by Alex A. Tsiatsos
On a cold and windy Saturday in November, fifteen people arrived at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Fish Health Lab in Leetown, West Virginia at 7:30 in the morning. After an introductory huddle, the group started moving along trails through the still-vibrant foliage, past large, quiet ponds and ultimately into the deep, reedy recesses of the property’s hidden watercourses.
“There!” someone shouted, and, in an instant, fifteen pairs of binoculars searched for a small brown bird darting among the cattails and low shrubs. “Song Sparrow?” asked one member of the group. “I think it was a Swamp Sparrow,” said another, and the matter was settled by comparing illustrations in ready at hand field guides.
That wasn’t the first time that field guides made an appearance that day. An American Black Duck with an unusual bill also temporarily stumped the participants. But because undisturbed ducks meander leisurely compared with ever-nervous sparrows, the group was able to set up a spotting scope to allow magnified looks at this uncommon, inconspicuous bird – a species that most people rarely notice.
Finding uncommon birds hiding in unexpected places is one of the great joys of birding – an activity which used to be called “birdwatching,” still an acceptable term, but one that has fallen into disfavor in part because of its passive connotations. And, truthfully, birding on that particular morning was anything but passive. The group trekked across miles of cold, wet terrain, up and down hills and through muddy passes to try to tally as many different birds as possible. In fact, those without appropriate footwear (specifically, this author) had trouble keeping up.
The trip was organized by the Potomac Valley Audubon Society (PVAS). Christine Densmore, a USGS Veterinary Medical Officer, graciously chaperoned the group on the federal site. While the primary purpose of the Leetown USGS facility is to study and promote fish health, its expansive grounds, filled with ponds and other bird-friendly environments, makes it an ideal location for birding.
PVAS host trips to different locations throughout the year. Trips in the spring, when songbirds in technicolor plumage migrate through the treetops like little, flying jewels, are especially popular. The outings are usually open to all members of the public (provided they reserve a space) and, on this particular day, the group featured birders of all ages and experience levels. The group’s friendly and knowledgeable leader Beth Poole, a PVAS volunteer, is a retired teacher who took up birding approximately ten years ago. She credits her mother, who used to watch the birds that came to the family bird feeder, for sparking her own interest in birding. Throughout the trip, Poole carefully recorded everyone’s sightings, helped members locate birds that not everyone could easily see, and congratulated other members on finding new birds for that day’s tally.
Each birder’s personal history with the hobby is different. Paul Saffold, a Berkeley County resident, has been a birdwatcher since the mid-1970s. He enjoys birdwatching almost anywhere, often finding a noteworthy variety of species in his own backyard. “We have a small waterfall which is a real bird magnet and numerous flower beds with a variety of shrubs and flowers that attract birds and butterflies.”
Saffold also notes another attractive aspect of birding: its relatively low entrance cost. “A pair of binoculars and a field guide or app are enough to get started,” Saffold said. While high end birding optics can cost thousands of dollars, very good, starter binoculars – more than enough for most birding purposes – can be found for under $200. And, if properly cared for, they last a lifetime.
Another member of the group that morning, William Telfair, has a PhD in physics and has designed laser surgical equipment. Reflecting on his birding experience, Telfair said “I grew up next to an Ornithologist and was birding from 6 to 18. I dropped out of birding during school and career until I was 50. I then discovered that I had been photographing birds all my life.” Like most other birders, Telfair enjoys being in nature. “If you enjoy nature and wildlife, then try it.”
Telfair has taken birding trips around the world, and he has managed to find birds that many American birders can only dream of. But he is still in search of a bird that occasionally wanders into West Virginia but that has somehow managed to elude him – the Snowy Owl. Tales of birds that you never quite manage to find – known as “nemesis birds”- are part of the lore of the hobby, like a fisherman’s trophy fish that slips off the hook.
Carol Del-Colle, a retired educator and a longtime, active member of PVAS, always enjoyed spending time outdoors. She dates her interest in birding and nature to her time spent reading Golden Nature and Field Guides while with her grandparents at their property along the Chesapeake Bay. “My grandmother and grandfather used to sit very still holding pieces of peanuts and seed while I would delight in watching the little chickadees and titmice come and take it out of their hands,” Del-Colle states.
Like other birders who provided information for this article, Del-Colle says that “one of the best things about birding is that you can do it almost anywhere and anytime. You can bird from the house, car, boat, etc. A very accessible activity. I love being outside and not knowing exactly what I will see next. Birding is just full of adventure, joyful surprises, beautiful colors, strange and entertaining behaviors, lovely and sometimes unusual sounds.”
Being a member of a larger community of birders is another joy of the hobby. “I love the people I get to meet birding,” Del-Colle said. “They are a great group with whom I can share birding stories, highs and lows, and learn from their knowledge and experience. Building relationships and friendships is a precious outgrowth of being part of a birding community.”
