My friend Kerry is a budding birder. We have had some low intensity birding outings, she owns binoculars 
and a field guide, and she sees and tries to identify birds that she sees in her everyday life. When she recently asked me if I would be up for a birding outing together so that she could get some assistance identifying all the little brown jobs that seem to be 90% of the birds of autumn I was pretty excited. After all, turning someone who is already a friend into a birder is nearly impossible. I imagine it is as difficult as convincing someone to believe in a religion but without paradise to dangle in front of the poor sap as a reward.
We decided on Central Park for our outing and then I asked what time she wanted to meet. “Eleven,” she replied.
“Eleven! There are no birds at eleven! And the park will be crawling with tourists talking about cute furry animals! We have to get out there by dawn at the latest,” was my reasonable reply.
“Dawn!” Kerry screamed in horror, “Dawn! That is insane. You are nuts!”
“Fine, 8 AM then, but no later,” I said, having played this game before with both novice and non-birders alike, “If we go any later the birds will be much more difficult to see.”
“Why don’t you go as early as you want and I will text you when I get to the park?” Kerry inquired.
That was actually a pretty good idea, so we two residents of Queens made our separate ways to Central Park on Sunday morning and I spotted several more species then Kerry did that were simply not around by the time she arrived. Birds like White-crowned Sparrows which tend not to like people too close, the Winter Wren up above that was actively foraging along the base of a building that I would never have noticed if the walkways were crowded with tourists, and a couple of Blackpoll Warblers that could not be refound later in the day. When I told her about the sightings, however, Kerry didn’t seem to mind having missed them. In fact, she seemed completely unfazed, to say nothing of well-rested. How odd. It must be because she is not really a birder yet, right?
To me one of the best parts about birding is seeing, understanding, and experiencing things that most people don’t. Being a birder is being part of an exclusive club that anyone can join, the field-glass fraternity if you will forgive the use of a well-worn phrase. One of the things that birders get to experience is the early morning when only golfers, dog-walkers, joggers, and birders are out and about (and revelers left over from the night before but they tend not to notice much). Seeing the sky lighten and pinken and hearing the dawn chorus and knowing that the vast majority of one’s fellow humans in the area are completely unaware of the beauty one is experiencing is a big chunk of what it means to be a birder (at least to me).
But Kerry slept in and she still saw some pretty good birds. Sure, the Wood Ducks that I spotted swimming in the middle of the lake were now tucked up against the shore. And Kerry didn’t get to see every single species that I did. But she seemed perfectly pleased with our outing despite missing the early morning sunlight and the less-crowded park. So, and this brings me to the central point of this post, can one perpetually sleep in and still be a birder? Or is seeing the sunrise at least once a week a prerequisite for our cozy little club? Do we welcome the lazy birders or cast them out, forcing them to take up activities for which the time of day matters little, like, say, scrapbooking? Can Kerry become a birder if she is a lazy layabout? See you in the comments…
a Hermit Thrush that both Kerry and I saw
…
I’m a lazy birder. For example: although Sharp-tailed Sandpiper shows up regularly in fall where I live, I hadn’t ever got it on my life list. Well, this fall there were several reported in various places. So eventually after one had been reported in the same place for about two weeks, I decided I should go and “chase” it.
So I got to the place where it had been reported. There were about a thousand dowitchers there so I asked if anybody had seen the bird lately. “Oh yeah, it’s around here somewhere, but everybody is on the far side of the pond looking at the Wood Sandpiper” was the answer I got.
I did find the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, and then I walked around the pond and pointed my binoculars in the same direction as everybody else. Wood Sandpiper. Two lifers in one day in my home territory. So sometimes laziness works.
(But usually it doesn’t. Don’t trust anecdotal reports. Like this one.)
Paul, I had a similar situation with some shorebirds once (though I was only lazy for a day).
I’m definitely a lazy layabout myself. I’m biologically a night-owl; if left to my own schedule I gradually slip into a routine of rising about 2.5 hours after the sun, regardless of when I go to bed. Unfortunately, that does mean missing the best birding hours. I’ll make the sacrifice to set my alarm and get up early if it’s for someone else (for instance, if I’m banding/ringing, or doing surveys for an organization, or something of that nature) but simply for my own enjoyment I very rarely manage to get up and go out early. And yet, I don’t find myself too upset over missing things. I think that being a birder is less about your drive to tally up species or see as much as you can, and more about appreciating what you do see when you do go out.
As a life-long insomniac I can certainly understand the allure of sleeping in (if you can). And I’m a fairly laid back birder who often rises late. I agree entirely with Seabrooke above. Birding is about enjoying what you do when you do it, there is no correct way to do it. Personally I am usually a chronic underachiever in species counts. But I still enjoy myself immensely.
