​One weekend in February changed the way I saw birding, and I owe, in part, my full commitment to birding to The Great Backyard Bird Count. Bold statement? Maybe, but in 2006 I saw a link to a website that appealed to my inner birder. The website said I would be helping out by keeping track of the birds that I saw over four days during a weekend in February and best yet, I would get to call myself a citizen scientist! It felt like I was back in university, fighting the good fight and at the same time, take my birding to a whole new level.  This all led to the world of eBird, but that is for another story. I hope this article will spark a little something in your inner citizen scientist and you join me with over a 140,000 other folks on the four day event held February 12-15.

​We can talk to someone half way around the world while watching a live image of them. A doctor can let you know what ails your internal organs by taking a 3 dimensional image without so much as making a nic in your skin. And now, there is a program that can tell you what North American bird you are looking at with a couple clicks of the mouse! Have you ever seen a bird and thought, “I wish I knew what kind of bird that is?” I know I get at least one call or email a week asking me “what bird is this.” Well, technology has caught up with that need. The Cornell Lab has come up with a new and fancy identification program called Merlin Photo ID, that lets you upload a picture and with a couple clicks of your mouse, will tell you which bird you are looking at. If that isn’t as good as a CAT scan machine, I don’t know what is. 

​Not only is Vancouver one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but it also boasts world class bird watching. This country is spread out over a multitude of Micro ecosystems, from the spectacular snow-capped mountains to the north, to the farmlands in the south and east. All of it is transected by the mighty Fraser River meandering through marshland, multi-armed, to the Pacific Ocean to the west. This little portion of heaven is also one of the major stops on the Pacific Flyway giving it one of the best spots for migration birding. It rarely freezes solid along the coast in the winter months, which makes it one of the only spots in Canada for winter birding of terrestrial migrants. Vancouver is solidly in the Temperate Rain Forest as well as having areas that are in the rain shadow of Vancouver Island. These two environmental facts give it an average yearly rainfall difference of 55 inches. In the south, near the border, there is just 45 inches of rain contrasting with the 99 inches that fall along the mountains to the north, all of which is located within an hour’s drive.  If you are looking for an amazing birding experience, Vancouver is one of the world’s best and as a bonus, you will get the amazing scenery thrown in for free.  

​Most bird watching folks have been on, or at least heard of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). This count, believe it or not, does not fall on Christmas day.  "Why?" you ask. The concept of this count is to take a snapshot of the birds in any given area throughout North America in a specific time frame, not just one specific day.  A group of folks that are deemed citizen scientists head out with their binoculars and tally of all of the birds they have seen in the area they have been tasked to search. At the end of the day, over a cup of hot chocolate, or something stronger, the numbers are combined and are then sent to Audubon for compilation. Anyone can join a Christmas Bird Count and I highly recommend that you make it out this year to be a part of something that has been more than a century in the making. Let me tell you more about it. 
​

​Turkeys are one of the most well know birds in North America for their contribution to several special days in the fall and winter season. Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be the same without the contribution this bird has added to most of the people that live on this continent. The history of this majestic bird in the wild would most likely surprise you as being a huge success story. The surprise is not the success, but the fact that we very nearly lost the Wild Turkey in its natural habitat. Today, turkeys are found in almost every state, several provinces and some location in Mexico as well. Let’s find out a little bit more about this fabulous bird, let’s talk turkey

​Belize is a rustic country with a very small population which is absolutely perfect for nature photography and birding. While looking for places to stay in Belize I did a considerable amount of work. I had also decided that I was going to hire a guide for a couple days on this trip, which is something I don’t usually do, so it added to the level of reconnaissance I was planning. Wading through the internet I found several locations, but one seemed to stand out with the positive responses to the stay, the people and the birds. The Crystal Paradise Resort was that place. All of the comments on the travel sites kept mentioning “The Tuts” and how welcome everyone felt under their roof. For someone who is travelling to a new country for the first time, this kind of feedback is exactly the thing that someone needs to feel comfortable. It also turns out that the Tut brothers are very fluent in the language of birding and have extensive experience guiding all over Belize. That was the clencher, I signed up for a three night stay with two days of guided bird watching. 

​We can always sense when fall is in full swing when the familiar honking of geese is high in the sky as they sail south. The miracle of migration happens twice every year bringing birds to and from their homes for the season. Once, when the days get longer and the weather starts warming up, signaling the move north. Again, when the days get shorter and the young birds fly on newly feathered wings to warmer southern climates. In North America, there are four flyways that follow major landscape dividers. The Atlantic flyway captures the birds east of Hudson’s Bay and follows the coast south to Florida and beyond. The Second is the Mississippi Flyway which handles a great deal of birds from the arctic and along the western edge of the Hudson’s Bay and down the Mississippi River Valley and out across the Gulf of Mexico. The third is the Central Flyway which follows along the eastern edge of the Rockies south towards the Texas Panhandle and into Mexico’s East Coast. The Flyway that I am most familiar with is the Pacific Flyway. These are all the birds that live in Alaska and head south picking up and dropping off the birds that live in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. We are going to have a look at the Pacific Flyway in a little more detail.

​Belize has come up several times when talking with people about birding abroad. I heard it was clean, the locals were friendly, the countryside was pristine and the birds were everywhere.  My trip to Belize proved that I could not find one argument to the contrary.  It is all of those things and more. The three “Bullseye” birds I had always wanted to see in the wild were the King Vulture, Limpkin, and Golden-hooded Tanager. I recalled The King Vulture from the perspective of a young, impressionable 9 year old zoologist when on a family visit to the San Diego Zoo. Seeing this somewhat ugly yet captivating raptor always intrigued me and I wanted to see it in the wild. The Limpkin intrigued me when I dipped on it in Florida and I started looking into the strange half crane, half rail. The Tanager, well…he was just the cherry on top. Who wouldn’t want to see this beauty up close? 

The big year could mean many things, but in this case, we are talking about how it pertains to birding. There has been a lot of talk lately about “The Big Year” which was made main stream by a movie of the same name starring Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson.  Until the release of this movie in 2011, the big year concept was relatively unknown.  I am asked consistently, “Hey Mr. Birder, have you seen this movie?” and “Do people really travel around looking for birds?”  I tell them I have seen it, and if I had the cash and time for my own “Big Year”… we wouldn’t be standing here talking right now.  I do find, however, that some people are still a little unsure about what the big year is, so I am going to break it down for you.

Some bird watchers like to keep a life list of all the birds they have ever seen and identified. This can be in the form of a journal, a spread sheet, or a web site like eBird.  This list is the driving force behind the concept of the “big year.”  For example, there are approximately 900 species in the American Birding Association’s (ABA) geographic area which covers North America north of the Mexican border. The idea of the big year is to identify as many of those 900 species as possible. The current record for this area is 748 species shared by Neil Hayward and Sandy Komito.