If one were to draw a distinction between birders and bird watchers — and I don’t necessarily agree that such a separation must be devised — a clear divide between the camps would be a love of listing. The general consensus is that birding and listing, like Snow Buntings and Horned Larks feeding on a frost-bitten field, go hand in hand. And I have always considered myself a lover of lists. Yet as the Ides of March approach, the inkling I had back in January has solidified into a fully-formed actuality…
I am not keeping a 2010 year list.
Yikes! I think Corey just fell down dead, simply so he could roll over in his grave. Some out there may be murmuring whispers of heresy or apostasy while others are more likely nursing smirks. Before I get consigned to the “seagull” table and stripped of my Sibley Guide, allow me to explain my uncharacteristic reticence to record this year’s sightings.
Yes, I kept a year list in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. And yes, I’m watching birds in 2010 as well. In fact, I expect this to be my most prolific year in terms of species count yet. The problem is that I just don’t have time to record my sightings. My life list, of course, will remain current, though the version on this blog is woefully out of date. Careful tabulation of when I saw my first Common Grackle of the season, however, must give way to more pressing matters, like actually going out to see said grackles!
I’ve not lost the passion for phenological observations nor am I impugning the keeping of a year list, an act that often enhances encounters with typical birds the way salt seasons french fries. This year, however, I’ll have to savor my seasonal species for their own sakes. New species, on the other hand, will be added to my life list with all due reverence and alacrity!
Are you keeping a 2010 year list? If so, why? If not, why not?
Another remarkable bird that won’t make my year list!
Wash your mouth out with soap!
As a gambling man, I’m betting that by November you know exactly how many species you’ve seen in 2010.
Yes, I’m keeping a year list. I keep month lists too – these are actually more important here in Cyprus, I think. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not seeking to be competitive this year.
I’m just trying to contribute to the records gathered here in this country. There aren’t a lot of birders here, so as much info about how many and which birds are seen when and where is helpful for conservation purposes. That, and it’s useful to know from my own records when and where I’ve seen certain birds in the past, so I can show them to newbies when asked! 😉
Allow me to second the suggestion of eBird. It does it for you. No fuss, no muss, and a nice tally at the end of the year regardless of how seriously you pursue it.
I will third the eBird suggestion. I often-but-not-always keep a list on a birding trip, which can be a walk around the yard, a day-trip to a national wildlife refuge. A couple of minutes uploading it into eBird and I’m done, then, *if* I’m interested in checking numbers, the info is there.
More interesting to me is the info gained and archived relating to arrival/departure dates, high counts, zero counts (like, where is our local saw-whet owl this year??), new birds, irruptive birds . . . and eBird lets me track all of that!
-Mike
Well, to go against the prevailing opinion, I applaud your decision to not keep a year list. While I certainly enter new species, and try to highlight sightings of birds I’ve only seed once or twice, I have found a lot of pleasure in just relaxing and enjoying the birds I see. It doesn’t matter if I’ve seen it this year, or last year, or even every year since I started birding.
Instead of tallying numbers and sightings, I’ve started to really look at the birds in front of me. As a result, I have a new appreciation for the blue on a mallard’s wings, the intelligence of crows, and the song of a house finch.
After your experiment, I’m curious to see if you decide to keep a list for 2011.
I only keep a life list these days. I used to keep yard lists, patch lists and year lists but these are too time consuming.
Well, I love lists, and I keep various bird lists (I do mine in Birdstack), but I don’t really consider myself a birder since I use that term for people who really know what they’re doing! I love watching birds, I love identifying new ones, and I love when I find a new one for my life list. (I do the same thing with wildflowers.) I’ve never studied ornithology, though I first got interested in birdwatching when my daughter took college Biology 101 from an ornithologist and I helped her fill out a bird checklist so she would pass the class. Occasionally, I have a wee bit of a persecution complex because I think real birders look down their noses at birdwatchers like me, but then, I enjoy birdwatching so much I get over it and carry on.
I have a rocky relationship with listing. Lets be honest, most birders know very very little about the birds they are actually looking at. Listing places birds on a ranking (seen it, or not seen it) and in many cases reduces them to ticks on a paper. This is not to say that listing is a bad thing ( I love my lists when I take them), but just that we birders need to realize the limits and usefulness of lists. Having a nice list says very little about your observational skills as a birder, but more about your ability to form perceptual categories. Therefore listers are GREAT perceptual learners, but may not be the best observers. Some of the most astute observers of behavior I have encountered barley leave their backyard but know every bird in a 10 mile radius. As an developmental ethologist, I know that it takes countless hours to observe and understand even a single species behavior, and that the amount of individual variation is overwhelming. Therefore along with listing we should allow time for careful disciplined observation of behavior as well.
