I spy with my little eye ... I have no idea. What the heck is that?
My bird skills need help, friends. Oh, I can find the birds. I just cannot identify the birds. How does one ID a birdie if one has never seen that particular birdie before? This seems like a bird-watching Catch-22.
There I am, ambling down a trail in Sondermann Park or my latest new find, the pond at DoubleTree by Hilton, binoculars at the ready. I see a strange bird and exclaim, “You’re new!” (Who could have foreseen the bliss of seeing an unfamiliar species of winged creature? This, I believe, is called aging. And I’ll take it. When happiness is found on a quiet path through the woods.)
All the way home I’m attempting to hang on to the image of said new bird — “Light gray body, fluffy chest. Light gray body, fluffy chest” — until I can get to my computer and bird pamphlets. Alas, a search for “light gray bird, fluffy chest” does not shuffle up the bird I saw. None of them look quite right. So I try a different avenue and look up the location where I saw the bird on the popular eBird.org website, where bird lovers clock their finds and keep their life lists — a running list of every bird they’ve seen.
I look through the bird photos others have seen in that spot. Nada. The bird remains a mystery that shall haunt me until my dying day. OK, that’s a little hyperbolic, but it does kind of nag at me.
Bald eagle spotted at Colorado Springs-area reservoir; other water spots offer birding possibilities
It was time to seek advice from a true birder — Cinnamon Bergeron. This is a woman who made three crack-of-dawn field trips to Pueblo City Park in late July and early August with the hopes of seeing a much talked about yellow-crowned night-heron. Her last effort paid off. It was a bird score for the woman who has 220 birds on her life list so far.
“The number one reason I’m so interested in birding is because it shows how creative and amazing God is,” says Bergeron, who picked up the hobby around 2017. “Every single bird has its own language, their own migration pattern, their own pattern of feathers or distinguishing characteristics, its own way of building a nest, mating, raising young. Every single bird is so unique to itself.”
Bergeron is a frequent flyer on eBird, where she records what and how many of each species she sees in hot spots in and around the Pikes Peak region. Under much questioning, she revealed her bird identification tricks to me. She takes pictures of the birds and looks them up at home on birding websites and also posts them to Facebook groups, including the aptly named Facebook group “Bird Identification Group — People Helping Others ID Birds.”
Sheesh. Why didn’t I think of this? Then again, my terrible phone camera won’t help. Those pictures are only fit for the Facebook group I joined this spring: “Crap Wildlife Photography.” (This group brings me joy on the daily. Strong recommend.)
“Nowadays I pretty much know most of the birds, but definitely there are times I see a bird and don’t know what it is,” Bergeron says.
“There are a lot of birds that look close to other birds. There are people a lot better than me and in Colorado who have been birding for 40 years. I’ve gotten myself into the circle of birders.”
Bergeron’s other trick is recording the bird’s vocalizations when she can’t find the bird in a tree or bush and take it home to ID. Also, do your homework. Research the spot you’re going bird watching and find out what species you might see. There also are smartphone apps that can help you identify birds, such as Merlin.
As a former Realtor, Bergeron likens birding to buying a home. Before you start your search, you never see the for-sale signs. After you start looking, you notice them everywhere.
“It’s going from being oblivious to a whole new world,” she says. “You’re much more observant. It heightens your senses of being able to connect with nature. Not just birds but sounds. Once a person becomes more in tune with listening and being observant you notice things more.”
Contact the writer: 636-0270
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August 15, 2020 at 01:00PM
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Bird Call: Bird identification is Catch-22 | Lifestyle | gazette.com - Colorado Springs Gazette
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