining in the sun, can be worth its weight in golden feathers.

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn and Kimberly write:  Quick quiz.  When you go birding, what is one of the best things you can do to ensure a bright future for birds?  Answer:  Take someone with you, someone who has never tried it before, and introduce them to the fascination of birds and birding.  Building up the birding community is one of the best ways to build support for conservation.

Some friends of ours, including Dave Magpiong and Richard Crossley, recently launched an initiative called "Pledge 2 Fledge."  They want experienced birders to invite their non-birding friends out in the field - people who have never looked at birds before - with the hope that they will "fledge" new birders in this way.  (The verb "to fledge" can refer either to taking care of a young bird until it is ready to leave the nest, or to the act of the young bird when it leaves the nest; either one would work in this case.)  You can learn more about the initiative here.

We fully support this idea.  Getting more people to care about birds and nature is vitally important.  Over the years we have taken many hundreds of people out on their very first bird walks, so we've had a chance to see what works and what doesn't, and we wanted to share some results of our experience. 

How do you make sure that someone will catch the spark and develop a lasting interest?  We sometimes use the analogy of teaching people how to swim.  One approach is to just throw everyone into the deep end of the pool; some will drown, but others will adapt quickly and will learn to swim quite well.  The latter approach might be okay if we were just trying to create a few champion swimmers (or birders).  But for the sake of conservation, we need to inspire just as many new birders as possible - including those who will only have a casual interest, dabbling in the shallow end of the pool.  Their casual interest is perfectly valid and worth celebrating, and their support for conservation is crucial.  So if you're taking people out birding for the first time, you should think about the experience from their viewpoint, and make it as rewarding as you can.

We have written up a set of pointers on "First-Time Birding: How to take someone on their first bird walk."  It's available as a PDF that you can download and print from this link.  But for those who don't want to go to the link, we're repeating the pointers below. 

1.  You don’t have to be an expert.  To take someone birding for the first time, do you have to know every bird you see and hear?  Absolutely not.  If you’ve been birding for at least a few weeks, then you already know more than someone who’s never tried it.  It’s okay if you see something that you can’t name; just admit it up front with some brief explanation (like, “I don’t do flycatchers yet”) and go on to the next bird. 

2. Choose your place and time carefully. In some situations, birds are tough to find. In others, birds are out in the open, easy to see. When you’re deciding where and when to take someone birding for the first time, it’s important to go for the latter kind of scene.

        Big waterbirds offer good possibilities: big herons and egrets close to a road, terns and big shorebirds on a beach, or a good variety of wild ducks on a pond, for example. Birds often become easier to approach in city parks or public beaches than they are in wilderness areas, but you need to scout the area to make sure the birds haven’t been crowded out. If no big waterbirds are available, you might find a good variety of birds coming to feeders at a nature center. Or you might walk a trail along the edge of a meadow that has bluebirds, buntings, and others. The important thing is to have some nice-looking birds that are easy to see.

Buffleheads are not rare birds, but an obliging pair on a park pond just might spark someone's interest in birds of all kinds.

        Whatever you do, don’t take them out in a really tough situation: trying to spot drab fall warblers among the dense foliage of late summer, trying to kick elusive sparrows out of thickets. Those are fine challenges for seasoned birders, but they’re likely to discourage newcomers.

3. Don’t get hung up on looking for something “good.” Years ago, Kenn took a group of business managers out birding in New York’s Central Park. It was the end of spring migration, and Kenn was worried that he wouldn’t be able to show them much. He needn’t have worried: these managers were captivated by the glossy colors of grackles, by the flashy behavior of Red-winged Blackbirds, by the intricate patterns of starlings. Don’t underestimate the power of common birds to fascinate the first-timers. When you’re trying to get someone new excited about birds, a rare (but drab) species of sparrow isn’t worth nearly as much as a common (but flashy) oriole or goldfinch.

Red-winged Blackbirds may not be exciting to longtime birders, but for a person looking at them for the first time, they can be pretty impressive.

4. Be prepared to slow down. If your focus is on inspiring a new birder, you probably won’t cover as much territory as usual. You can’t rush past that flicker or cardinal or jay just because it’s a common bird: If your friend has never looked at one before, he or she may want to spend half an hour admiring this bird. When that happens, you’re halfway to success already. A birdwalk that produces really good looks at half a dozen common birds may be enough to inspire someone to take a lifelong interest in birding.

5. Don’t worry about running up a big list. Most people new to birding will be amazed if you can show them twenty species of birds—even if you’re in a place where you know you could find a hundred. It’s okay to point out distant flying birds, or the voices of hidden birds, just to indicate that there are more things around. But the focus should be on the birds that the first-timer can see or hear very clearly, even if those add up to only a fraction of the total possibilities.