Del-Colle became involved with PVAS a number of years ago when she was still teaching elementary school. “I met the director, Kristin Alexander, and found out what PVAS does and have been a supporter and member ever since. I believe that PVAS and the dedicated members who do so much for bird conservation, land management and environmental education deserve much praise, appreciation and recognition for the wonderful work they do. It is a very professional organization that reaches out in so many ways to the community at large. I am so proud to be part of this fine group of people with whom I have had many positive experiences and have made new and caring friends.”
Del-Colle’s advice to people who become interested in birding is “to find someone who already birds and go out birding with them. If someone doesn’t already know a person who is a birder, then they may want to find out about their local Audubon chapter and join, or go on a bird walk just to try it out and meet people who can answer their questions. Birders love to talk about birds and are usually more than willing to take a new person under their ‘wings’ to help them along. It is not difficult to get hooked on birding.”
PVAS itself manages four nature preserves: Stauffer’s Marsh and Yankauer in Berkeley County, West Virginia; Cool Spring in Jefferson County, West Virginia and Eidolon in Morgan County, West Virginia. And there are countless other local hotspots for area birding enthusiasts. Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area, along the border of Berkeley and Morgan Counties, hosts a breeding population of a vulnerable species of songbird, the Cerulean Warbler. Telfair notes that “West Virginia has about one-third of the world’s breeding Cerulean Warblers.”
For those willing to be a little more adventurous, the birding possibilities are almost endless. Daytrips to the Chesapeake Bay or Eastern Shore provide opportunities to see gulls, sandpipers and other shorebirds, while driving a few hours north of the region in the right season may provide birders with a glimpse of winter finches and other cold-loving species.
Birding skills inevitably improve with experience. More time in the field provides more opportunity to see field marks from different perspectives and to hear different songs and calls. With experience, advanced birders can identify birds flying far overhead with just a glace – a feat that often seems impossible to new birders.
But birders of all ages and skill levels are able enjoy the hobby. The youngest birder on the Leetown USGS trip was nine-year-old Tad, who was accompanied by his mother, Christy. Tad’s favorite bird is the Bald Eagle, which, once endangered, has become surprisingly common in this area. In fact, it is now a simple matter to determine how common or uncommon a bird is in a given area at any time. Digital and online resources, especially eBird (www.ebird.org), have revolutionized bird sighting and reporting. By entering a few easy to input parameters, any eBird user can determine what birds he or she can expect to see at a specific site. It was the group’s good luck, on that particular day, to see Tad’s favorite bird soar over the USGS fish ponds.
The ability to aggregate and manage bird sightings provides valuable data for scientists and conservationists who use the data to determine the health of different bird populations in different areas. West Virginia’s species list currently stands at 364 according to eBird. That means that eBird users have recorded 364 different species of birds in the state. That number includes birds that make their home in West Virginia throughout the year, such as the familiar Northern Cardinal, and also birds that have only been recorded in the state once, such as the Great Knot, a small sandpiper-like bird that generally lives thousands of miles away.
Virginia – with available ocean habitat that attracts additional species of birds – has hosted a recorded 478 different species according to eBird. However, individual state ornithological societies generally determine whether a given sighting should be officially accepted. It is often difficult to identify certain species of birds, and it is easy for an inexperienced birder to mistake an oddly plumaged common bird for a much rarer species. Truly rare species frequently draw crowds of birders from around the country seeking to add that species to their lists.
The ability to so easily record and share data naturally fosters good-natured competition. Almost annually now, a few intrepid birders set out to do “a big year” – an attempt to record as many species as possible in the American Birding Association area (basically North America north of Mexico, and now including Hawaii) in a single year. Although these records inevitably change as new species are added or subtracted based on the latest scientific findings, the current record holder is John Weigel who recorded an incredible 835 species in 2016, a year he described elsewhere as “a year of airports, flights, rental cars and motels.”
From big years to the casual backyard feeder watching, birding provides a variety of opportunities for all levels of interest. Sources suggest that there are between 40-60 million birdwatchers in the United States alone. Around this time of year, many birders look forward the Audubon Society’s nationwide Christmas Bird Count. The Christmas Bird Count has been a tradition since 1900 when a few conservation-minded individuals sought to change what had been an annual Christmas bird hunt into something less lethal: merely counting the birds. Now, according to the Audubon website, “each year tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, or rain, and take part in the effort” which “provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.”
For those who have never tried it before, there is no right or wrong way to begin birding. Even without binoculars, birding opportunities are everywhere. Next time you find yourself outdoors, just look up, and you might be surprised by how many different birds you see.
