Birding Training

Yesterday I went to Congaree National Park to learn the art/science of birding.  Next weekend is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count.  This is a nation-wide event where anyone from beginners to birding experts keep a record of the birds they see over a period of four days and submit these numbers online.  This project, a cooperative effort of Cornell and the Audubon Society, provides scientists with data used to study the dynamics of bird populations.

The "Big Binocular" of the event is Dr. John Grego, professor of statistics at USC and president of Friends of Congaree.  Who would have thought there was an expert birder with an office two floors below mine in LeConte!  Now I know where to go when I can't ID a bird.

We spent an hour discussing birding basics: location, binoculars, etc; and several of the species common to the area and the park.  After the initial presentation, we hit the trail.  Fortunately, the rangers separated the group, so we were able to venture off without the large group of young boy scouts that were camping in the park.  It was a neat experience.  It was particularly fascinating to watch Dr. Grego bird by ear!  He identified numerous species that we never saw simply by their song---according the the National Birding Association, an identified bird call counts as a sighting.  It was a windy day, and it was a ways into the hike before we saw much, but we ended up with nearly 40 species thanks, in part, to our leader's sharp ear (Dr. Grego had predicted that we would get maybe 25).

Here are some shots that I got:

Hermit Thrush

Tufted Titmouse, one of my favorites

Winter Wren, another (new) favorite

Red-Shouldered Hawk, I've been looking for one of these!

While on the birding venture, I met a guy who just moved to Columbia about a week and a half ago from Portland.  We spent some time talking, and it sounds like he is going to be my new kayaking partner.  We spoke with the rangers about next weekend's count, and offered to cover the creek.  They don't have anyone who is going to be in that area, so they were excited to have volunteers for a "creek kayaking count crew".  So, we will be paddling and counting on Cedar Creek.  It's a little daunting, since neither Joey, nor myself are great at identifying birds, but they claim that they will be happy if we come back with just one or two species.  Anything that we get is something that no one else would be anywhere near, so it can't hurt.

Hopefully it will warm up a little before then.