When you're just starting out, a really good view of a cardinal beats a distant, sketchy look at any rare bird.

6. Make sure your first-time birders understand their optics. Whether your friends have their own binoculars or are borrowing yours, you need to be certain that they know how to use them. Start by reviewing how to adjust the individual eyepieces, how to focus, how to find something in the binoculars. You can practice with stationary objects before the first bird shows up. A printed sign makes a good “practice target,” since it’s easy for anyone to tell whether or not they have it in sharp focus. Remember to give them this pointer on locating things: don't put the bins to your eyes and then try to find the bird; instead, keep your eye on the "target" as you bring the binoculars up to your eyes.  If you’ve got a spotting scope, that can be wonderful for giving people good looks without the struggle.

7. Make sure they know what to expect. Establish ahead of time how long you’ll be out: usually a couple of hours will be plenty for a first birdwalk. (If everyone is having fun at the end of that time, you can always decide to keep going.) Tell them how far they might have to walk, over what kind of terrain. Let them know about anything like the need for insect repellant (or better yet, avoid places where such would be necessary). Think about the availability of restroom facilities, shelter from weather, and so on. People who are comfortable will be better able to appreciate the experience of birding.

8. Have fun! Remember, birding is something that we do for enjoyment; anyone who enjoys it is a good birder. The important thing is for your first-time birder friends to have a good time!

Here's Kimberly with some brand-new friends at a National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. They saw some birds, but more importantly, they had a good time.

No matter what you do, not everyone is going to take up birding. Even people who enjoy it a lot may become only casual, occasional birders. But if you get them that far, you should consider that a major success. Ultimately, if people are made even a little more aware of birds and nature, they are more likely to be in favor of conservation. In today’s world, birds and their habitats need all the support they can get. So if you introduce friends to birding, not only are you making their lives more exciting, you are also helping to ensure the future survival of bird populations!

Auction action: Roger Tory Peterson

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes:  It's August 28, 2012.  Roger Tory Peterson would have been 104 years old today.  If he were still alive, I suspect he would have spent at least part of the day painting birds ... as he did on the last day of his life, in July 1996, when he was almost 88. 

Recently I've been thinking about Peterson's artwork a lot ... mostly because some of it is going to be auctioned off soon.  On September 8, Guernsey's Auctioneers in New York will be offering 500 lots of material from the Petersons' estates.  Basic information on the auction is available here.

Although the writeup says that it's an auction "consisting entirely of the work of Roger Tory Peterson," the online catalog tells a slightly different story.  A number of original Audubon prints are also included, presumably from Roger's private collection.  Quite a few matted photographic prints are being offered, and a few other odd items, including older binoculars and camera gear. But the auction does include hundreds of pieces of original artwork from Peterson's hand. 

Of course, Peterson produced a prodigious amount of artwork - much of it in the form of field guide illustrations - during his long and productive life.  Much of his best artwork is housed at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York.  I was on the board of trustees of RTPI for several years, so Kimberly and I made repeated trips to the Institute, and we had the opportunity to admire many pieces of Roger's original art.  As a lifelong fan of Peterson and his work, I believe that his finest artwork ever would have to be the brilliant ink drawings that he did to illustrate Wild America, the wonderful travel book that he coauthored with James Fisher.  Fortunately, the drawings from Wild America are housed at the Peterson Institute.  So are many other examples of his finest work, including the drawings from the Bird Watcher's Anthology and many of his larger studio paintings.  Incidentally, the Roger Tory Peterson Institute is far more than just a museum of RTP's work - it's a dynamic organization that actively promotes nature education.  RTPI deserves the support of the birding community; see their website here for more information.

Following Roger Peterson's death in 1996 and Virginia Peterson's death in 2001, there was a certain amount of disagreement over their estates.  Roger's sons, Tory and Lee, wanted to have all of his artwork donated to the Peterson Institute.  Virginia's daughters had other ideas, and after quite a bit of legal wrangling, the artwork was divided up.  The material that is going on auction now is from Virginia's side of the family.  It may not include Roger's very best work, but there are some major gems included, and all of it has great cultural and historic value.

A perusal of the online catalog (available at this link) reveals some odd misidentifications.  Lot 25, "Wheatear, early work," shows a male Common Yellowthroat feeding a fledgling.  Lot 2, "Eagle, head detail," is an illustration of Snail Kites.  Strangest of all is Lot 74A, "Unknown, possibly various titmice."  This shows several species of yuhinas, small songbirds from Asia.  It probably wasn't done by Peterson at all, since it doesn't appear to be in his style and he never did anything formal with Asian birds, so its inclusion here represents an intriguing mystery.