I only kept lists in pen and never knew my life “count” until eBird. Now, I know exactly when, where, how many and with whom I saw each species and it’s soooo easy. Get on eBird Mike!
Well, I also don’t necessarily agree that a separation must be devised between people who enjoy looking at birds. According to the definition you mentioned I’d be more in the bird watching camp than the birder camp, as the only list I’ve ever kept is my life list. No country lists, no state lists, no year list, no yard list etc.
Well, I once kept an office window list, but that was just out of desperation.
And worse still, I don’t even know exactly how many species there are on my life list. The only list I am very aware of is the list of birds I haven’t seen yet. Which likely is the most painful list one may “keep”.
So, frankly Mike, I fail to see the big deal in not keeping a year list as long as you keep on looking at birds whenever possible, and thus have full sympathy for your decision.
Just Rock on and let the birds do the Rollin’, best symbiosis in the world!
I think I am keeping a list this year, at least I’ve started one. The only list I really prefer to keep and the only one I thnk of as important is the one where I record the birds around my mountain–when they arrive, when they leave, what the numbers of each species are. I view any other list as just something to play with, one that can easily be given up. I guess that makes me more of a phenologist than a lister, but so be it. Competitive birding has never appealed to me all that much.
I believe birders can play a great role in understanding bird populations and how they vary, in tracking and recording fluctuations in bird ranges throughout the years and decades, but for the work to be important, you must treat your own local patch much like a breeding bird atlasing project–one that lasts all year long. I’ve reached the point where I don’t want to leave the mountain to go birding elsewhere if I think I’m going to miss something good at home. And truthfully, I don’t think there’s much skill involved in driving or flying someplace to see a bird someone else has already found for you. The only advantage to doing that comes when seeing that bird helps you ID it if it shows up on your own patch. I bird every day, but I usually never leave the cabin area, and I rarely get in my car to go birding.
Carolyn H.
Mike, welcome to my side of the camp. Unless you’re keeping a Year List that will be of conservation importance I think that many of us birders could live without keeping one and the world will be none the poorer. I have no problem whatsoever with anyone keeping one incidentally (and never will) but I doubt I’ll ever keep one again. I’ll be keeping a Great Chalfield list as it contributes to what I know about the estate, but otherwise I’m just not bothered…in fact, it’s quite a relief when you forego the competitive side of birding and just slow down and enjoy. But that’s just my opinion 🙂
Its too bad listing is often associated with competition and with no regard for appreciation. I often go birding with birders of various skill levels and keep lists for the benefit of the group. No one is competing, just enjoying every sighting as much as the next.
I concur with those promoting the value of Ebird. More importantly than keeping a list for you, its non-stop citizen science data collection. Drop your bird sightings on Ebird. If 3 years from now you get curious about what happened in 2010, you’ll be able to access your sightings without ever worrying about a list.
Hi
I have just started Bird watching and the only list Im keeping is for myself realy .
I dident know there were so meny diffrent lists to keep and have never heard of Ebird.
Im from the Northeast of Scotland so there are plenty round about where I live to watch . Be it sea watching or up in the hills or along the rivers.
By the way I have found this site fantastic and a welth of info for me
Thanks and happy birding folks!
AL
I’ve never kept a list, but I’ve only become really bird-oriented in the last couple of years.
I have no interest in a life-list, but I could see keeping a list of what I see around my home. Actually, a lot of that ends up in my blog anyway, but it’s not a scrupulous thing. I see a lot of earlier commenters have mentioned ebird. I’ll look into that, but even it may be too structured for me.
It looks as if you have plenty of support and good advise here Mike. eBird is a fantastic resource although I still haven’t taken the time to enter my sightings. Maybe I will start tomorrow and see how it goes?
I must concur with Jochen in that I don’t know how many birds are on my life list although I usually keep track of the birds I observe on any group outing. I always celebrate a lifer when I encounter one but the actual observation and learning of the bird’s behavior is the high point of my birding adventures. I actually feel sorry for “birders” who only travel to see a bird for an instant, check it off on a list, and go on to the next species.
You may want to take bits of all the advise here. Enter your data on eBird after each and every outing, then ignore it for the year OR don’t keep a list this year at all and see how much fun it really is not having to do the paperwork 😉 I guess that would be Charlie’s advise.
Thanks for the tips, everyone. Let me point out that, unlike many of you, I absolutely love jetting off to see new birds, even when I can only catch brief glimpses of my target species. My bias should be apparent; this site is named 10,000 Birds after all!
As far as eBird and Birdstack go, I have enormous respect for (and accounts on) both. Yet I still can’t find the time to regularly report my sightings. I believe I need a list caddy or a valet.
I love the vision of someone trailing around behind you, perhaps jotting sightings into a PDA and pulling optics out of a trolley. “I believe you’ll want the 10x42s for this one. But beware of the wind veering from the right.”