The World Series of Birding: Reviewed

On Saturday, May 9th, three of my fellow students and I participated in the World Series of Birding. If you're not familiar with the event, it is a race across the state of New Jersey to see or hear as many birds as you can within 24 hours (from midnight to midnight). The event raises a huge amount of money for conservation, whether it is for the Audubon Society or for another worthy cause. We decided to raise money for our graduate student association, the EcoGSA (Ecology & Evolution Graduate Student Association). The EcoGSA provides students with valuable opportunities to present seminars and assists them monetarily so that they are able to attend conferences and put together research projects. Students also help maintain valuable habitat around the state.

To find out more about our WSB team, The Scarlet Knight-Herons, check out our blog at http://knightherons.blogspot.com. The most recent post is an in-depth rundown of the route we took during the event and includes many of the birds we saw along the way.

Here I want to talk a little bit more about the personal experience I had while participating in the World Series of Birding. A cynic might say that the event isn't birding at all, and that it's really just identifying birds as quickly as you can and moving along. Well, on the surface that's probably true. We've already discussed tightening up our route next year so we can see more birds in less time. And it was tough to run away from a singing Golden-Winged Warbler that we couldn't get a look at, or ignore a gargantuan pod of dolphins at Cape May Point (I'm aware dolphins aren't birds but it's still pretty damn cool seeing so many of them so close to shore). We heard some fantastic birds that I've never even seen before, like Cerulean Warbler and Cape May Warbler. Thanks to some birding CDs I'm able to identify them by song, but it felt odd to hoof it back to the car without even trying to catch a glimpse.

If you delve a little bit deeper, though, I think you can get much more out of the event. For one thing, some of the settings you find yourself in are pretty incredible. Sitting at Jake's Landing at 10 p.m. while waiting (and failing) to hear Black Rail, we were surrounded by Clapper Rails and Marsh Wrens vocalizing wildly. In the distance we heard Common Nighthawk, Chuck-Will's-Widow, and Whip-Poor-Will. About 17 hours earlier we stood on the top of Vesper Hill, just as some light was starting to materialize in the haze of early morning, and were hit with a wall of bird song. It was truly an awesome experience. You could pick out individual birds - a wood thrush over there, a cardinal over here - but your senses were almost overwhelmed with how many birds were singing all at once. Later in the day while driving down the Parkway, I could still hear that intense dawn chorus repeating in my head.

While you may not get to appreciate some of the birds in the way that you would like to, seriously competing in this event brings you to the best spots in the state (and even in the country) to see birds. We had a Merlin fly right over our heads only minutes before finding a Least Bittern at Brigantine's Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. At Cape May Point we observed two Parasitic Jaegers in The Rips, drove for two minutes to the Meadows, and saw both Tri-Colored Heron and Little Blue Heron. In the north we ended up standing in the road observing a swarm of migrating warblers flying overhead, often landing in trees long enough for us to do our thing. We pushed through the forest, collecting ticks and spiders, and were rewarded with a calling Barred Owl. A serious week of birding probably won't produce some of the things you'll see and hear during the WSB.

On a broader scale, it shows us just how many species of birds there really are in this relatively small and densely populated state. The fact that 269 species of birds were seen the day of the event is really spectacular. Most people (non-birders) I talk to about the event don't believe me when I tell them that I saw and/or heard 178 species on Saturday. There can't be that many different species in New Jersey, can there?

The World Series of Birding is certainly a novel approach to the activity, whether one considers it "birding" or not. It's a different way to step into the natural world, to be in awe of the pure numbers of birds out there, and to immerse yourself in the variety of habitats New Jersey offers to try and find them. The WSB is also a powerful tool for raising both awareness and money for conservation, so please help spread the word when next spring rolls around!

I want to thank everyone who supported us and donated to the EcoGSA. Thanks to River Horse Brewery for their unofficial sponsorship of free beer and t-shirts, and thanks to the birding community as a whole for helping to scout out the state and raise awareness for various conservation efforts. Thanks to Tom Reed and family for giving us a place to sleep when we needed it so desperately. And thanks most importantly to my teammates: Charlie Kontos, David LaPuma, and team captain Brian Clough. Whether we were keeping each other sane or embracing the delirium that comes with 40 straight hours without sleep, we were having a blast. Can't wait until next year!

Bird Walk at Helyar Woods

This morning I helped lead a bird walk through Helyar Woods (adjacent to Rutgers Gardens) with a fellow graduate student, Charlie Kontos.  We led a group of 15-20 people from the Potting Shed around the trails of Helyar before re-emerging near the Log Cabin.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, especially around 10am before the heat really started to kick in.

Before even beginning the tour, we heard a Carolina Chickadee singing and quickly spotted the tiny bird darting around from branch to branch.  The Black-Capped Chickadee and Carolina Chickadee are tough to distinguish, and you really need to hear their song to be 100% certain...and even then, they hybridize where their ranges meet (namely, in New Jersey) so it's tough to tell what you're really looking at.  This bird was singing the main song of the Carolina Chickadee, though, so it was neat to show people the difference (as we heard plenty of Black-Capped Chickadees throughout the day) even if this particular bird happened to be a hybrid.