For those interested in learning more about birding, the PVAS website, https://www.potomacaudubon.org/, provides information on local birding activities as well as links to other birding resources.
by Alex A. Tsiatsos
On a cold and windy Saturday in November, fifteen people arrived at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Fish Health Lab in Leetown, West Virginia at 7:30 in the morning.
After an introductory huddle, the group started moving along trails through the still-vibrant foliage, past large, quiet ponds and ultimately into the deep, reedy recesses of the property’s hidden watercourses.
“There!” someone shouted, and, in an instant, fifteen pairs of binoculars searched for a small brown bird darting among the cattails and low shrubs. “Song Sparrow?” asked one member of the group. “I think it was a Swamp Sparrow,” said another, and the matter was settled by comparing illustrations in ready at hand field guides.
That wasn’t the first time that field guides made an appearance that day. An American Black Duck with an unusual bill also temporarily stumped the participants. But because undisturbed ducks meander leisurely compared with ever-nervous sparrows, the group was able to set up a spotting scope to allow magnified looks at this uncommon, inconspicuous bird – a species that most people rarely notice.
Finding uncommon birds hiding in unexpected places is one of the great joys of birding – an activity which used to be called “birdwatching,” still an acceptable term, but one that has fallen into disfavor in part because of its passive connotations. And, truthfully, birding on that particular morning was anything but passive. The group trekked across miles of cold, wet terrain, up and down hills and through muddy passes to try to tally as many different birds as possible. In fact, those without appropriate footwear (specifically, this author) had trouble keeping up.
The trip was organized by the Potomac Valley Audubon Society (PVAS). Christine Densmore, a USGS Veterinary Medical Officer, graciously chaperoned the group on the federal site. While the primary purpose of the Leetown USGS facility is to study and promote fish health, its expansive grounds, filled with ponds and other bird-friendly environments, makes it an ideal location for birding.
PVAS host trips to different locations throughout the year. Trips in the spring, when songbirds in technicolor plumage migrate through the treetops like little, flying jewels, are especially popular. The outings are usually open to all members of the public (provided they reserve a space) and, on this particular day, the group featured birders of all ages and experience levels. The group’s friendly and knowledgeable leader Beth Poole, a PVAS volunteer, is a retired teacher who took up birding approximately ten years ago. She credits her mother, who used to watch the birds that came to the family bird feeder, for sparking her own interest in birding. Throughout the trip, Poole carefully recorded everyone’s sightings, helped members locate birds that not everyone could easily see, and congratulated other members on finding new birds for that day’s tally.
Each birder’s personal history with the hobby is different. Paul Saffold, a Berkeley County resident, has been a birdwatcher since the mid-1970s. He enjoys birdwatching almost anywhere, often finding a noteworthy variety of species in his own backyard. “We have a small waterfall which is a real bird magnet and numerous flower beds with a variety of shrubs and flowers that attract birds and butterflies.”
Saffold also notes another attractive aspect of birding: its relatively low entrance cost. “A pair of binoculars and a field guide or app are enough to get started,” Saffold said. While high end birding optics can cost thousands of dollars, very good, starter binoculars – more than enough for most birding purposes – can be found for under $200. And, if properly cared for, they last a lifetime.
Another member of the group that morning, William Telfair, has a PhD in physics and has designed laser surgical equipment. Reflecting on his birding experience, Telfair said “I grew up next to an Ornithologist and was birding from 6 to 18. I dropped out of birding during school and career until I was 50. I then discovered that I had been photographing birds all my life.” Like most other birders, Telfair enjoys being in nature. “If you enjoy nature and wildlife, then try it.”
Telfair has taken birding trips around the world, and he has managed to find birds that many American birders can only dream of. But he is still in search of a bird that occasionally wanders into West Virginia but that has somehow managed to elude him – the Snowy Owl. Tales of birds that you never quite manage to find – known as “nemesis birds”- are part of the lore of the hobby, like a fisherman’s trophy fish that slips off the hook.
Carol Del-Colle, a retired educator and a longtime, active member of PVAS, always enjoyed spending time outdoors. She dates her interest in birding and nature to her time spent reading Golden Nature and Field Guides while with her grandparents at their property along the Chesapeake Bay. “My grandmother and grandfather used to sit very still holding pieces of peanuts and seed while I would delight in watching the little chickadees and titmice come and take it out of their hands,” Del-Colle states.
Like other birders who provided information for this article, Del-Colle says that “one of the best things about birding is that you can do it almost anywhere and anytime. You can bird from the house, car, boat, etc. A very accessible activity. I love being outside and not knowing exactly what I will see next. Birding is just full of adventure, joyful surprises, beautiful colors, strange and entertaining behaviors, lovely and sometimes unusual sounds.”
Being a member of a larger community of birders is another joy of the hobby. “I love the people I get to meet birding,” Del-Colle said. “They are a great group with whom I can share birding stories, highs and lows, and learn from their knowledge and experience. Building relationships and friendships is a precious outgrowth of being part of a birding community.”