As for seeing things no one else does, I find I can easily do this even in the middle of the day. People walk by amazing things in blissful ignorance.
Precisely one of the reasons I like shorebirds so much: they don’t care what time you show up at the mudflat. I love being up early, just hate getting up early.
Seabrooke said: “I think that being a birder is less about your drive to tally up species or see as much as you can, and more about appreciating what you do see when you do go out.”
And I agree wholeheartedly. But you do get to appreciate much more when you are up and about very early in the morning. Also, I have been told that to learn the birds you have to think like a bird and birds seem to think getting up early is where it is at.
Granted, I need my coffee, but I actually enjoy getting up early. And now I’m getting the feeling that I am in the extreme minority, even among birders!
Rick, you nailed it! When I do actually manage to get up early I love those first, fresh hours and I wonder why I don’t get up early more often. Then I remember the effort it takes to actually make it happen.
Corey, I don’t think you’re in the minority; I just think us lazy birders felt the need to speak up and defend our habits, while the early birds had less to say. 🙂
Either that or the early birds (at least here on the U.S. east coast) are already asleep and will be commenting early in the morning?
I agree with Kerry…getting up, or rather being there at the crack of dawn is just too much. No can do. That’s why I shy away from attending many walks. However, I know it would not kill me to give it a try one time. I never did take into account how too many people would have certains birds impossible to find. I just thought, that I see birds all the time…during “normal” hours…why isn’t that good enough. I enjoy seeing birds and watching them as I go about my day and how people passing by, don’t even notice them. They don’t notice the young babies begging for food on the side walk. They don’t see the woodpecker pecking away, right above their heads. And they don’t see parent birds, fleeting in and out of a cavity to feed their babies. That’s the fun part about birding during “normal” hours. It’s like knowing these little secrets that are out in the open.
Tucson Audubon for a while at least was giving free “Birding for Lazybones” tours, starting at 9:00 am or so. Me, I just moved north where the sun isn’t up ’til then anyway.
A person who loves birds is a birder no matter when and where, but I agree that birding as the sun comes up sure has its rewards!
I have never been a morning person. 7+ years of birding hasn’t really changed that. It’s really hard to get up early for field trips, and nearly impossible if I’m birding on my own.
I used to think I was about the only birder who was this way. Then I read that Roger Tory Peterson himself wasn’t a morning person, and I figured I was in good company.
In fact, yesterday morning I took Alison to her office, then had to stand around in the dark for about half an hour before anything started to chip. I feel sorry for birders on the equator, who have to get up before 6:00 every day of the year!
There’s the great story about Peterson refusing to get out of bed when he was sharing a house with a bunch of early-rising birders; when they returned, he’d tallied just as many species from his pillow as they had on the beach. If I remember the story right, he claims to have opened his eyes only once, when a flock of Whimbrels passed his window.
I am now a lazy birder. I chased the Rufous Hummingbird recently at 11am. How about that!
Then again, since someone (not going to say who, Corey) moved to New York, haven’t had anyone to motivate me out of bed at those unearthly hours, especially in winter.
My wife has a sleep disorder that makes her want to sleep until about noon regardless of when she went to bed. But for her meds to work well it’s best for her to be up at dawn regularly. Of course she NEVER actually did that until we started birding seriously a couple years ago. So doctor’s orders couldn’t get her up and eating breakfast on a warm sofa at 7:00, but birds will have her up and standing in freezing rain before dawn because it’s duck migration time in Michigan. Which reminds me, we should really be in bed…
That’s the beauty of hawk watching in the fall–the thermals don’t start until late morning!
I hate getting up in the dark–that’s not to say that I won’t do it, but there’s a good five minutes before the hypothalamus kicks where I hate myself and ask why the hell I am that interested in birds…and that perhaps I need psychological help.
You don’t have to be up and out at dawn to see birds, but it helps if you want to hear them. Birdsong always seem to be more intense just as the sun rises. And there is less disturbing noice like traffic and such.
Migrating birds who just rested over night also seem to be early risers so to catch them before they continue their journey it is good to be early. Personally I like to sleep in on the weekend as I have to get up before 6 monday thru friday. I also prefer to be out when the sun is shining. This is one of the reasons why i’m so fond of birds of prey.
Let’s see, it’s now 4:57 am. I have always been an early riser, but birding has intensified my internal “lark,” and I now love dawn the best! The hardest part about birding early is persuading others that a 4:30 am departure is a really good idea.
