As our birding experience grows we are now looking for many birds that may only be around for a few months, weeks or even days at this time of year and they are not going to be perched on a branch holding a sign that says "New Bird" to let us know. In fact a lot of the time the birds may not be visible due to the dense foliage of the habitat they are in but they are there if you listen very very closely.
The funny thing about my previous statement is that up to about a year ago bird songs and calls were just white noise in the environment to us and we simply tuned it out. Well, maybe not all species such as gulls, eagles or crows that always seemed to get our attention. But the other unknown birds to us, their songs just didn't register on our vestibulocochlear nerves at all. Actually that's wrong too, because we were receiving the songs but it was our brains that hadn't received the necessary training to decipher the code of the sounds we were hearing.
Think of it this way. If you are old enough to remember the late 60's Volkswagen Beetle you can identify it by sound well before you see it. Only when you did catch a glimpse of it did you determine what species it was (year, oval rear window, rag top etc.). The same goes for birding, if you hear it you can narrow it down to a particular number of species relatively quickly but only if your brain knows what to listen for.
Thankfully, due to the advancement of technology, birders now have the internet, iPhone apps and other devices that allow them to research (brain training) in advance of the bird songs, calls and images of the species they are looking for.
For example, my latest nemesis bird was the House Wren. They were being reported on eBird checklists all around our area but yet the last few weeks we never saw one sitting on a branch holding its "New Bird" sign. Sheesh, they must be rare if so hard to find! Nope, I just needed brain training!
So yesterday before heading out on a birding quest I spent less than 10 minutes researching the House Wren's song, calls and images and wouldn't you know it my brain actually learned something. Amidst the chatter of Dark-eyed Junco's I heard something that sounded very familiar, it was a wren, listen again, not a Bewick's, listen again, not a Marsh, listen again, I learned that earlier in the morning.... House Wren!!
Gradually I was able to determine its location by sound and when my brain trained eyes saw it's field marks a "New Bird" lifer was ours!
So, if you are looking for a new bird don't expect it to just show up with its "New Bird" sign. Bring the bird to you by learning it's songs and calls and studying images of it. It really works!
We are just over a week away from our birding trip into British Columbia's Okanagan / Thompson regions. Our brain training is underway for the species being reported there on eBird so that we can take full advantage of the opportunity to see as many new lifers and many of the birds that we have seen on the south coast during the winter months. As of this morning there are 60 species reported via my eBird Needs alert for the Okanagan region alone that we have never seen before!
2019 eBird Stats (as of May 20th.)
148 species, 26 lifers
Total lifers to date: 176
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