Early on we spotted a female Eastern Towhee along with an abundance of Chipping Sparrows.  White-Throated Sparrows and Song Sparrows darted about the edge of the forest.  As we started walking along the main trail we could hear a Carolina Wren singing in the distance.  We could also hear the hum of cars and trucks on Route 1, but alas, that's birding in central Jersey.  A Scarlet Tanager gave us a nice surprise, as did a few Great Crested Flycatchers.  There were Yellow-Rumped Warblers everywhere, and earlier in the day we picked up a few Palm Warblers mixed in with them.  

As we came to the edge of the lake, we were excited to see two Wood Ducks swimming off in the distance.  American Goldfinches were singing and flitting about the rest of the way back to the entrance to the woods.  We walked along the forest edge back to the Potting Shed and added Hermit Thrush, House Finch, Downy Woodpecker, and Red-Bellied Woodpecker to our list for the day.

It was a great way to celebrate Rutgers Day, get out and breath some fresh air, and get people excited about birds and the outdoors.  On our way back we passed a wildflower tour and a salamander walk beginning.  See what you're missing?  These happen every year for Ag Field Day (now included in the all-encompassing Rutgers Day), so make sure to check it out next spring!

Piping Plover Pics

Got some cool news this morning from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology - two of my photographs of Piping Plovers were chosen to be used on their site, All About Birds. If you check out the "similar species" photographs in the bottom-right corner of the page, the first two were taken by yours truly! They also were kind enough to link to my Flickr page (which is on the right-hand side of this page as well).

The site is a great resource for birders, offering not only the usual range map and identification information, but also song recordings, extensive life history traits, cool facts, and even video recordings of the species! Check it out at the above link.

Photograph by Bill Lynch (c) 2007

Photograph by Bill Lynch (c) 2007

The last few weeks have kept me more than a little busy with work and school. I have an exhaustive literature review due in one week, and then a grade-deciding final the week after that. The day after the final, our World Series of Birding team, The Scarlet Knight Herons (check out our blog @ http://knightherons.blogspot.com ), will be participating in the big event. It should be an interesting few weeks to say the least! Starting in mid-May, though, I plan to update NJ Outdoors much more regularly. Weekly species highlights are in the works, as are interviews with conservationists throughout the state. Stay tuned!

The Scarlet Knight Herons

For those who aren't aware, some of my fellow graduate students and I are participating in the World Series of Birding this year to help raise money for our GSA (Graduate Student Association). To find out more about the Ecology & Evolution program's GSA, check out the blog we've created to help raise awareness for our fund-raising cause - http://knightherons.blogspot.com/

Another fellow grad student, Dom D'Amore, has been kind enough to lend us his creative abilities. He's turned the team into cartoons!

Please pass on our blog to anyone who might be interested in our WSB efforts to raise money for an important part of New Jersey's scientific community. Thanks everyone!

Vote for New Jersey!

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey has been selected as a finalist to win $50,000 for a habitat restoration project in Cape May County!  With a win, they will be able to create over 20 acres of valuable habitat for migratory songbirds and other wildlife.  The contest is decided by public voting, so please head to http://www.blazethetrail.com/greatoutdoors/vote and vote!  You can also text CONSERVE to 39668.  

You can vote each day between now and May 31st on both the website and through text message.  Help New Jersey gain more important habitat!  Thanks, everyone.

State of the Birds

More than 800 species of birds inhabit the United States, in places as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, Florida, and everything in between. Among these species, there are 67 federally endangered or threatened birds and 184 birds of conservation concern. This listing could be due to declining population numbers, small distributions, and/or high threats.

To help shed some light on the state of our country's birds, a variety of organizations (including but not limited to The Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, The American Bird Conservancy, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, US Fish & Wildlife Service, USGS, and others) have compiled statistics spanning 40 years. In this comprehensive report, The State of the Birds looks at the past trends and current situations of bird populations that reside in each of the major habitat types.

The report expresses a specific concern on Hawaiian bird populations, noting that 71 species have gone extinct since humans colonized the islands and at least 10 more species have not been seen in as long as 40 years (draw your own conclusions here, but that sounds like 81 extinct species to me). Many surviving populations are on the verge of extinction and without swift conservation measures these birds may be headed for the history books.

Photograph by Johnida Dockens (c) 2000

Check out the full report at http://www.stateofthebirds.org/ - some of the numbers will shock you, but there is also a ray of hope. There have been successful management strategies for a number of species. The Bald Eagle, the Peregrine Falcon, and the Osprey have all rebounded from the brink. Other species including certain waterfowl populations have increased thanks to focused conservation measures. There is still a chance for the other imperiled birds, but that chance becomes smaller and smaller the longer people wait to act.

Birding for Beginners

The Bergen County Audubon Society will partner with the Meadowlands Commission to host "Birding for Beginners" on Sunday, March 29th from 1pm-3pm. The event will take place at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, NJ. There will be experts there to help those interested learn about optics, how to identify birds, and more. Everyone will then head outside to use their new skills. Registration is required, however the event is free to all. If interested please contact Don Torino, Bergen County Audubon Society, at 201-636-4022 or email him at greatauk4@aol.com

Check out the Bergen County Audubon page as well as the Meadowlands Commission site.