At any rate, I'll be discussing all the material in the catalog tomorrow, because I'm meeting with one of the curators at the Toledo Museum of Art to discuss the merits of various pieces included in the auction.  This year, Kimberly and I have had the pleasure of getting to know some of the staff at the museum.  The dynamic director of the TMA, Brian Kennedy, is keenly interested in outreach to the community, and it was his idea to do a major exhibition on birds in art this year, reflecting interest in The Biggest Week In American Birding!  This link between a bird festival and an art museum has been one of the most gratifying things to come out of our efforts in this region.

I don't know whether the Toledo Museum of Art will wind up bidding on any of the Peterson artwork, but I imagine that most of it will wind up being sold.  If anyone reading this post happens to bid successfully on items in the auction, I have a suggestion: please take the artwork seriously and please think about where it will wind up after you're gone.  Bequeathing it to the Roger Tory Peterson Institute would be a fabulous idea.  Better yet, buy something in the auction, donate it to the Peterson Institute, and then go to visit your artwork once a year.  Roger Tory Peterson holds a unique place in the worlds of birding, natural history, and art, and his work should be preserved for future generations to study and appreciate. 

For an official statement from the Roger Tory Peterson Institute about the upcoming auction, please follow this link.

And if you have a serious interest in any aspect of nature, anywhere in the world, it's likely that you have benefited somehow from the work of the late Dr. Peterson, reason enough to raise a glass to his memory on this day.

Meeting Kindred Spirits over Coffee

From back home in Ohio already, Kenn writes: I had a whirlwind weekend, giving three talks in two days, in three very different settings. On Saturday I would get to address an audience of about 300 at the "Shreve Migration Sensation"; on Friday night it was a smaller audience of the top movers and shakers of Audubon’s statewide organization in New York; but in this post I want to talk about what happened Friday afternoon.

The Friday afternoon event was a small gathering, by invitation only, organized by Nancy Castillo and Lois Geshiwim, owners of the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Saratoga Springs, New York. These two had decided some time ago that they wanted to promote the idea of shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee. They had started using their store and their website to educate their customers about this issue, describing how coffee grown in traditional shade plantations supported large populations of native birds, while factory farms of sun-grown coffee would support essentially no birds or wildlife at all. When Nancy and Lois found out that I was going to be in the area, they invited me and my partner, Bill Wilson of Birds & Beans, to give a presentation at their local Wilton Wildlife Preserve.

It was a delightful gathering, with an audience of interested and interesting people. After I gave my migration-and-coffee talk, we had a great question-and-answer session -- I answered the bird questions, Bill Wilson answered the coffee questions -- and a number of people agreed to give the Bird-Friendly Coffee a try. We hope they’ll like it enough to come back for more; if we can build up the demand, we can support those farmers in Latin America who are growing the coffee in the responsible, traditional way.

Here we are squinting into the afternoon sun in front of the WBU banner. From left: Kenn K., Lois Geshiwim and Nancy Castillo of Wild Birds Unlimited, and Bill Wilson of Birds & Beans LLC. If I don't look totally happy in this picture, it's only because I was missing Kim; she was doing BSBO work and couldn't break away for this fast trip to New York.

For me the best part about the afternoon was getting to meet Lois Geshiwim and Nancy Castillo. I’ve been to a lot of wild bird supply stores, and the best ones are owned and managed by people who treat it as more than a job. The best wild bird stores become nature centers in miniature, on the front lines of public education. Nancy and Lois are passionate about birds and nature and conservation, and about sharing the wonders of nature with others. They didn’t decide to promote shade-grown coffee because they thought it would increase their profits -- no, they chose this because it was the right thing to do, because they want to make a difference and help the birds. It’s no surprise to learn that Nancy, on the side, writes a wonderful blog called "The Zen Birdfeeder." These women are truly committed to the subject!

Meeting these two reminded me of the story about workers at a construction site where a cathedral was being built. When the workers were asked about what they were doing, one said, "I’m nailing these frames together," another said, "I’m laying bricks," and so on. But one worker looked up with a smile and said, "I’m building a cathedral." If they don't mind my saying so, something like that applies to Nancy and Lois. They’re not just selling birdseed, they’re changing the world, and it was an inspiration to meet them.

Here's more about their Wild Birds Unlimited store:
http://saratogasprings.wbu.com/

Here's a link to Nancy's blog, The Zen Birdfeeder:
http://wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.com/

Here's more about certified Bird-Friendly coffee: http://birdsandbeans.com/