Learning About Our Birds (And Contributing to the Science!)
By Dan Brauning
We connect to the bird world in many ways. The most popular and intimate way is at our bird feeders. For many, curiosity and appreciation of birds that started in our backyards enticed us to know more, to learn bird names, and to experience the diversity of bird life beyond our neighborhood. Since you are reading this column, you have demonstrated a desire to expand your own horizons in the world of birds. Glad you are here!
An interest in birds as a recreational pastime was called “bird-watching”, but since hearing birds is as important as watching, “birding” has grown to be one of the most popular and rapidly growing outdoor pastimes. Birding is fun and intellectually challenging, providing many health benefits.
Modern tools, such as the free Merlin app and related commercial “smart” devices, now help us navigate the complexity of this world, helping us dive deeper and opening the complex world of bird sounds. Who would guess that one of Pennsylvania’s most common birds, the Red-eyed Vireo, can be heard singing from almost every woodlot, although it is hard to see. As we grow in knowledge of birds around us, we can plug into the community of birders through platforms like eBird.org. Contributing our observations expands our enjoyment of birds and builds on the collective knowledge of bird life. Such connections help us appreciate birds more and leverage our experience for conservation benefits.
Bruce Buckle highlighted the Christmas Bird Count in this column last December. A similar project, the Breeding Bird Atlas, is available to anyone in the summer. Both projects fall under the umbrella of Community Science. This is science at the popular level, generating raw observations of volunteers to answer big questions that would be impossibly expensive to conduct with paid personnel.
A Bird Atlas project is just what it sounds like, resulting in a map (atlas) of where birds are found. Distribution maps have long been essential to help us narrow down what species we have seen. The Golden Guide first provided maps of geography and seasonal patterns in the 1960s to assist with identification; other guides have since followed suit, helping us determine, for example, if the small sparrow in your backyard was likely to be a Chipping Sparrow or an American Tree Sparrow!
To provide finer-scale maps, birders from the United Kingdom compiled the first Breeding Bird Atlas Project in the 1980s with detailed local field observations. The results provided significant conservation value, so similar projects have spread around the world, now including at least 93 countries and many U.S. states. The field guide tells you that Red-shouldered Hawks are widespread in Pennsylvania, but are they found in MY area? The Bird Atlas will tell you that! Repeating these projects every 20 years provides valuable monitoring data.
Pennsylvania’s first Breeding Bird Atlas dates from the 1980s; we are now working on our third atlas. The current Bird Atlas project in Pennsylvania is managed on the eBird.org website and includes both summer (breeding) and winter efforts through 2028, so there is time for you to participate! Find out more at: https://ebird.org/atlaspa/home. Anyone can join the three thousand people who have contributed nearly half a million checklists to the project so far.
Most bird observations for the Atlas Project are of common backyard birds. A young robin begging for food in your yard or a bluebird nesting in the box in your backyard builds our knowledge. Something as familiar as a singing Chipping Sparrow is a breeding bird observation.
The results already demonstrate changes from 20 years ago and significant shifts in bird distribution since the 1980s. A highlight to date is the expansion across the state of nesting Merlins (yes, they are small falcons, not just an app or magician). First found nesting here in 2006, the Merlin expanded from Canada and can now be found in many small towns across Pennsylvania, including Jersey Shore, Williamsport, Muncy, and Lewisburg. So far, our atlas has documented 182 nesting species.
But some species have declined, notably species that nest here but spend the winter in the tropics. The Golden-winged Warbler has experienced a dramatic decline, reflecting concern about populations of birds that undergo long annual migrations, winter in the tropics, or have specific local habitat requirements. But that’s for another Bird Lore article.
All of these results are freely available on the eBird.org site! Check it out, and then add your own observations for the satisfaction of helping the birds that you enjoy!