I pay for it at the other end of the day, though. Thank goodness for DVRs, otherwise, I’d never see anything in prime time.
I do think that we humans are meant to be diurnal. We see poorly at night, and, in more traditional settings, we wake with the sun. Our spirits rise with the dawn, and many proverbs attest, “The Morning is wiser than the Evening. ”
Early birding can work out well with family vacations. You dress in the bathroom, slip out, pre-dawn, leaving the rest of them asleep. You tell them you’ll be back in time for a late brunch or lunch, depending on the birding. Then you surrender to them the afternoon for rounds of antiquing, watching some sports event, or reading at the beach. Only problem in this scenario is nightlife – why ever is it that a club can’t start some bands playing at 6:30 so one can wrap it up at 8:30? Well, in theory this works out well.
I knew reinforcements would arrive in the predawn hours on the U.S. east coast!
Now, while the lazy layabouts are all asleep let’s plot against them…what birds shall we say that they missed today while they were sleeping?
Yellow-crowned Night-herons as no one will ever be able to “re-locate” them (can’t see what doesn’t exist), giving the “pre-dawners” an unbreakable blocker.
Our rule when camping-get out of the tent when you have heard and identified 6 species-if you can’t identify it GET UP IMMEDIATELY!
…being a night owl, I can identify with your friend! I work so hard to reverse my clock, but the night owl always wins out…
You can be a lazy birder where I live (Costa Rica) but you will miss a heck of a lot! The difference between bird activity at 6 and 8 am is massive so you pretty much have to greet the dawn or you will trudging around in the heat and wondering where the birds are.
In addition to more birds, like Corey, I also relish having much of the morning scenery to myself. I would love to share it with the neighbors but only if they arent zipping around on ear shattering motorbikes and 4-wheelers, testing the volume on their radios, or attacking the vegetation on their lawns with weed wackers.
I’ve always been a night-owl – without external constraints, I slip into a routine of going to bed well after midnight and rising well after dawn. So birding at dawn is a bit of a challenge for me. It’s still possible to bird later in the day, especially in the fall and winter when most birds aren’t singing anyway. Waterfowl, herons, shorebirds, and hawks are all active throughout the day, and many songbirds are too. In summer, it’s much harder to sleep in and bird since birds stop singing pretty early and it’s difficult to find them in dense foliage.
My solution is to go birding at a comfortable hour for most of the year and switch to insect watching during the summer.
I’m a nightbird as well and try to avoid early rising as much as possible. Yeah, I know I’m missing the good stuff, especially during the spring. Maybe next year, I’m change my *lazy* ways.
I only start birding early if I’m going with a group, e.g. have to. Good thing I didn’t let this get in the way of my birding in the beginning. My curiosity about birding almost got trumped by my hatred of early mornings.
I guess the lazy can still be birders…they will just miss some birds. Unless they are Roger Tory Peterson, in which case, well, they are obviously a birder!
I still think you all are a bunch of lazy layabouts though. 🙂
Well, I might be late to chime in but I, luckily, have always been an early riser. I love the morning. Watching the sun rise and enjoying the crisp clean fresh smell of the dew on the grass. The birds are all up foraging for food after a long dark night. Once I began photographing birds it became even more important to get up early to catch the morning light.
I am a night time layabout. Once it’s dark out, I don’t do much of anything but work on the computer. Maybe write a blog post or read others and comment on them. If I happen to wake up during the night to the sound of an owl outside my bedroom door, I will get up and stand by the slider, or go out on the porch to listen for awhile. Then it’s back to bed where I will always wake up before the alarm (if I have to set one).
I agree with Susan too. It’s great for visiting relatives or being on vacation. I am the only early bird in my family so I can sneak out in the morning, get in a few quiet hours of birding by myself, and be back to the house, hotel room or whatever, in time for breakfast and usually before most of the others are even up!
@Jochen you will never let that Yellow-crowned Night Heron sleep will you? Wait a minute, I have never seen one either. Hmmm.
It’s hard being a birder and a night owl; how many times have i overslept that “new start” I was going to make as a birder. Guilt, confusion and even remorse. I am so glad i read over all the comments because I realize I’m not alone. There are others like me! And its ok. It’s not a moral issue. Love the birds and enjoy them when you can. That’s what its all about is t it?
I liked your post. I agree a lot when you say “there are no birds at 11”. Afternoon birding to me is less exciting than the morning. There have been many times when I visited a hotspot in the middle of the day to have a humdrum experience. I want to see the most species possible. Of course you can enjoy birds all day long but usually I can get the birding out of the way early in the morning before my non-birding family gets out of bed. I have always got out of bed early though for anything I do -work, running, biking, traveling.