Photo: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Increasing numbers of young people, like boys in Cornell’s BirdSleuth K-12 program, are into birding — developing their observational skills and their inherent love of nature.
One of the most hopeful things around is to see kids get interested in birds, learning to identify them and to spot unusual ones. This summer I’ve been getting a kick out of grandchildren who aim to test my ability (limited) to recognize bird calls. We have a book with buttons that you press for different calls. They press, I identify. I’m getting better.
Penelope Green reported recently at the New York Times about young urban adults who assisted with an international bird count in May.
“On Global Big Day last month, birders around the world counted all the species they could spot in 24 hours. It was a super-birding event in the bonanza that is spring migration — which runs from late April to early June, but peaks for songbirds in May — when millions of birds make their way from parts south to breed in the Northern latitudes.
“In Prospect Park, members of the Feminist Bird Club did their bit for this enormous citizen-scientist data collection effort. Led by Molly Adams, its founder, the group clocked over 80 species in under 10 hours, including one black-billed cuckoo and a cerulean warbler. These were good ‘gets’: The cerulean warbler is at risk of extinction — like so many birds, a casualty of habitat loss — so noting its whereabouts is particularly important for conservation efforts. The cuckoo is not a rare bird, it’s just hard to see and not many of them stop in New York City during their migration; that made its sighting a bit of thrill, Ms. Adams said. …
“Younger urban birders — yubbies? — like those led by Ms. Adams are the new faces in the birding world. They use social media to track their ornithological marks, with digital assists from apps like Ibird or Merlin and websites like ebird — the data collection site run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology — which have replaced old-fashioned Sibley guides to aid in identification (though Sibley has an app, too). They are drawn in by the visual seductions of Instagram, as well as a desire for community inflected by environmentalism. …
“Pete Lengyel, a co-founder of the Kings County Brewers Collective, a craft beer brewery and tap room in Bushwick, was hooked by [the movie} ‘Birders’ when he saw it a few years ago. Its filmmaker, Jeffrey Kimball, an urban birding convert, captured four seasons of Central Park’s birding community in an engaging portrait of its singular characters. … Mr. Lengyel, 44, sent the film to all his friends, and convened his own birding group, the Beerders, which includes two brewers, a baker, a butcher and a fashion designer — a nice cross-section of Brooklyn professions. …
“[Meanwhile, Chelsea Lawrence, a software tester for a television company] might spend half of a Saturday in Prospect Park, but if she spots a warbler at lunchtime in the planter in front of her midtown office, ‘that’s birding, too,’ she said. ‘I’m really into citizen science and data collection. It can be as competitive as you want it to be. It’s also really meditative. You have to be very present to be a good birder.’ ”
More at the New York Times, here.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
How nice! Thank you.
Another great post. I need a sound ID app for the birds I hear but cannot see in the cork forest! I’m ever amazed at the repertoire of the common Jay though!
I have to give up on the birds that have numerous calls! Maybe someday …
I am hopeless with birds. Maybe if they would hold still I could learn to identify them by their looks but I simply cannot remember different calls.
Yes, I agree it would be helpful if the birds would just hold still while we get out the bird book and find the right page! People used to think collections of dead birds would be good for that, but they don’t look much like themselves when they aren’t full of energy.