Lots of birders enjoy keeping lists of all the birds they see. The most common is a ‘Year List,’ an annual tally that starts with a purposeful birding effort on January 1 and continues throughout the year until the ball drops. Also popular is the ‘Yard List,’ which celebrates the wonders that appear right out the window and can be greatly impacted by gardening for wildlife. There are also car lists, concert lists, stadium lists, etc. You get the idea.
When I think of bird lists, I can’t help but think of Tom Parsons, who arrived in Cape May in 1992 as a retired zoology professor from the University of Toronto and was soon a fixture in the birding community. He walked Cape May Point just about every day – he had to! He did not have nor did he want a U.S. driver’s license after moving from Canada. When walking became more difficult, he scooted around the streets in a motorized wheelchair. It helped that he lived fairly close to the Hawkwatch Platform, where he could easily find others who shared his passion.
He was never without his binoculars. And when I say never, I mean when asked if he’d like to remove them during a dinner party, he would politely decline, even though he was inside and it was dark outside. Most likely, he just didn’t want to misplace them. That was Tom.
Tom died in 2011; having kept meticulous records of every species he encountered over his years in Cape May. Not just lists of bird names, but a line or two or three about each one: noting if they were likely to be the same birds as seen the day before or new arrivals; if it was the first of that species he’d seen that year; or perhaps an unusual behavior of some kind. His commitment was truly remarkable, and his records are quite valuable thanks to his consistency and his insights.
Fast forward to today, and YOU can keep track of all the birds you see using a free mobile app called eBird, developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Launched in 2002, eBird is among the world’s largest biodiversity-related science projects, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed annually by eBirders around the world.
I recommend you begin by visiting the eBird website, ebird.org, to get the lay of the land. Watch the brief tutorials, which are very user friendly. Click on Explore and you can type in a species, to see if it’s being seen nearby, or chose a location and see what’s being seen there. For example, if you type in New Jersey. Wow! 381 species have been identified by over 9,700 observers so far in 2024! Right now, the individual who has seen the most has counted 337 species and there are still a few weeks to go! Species locations are provided with some precision, so there’s a wealth of information to get you excited about your next adventure.
Now, go to your app store and download eBird to join the fun. The app will determine your location and advise which set of species to download – the “New Jersey” pack for those of us in New Jersey, because you don’t need your phone to hold every species on the planet.
Do your best to follow the instructions in the tutorial, allowing eBird to track your location as you identify birds and type in the number of individuals you are observing, and making sure to submit your lists throughout the day. Not only are you counting birds, but you’re making your birds count as part of a massive global citizen science effort. By the way, eBird also has a global network of reviewers, so if someone in New Jersey says they saw a bird typically found in Sri Lanka, the reviewers will leap into action. And quickly, because stranger things have happened and birders will FLOCK to a confirmed rarity.
Need help identifying birds? The best way to learn is to be out in the field with experts. New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory offers programs throughout the year with helpful guides to get you on the birds and provide insights about their behavior. Most field trips are two hours and around here it’s mostly walking on flat terrain. You may be surprised how much you can learn very quickly with our experts by your side.
Also helpful is another Cornell Lab free birding app called Merlin ID. Hit the “Sound” button and the app will listen for bird song and begin listing the species on the screen. It’s a great tool for new birders because it’s a huge help just to know what you’re looking for!
Back to Tom Parson’s archives, CMBO has begun adding Tom’s sightings to the eBird database and it’s a project that will likely take years to complete. But how extraordinary to have a centralized database that has the potential to hold data from nearly twenty years before it was launched. Other folks around the country and the world are making similar efforts to save valuable data from years past. You can contribute, too. You’ve got some time to practice on eBird and Merlin ID and by January 1, 2025 you’ll be off and running, er, birding.
Happy New Bird Year!