Del-Colle became involved with PVAS a number of years ago when she was still teaching elementary school. “I met the director, Kristin Alexander, and found out what PVAS does and have been a supporter and member ever since. I believe that PVAS and the dedicated members who do so much for bird conservation, land management and environmental education deserve much praise, appreciation and recognition for the wonderful work they do. It is a very professional organization that reaches out in so many ways to the community at large. I am so proud to be part of this fine group of people with whom I have had many positive experiences and have made new and caring friends.”
Del-Colle’s advice to people who become interested in birding is “to find someone who already birds and go out birding with them. If someone doesn’t already know a person who is a birder, then they may want to find out about their local Audubon chapter and join, or go on a bird walk just to try it out and meet people who can answer their questions. Birders love to talk about birds and are usually more than willing to take a new person under their ‘wings’ to help them along. It is not difficult to get hooked on birding.”
PVAS itself manages four nature preserves: Stauffer’s Marsh and Yankauer in Berkeley County, West Virginia; Cool Spring in Jefferson County, West Virginia and Eidolon in Morgan County, West Virginia. And there are countless other local hotspots for area birding enthusiasts. Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area, along the border of Berkeley and Morgan Counties, hosts a breeding population of a vulnerable species of songbird, the Cerulean Warbler. Telfair notes that “West Virginia has about one-third of the world’s breeding Cerulean Warblers.”
For those willing to be a little more adventurous, the birding possibilities are almost endless. Daytrips to the Chesapeake Bay or Eastern Shore provide opportunities to see gulls, sandpipers and other shorebirds, while driving a few hours north of the region in the right season may provide birders with a glimpse of winter finches and other cold-loving species.
Birding skills inevitably improve with experience. More time in the field provides more opportunity to see field marks from different perspectives and to hear different songs and calls. With experience, advanced birders can identify birds flying far overhead with just a glace – a feat that often seems impossible to new birders.
But birders of all ages and skill levels are able enjoy the hobby. The youngest birder on the Leetown USGS trip was nine-year-old Tad, who was accompanied by his mother, Christy. Tad’s favorite bird is the Bald Eagle, which, once endangered, has become surprisingly common in this area. In fact, it is now a simple matter to determine how common or uncommon a bird is in a given area at any time. Digital and online resources, especially eBird (www.ebird.org), have revolutionized bird sighting and reporting. By entering a few easy to input parameters, any eBird user can determine what birds he or she can expect to see at a specific site. It was the group’s good luck, on that particular day, to see Tad’s favorite bird soar over the USGS fish ponds.
The ability to aggregate and manage bird sightings provides valuable data for scientists and conservationists who use the data to determine the health of different bird populations in different areas. West Virginia’s species list currently stands at 364 according to eBird. That means that eBird users have recorded 364 different species of birds in the state. That number includes birds that make their home in West Virginia throughout the year, such as the familiar Northern Cardinal, and also birds that have only been recorded in the state once, such as the Great Knot, a small sandpiper-like bird that generally lives thousands of miles away.
Virginia – with available ocean habitat that attracts additional species of birds – has hosted a recorded 478 different species according to eBird. However, individual state ornithological societies generally determine whether a given sighting should be officially accepted. It is often difficult to identify certain species of birds, and it is easy for an inexperienced birder to mistake an oddly plumaged common bird for a much rarer species. Truly rare species frequently draw crowds of birders from around the country seeking to add that species to their lists.
The ability to so easily record and share data naturally fosters good-natured competition. Almost annually now, a few intrepid birders set out to do “a big year” – an attempt to record as many species as possible in the American Birding Association area (basically North America north of Mexico, and now including Hawaii) in a single year. Although these records inevitably change as new species are added or subtracted based on the latest scientific findings, the current record holder is John Weigel who recorded an incredible 835 species in 2016, a year he described elsewhere as “a year of airports, flights, rental cars and motels.”
From big years to the casual backyard feeder watching, birding provides a variety of opportunities for all levels of interest. Sources suggest that there are between 40-60 million birdwatchers in the United States alone. Around this time of year, many birders look forward the Audubon Society’s nationwide Christmas Bird Count. The Christmas Bird Count has been a tradition since 1900 when a few conservation-minded individuals sought to change what had been an annual Christmas bird hunt into something less lethal: merely counting the birds. Now, according to the Audubon website, “each year tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, or rain, and take part in the effort” which “provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years.”
For those who have never tried it before, there is no right or wrong way to begin birding. Even without binoculars, birding opportunities are everywhere. Next time you find yourself outdoors, just look up, and you might be surprised by how many different birds you see.
For those interested in learning more about birding, the PVAS website, https://www.potomacaudubon.org/, provides information on local birding activities as well as links to other birding resources.
