If you’re reading this, you’re a birder. I’ll bet you can even identify a robin, blue jay and chickadee without looking in a book. Birders come in all levels of experience. They also come in all levels of enthusiasm, from casual to hardcore to certifiably insane.
If you’re a casual birder, maybe a feeder watcher, there’s one thing going through your mind these days. Where did my birds go? I’ve been hearing this refrain every day, from all over the state.
“The birds aren’t coming to my feeders. Is it because of Hurricane Lee?,” people ask me.
No. It’s been a warm autumn. There is a glut of natural food around. Chickadees, nuthatches, titmice — all the typical feeder birds — are feasting on the natural abundance, as is only natural. They are currently eating what they evolved to eat. It’s what they prefer. Bird feeders are merely supplemental meals for them.
Furthermore, feeders are a bit risky. Whenever birds gather around a stationary food source, it can attract the attention of predators. Dispersed birds are safer in the treetops and grassy fields. So that’s where they are right now.
One of the best things about being a birder is that even the most inexperienced person among us can become hardcore, or even insane. We’ve been seeing that a lot lately.
The Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon started a series of spring bird walks more than a decade ago. They have proved so successful that several late summer and fall bird walks were added to the schedule in recent years.
Scores of fledgling enthusiasts have been astounded to find out how many bird species are present, right near their homes.
Birding enthusiasm can be a slippery slope. It’s a small step from watching birds in your backyard to watching birds in everyone’s backyard, an addiction shamelessly enabled by your local Audubon Society folks.
First, you go on a volunteer-led bird walk. Next, you go on every walk. Suddenly you find yourself joining bigger adventures, like the one tomorrow morning.
I’ll be at Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park from 6 to 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, helping people identify seabirds migrating past the shoreline. It’s part of Schoodic Institute’s annual Sea Watch survey. There will likely be hundreds, maybe even thousands, of sea ducks winging their way south.
The free event is open to anyone who shows up. We’ll be in the far corner of the parking lot. You’ll absolutely need binoculars.
Another Audubon excursion will carpool to Sebasticook Lake and the areas surrounding Newport on Sunday, Oct. 22. As the water level drops in the lake every autumn, a surprising number of freshwater ducks and shorebirds turn up for easy viewing. Field trip details on this and all other events are available at pvc.maineaudubon.org.
OK. Now you’re hooked. You started out merely watching birds at the feeder. Then you noticed all the other birds around the area. Before long, you found yourself spying on birds as they moved about in migration. You started bringing binoculars on every vacation or business trip. Then birding became the vacation.
You started keeping lists. At first, it was just a list of birds seen on a walk or trip. Perhaps later, it turned into a life list — a list of all the birds you’ve seen in your life. Then it became regional life lists.
Think it can’t happen to you? I’ve officially seen 328 species in Maine, 624 in North America, and 992 in the world.
Don’t worry. You may now be a hardcore birder, but you’re not yet insane. I am. The final four birds on my life list were added just last weekend in Newport, Oregon. I was on a 50-foot boat in 5-foot seas about 25 miles out into the Pacific Ocean when a black-footed albatross crossed the bow and became my 624th North American bird.
An expert can identify the sound made by black-capped and boreal chickadees in Maine, as well as mountain and chestnut-backed chickadees in Oregon. An experienced birder (me) knows when he hears a chickadee.
He knows that mountain chickadees sound like either black-capped or boreal chickadees and that chestnut-backed chickadees sound like the other, but he can’t remember which is which (me). But anyone can cry with excitement anywhere they go: “Hey! A chickadee!”
All birders are somewhere on a continuum of three E’s — experience, expertise and enthusiasm. It takes a while to gain experience and expertise, but anyone can achieve enthusiasm immediately.
Since you actually finished reading this, I suspect you’re already there.