Essay collections make up some of my favourite books, and part of the charm of them is that they don’t require much commitment. One can leave the book lying around, pick it up and read an essay at a time, and not worry about keeping the flow going. The latest essay collection to land on my end table is Good Birders Don’t Wear White, a collection edited by Lisa White with a foreword by Pete Dunne. Much like reading blog posts, picking it up is similar to visiting a star studded episode of I and the Bird.
Contributers to the collection include such well known members of the birding community as Kenn Kaufman, Don and Lillian Stokes, David Sibley, Scott Weidensaul, Julie Zickefoose, and many others. It includes a short (far too short) essay on pishing by one of my favourite natural (and I mean that in a couple of senses) authors, Julie Craves. I await a book wholly dedicated to her essays.
Chances are, if you pick up this book, you’ll find a tip, or some advice that you can use. Even if you’re finding it hard to find time in your busy life to pick up a book, you can leave this one lying around for those moments you find to relax. And chances are you’ll find yourself enjoying the read.
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Many thanks, my friend! If you’d like to be my agent…
I find it hard in my busy life to bird. I mean, even to log in to eBird and report my casual observation of the snipe that’s been winnowing over the pond behind our house for – how many days now? See? I keep wondering what to aim for – just to note the first sightings of the season, or to count consciously for a few minutes each day, or to build up my skill so I can count whenever I am out walking or driving somewhere (but that might land me in a ditch)… Would this book help? I am recognizing more and more birds, and I’d like to put that skill to some use by reporting things, but then I see that question, “Are you reporting every species you identified?” and I think, well, yes, but there were lots that I didn’t identify…
Anyway, I’ve been thinking of asking your advice about how to become a birder. I have no interest in competitive chasing around after additions to a life list, but I would sure like to do my bit to help out with citizen science. Any suggestions?
Julie,
I’d love to be your agent. Does it pay well? Actually I have friends that could point you in the right direction for a literary Agent, if you’d like. You know for the upcoming book?
Hi Arcolaura, has spring come to Arcola?
You’ll find some tips in the book that will help you on your way to be a better bird, the above Julie’s advice on pishing for example. There are tips on how to better record what you see, taking care of your optics etc. The advice is pretty general, much like you’d find on a blog or a short magazine article.
One of the best things that you can do is to hook up with other birdwatchers/birders, or other people that do citizen science. There are groups everywhere, and usually even in the smallest community you’ll find at least one person whose interest turns to birds, unfortunately in some communities I had to look in the mirror to find them.
There are a lot of really good citizen science projects out there. Sometimes being involved in them forces us to take the time out of our busy lives to make time for them. They range from one day or weekend projects such as The Great Backyard Count, or the Christmas Count to surveys you could do daily if you wish. Places you could start are Bird Studies Canada or the Canadian Wildlife Service. I used to take at least one day a week to do a Breeding Bird Survey that the CWS did. A simple matter of going out, looking for the birds, and recording any behaviour that might show that the birds breed in a particular area, done on a checklist.
Working on your identification skills (skills that seem to have left me lately) is a good place to start, and remember that it is science, accuracy counts. “Are you reporting every species you identified?” is a good example, and if you’ve seen lots that you didn’t identify that is fine, report the ones you know, don’t guess at the others (for the report) and work at figuring out what they are.
Most important thing? Enjoy the birds (and invertibrates and mammals etc.) Do it because you are an amateur in the true sense of the word – one who loves doing it.
Any help I can offer, just ask.
Thanks Clare! Oh, yes, we’ve got spring here. I think it will be a short one, unless we get a good rain or snow; it is so dry it almost feels like summer already.