“Trogon. Okay, got it. Where do we find the gnatcatcher?” I lifted my eyes from the binoculars, away from the bird sitting mere feet away. “We usually find the gnatcatcher at our stop down at the coast, there’s lots to see here yet.” I replied as I returned to the gorgeously gaudy bird that was calling, looking for the non-existent Cuban Trogon it had heard. Others in the group, were talking excitedly about the Trogon as another was calling farther down the bank, coming closer. The gnatcatcher seeker moved off, looking for something new.
I think that it is in our nature to keep lists. We humans seem to long for bringing order into our lives, we categorize, compartmentalize, organize. Like so many other people, who enjoy birds, I keep a life list. The list is simply a way of keeping some order, keeping track of the birds that have come into my life. There are no year lists, no Territory lists, no yard lists, no Birds seen on TV lists (okay, at the risk of offending someone, I know someone who keeps a TV list). On those now rare occasions when I go on a trip somewhere out of the country I’ll keep a list, mostly to to transfer to my life list (eventually, I still think I need to enter the last Cuba trip there, and that was years ago).
I’ve never thought of the list as the goal. As much as I would love to see every species of bird on earth I could care less how many birds are on my life list. I can’t, for the life of me, understand why someone, upon seeing a Cuban Trogon perched 10 feet away calling, would immediately want to move on, to find one more endemic, or one more for this list. I can’t understand this search for one more tick on a list, one more species to stroke off and move on.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that listing is wrong. Whatever gets you through the night, you know. You don’t have to look very far to find people who extensively list who have a deep appreciation for birds. Charlie, of Charlies Bird Blog, has a 2006 list that for January alone has more birds on it than I will no doubt see in the rest of my life. I have to admit that I covet deeply each and every one of those birds on that list, or his life list, the birds. But you’d be hard pressed to find someone who cares more passionately about birds, and ethical birding than Charlie. Unless you looked at nuthatch of bootstrap analysis, or Mike at 10,000 birds, or well that list is pretty extensive and I could go on and on.
There is little doubt that recording observations, a la Christmas Bird Counts, Breeding Bird Surveys etc plays an important part in our understanding of birds, and their populations, and that people get a great deal of satisfaction from their lists. That they can be touchstones, a way of reliving specific trips or times or birds. And I am impressed with the Big Years, the big lists and the lot. There are amazing numbers out there, amazing accomplishments, amazing drives. I devoured Mark Obmascik’s The Big Year. I guess I just don’t get what it has to do with birds, perhaps if it was called something other than Birding.
But, having said all that, I offer for you here, my current 2006 World Bird list. Bow down before my amazing and superior abilities.
2006 World List
No. Common Name Scientific Name Date Location
1) Northern Raven Corvus corax Jan 1 Arctic Bay NU
Comments
10 responses
You have a Raven on your 2006 list? I’m jealous!
Great, thought-provoking piece, Clare. I often struggle with the acquisitive aspect of listing, especially since I’m so gripped by this mania. The upside seems to be a deeper understanding of each species’ movements, habitat, and behavior, but that may just be gross rationalization.
I’m not much of a lister either, although I try to keep track of birds I’ve seen and identified in my lifetime. I couldn’t even tell you the number. To me the real thrill is in the discovery, in getting to know another species, its behavior and habitat. Whenever I start to get “bored” with the birds I see daily at my feeder, I try to remind myself that there is so much I do not know about even the commonest of birds here.
Brilliant, Clare! A raven sighting would be something wonderful for me — but so will sightings of kea while I’m climbing in the South Island (NZ) (later today!), or, for that matter, whio in the Ruahine Range…
LOL! you’re my kind of lister Clare. I keep them, but the numbers themselves mean very little.
Once while birding with friends, I stopped to watch a lbj hopping about in cover.. as is my nature, I stayed in one place until the bird showed itself. Meanwhile everyone was racing around in a frenzy ” I hear a black-throated Green over here- hey, there’s a Scarlet Tanager by the clearing’.. so I stand and wait and several others came back to see what I was waiting for. The lbj finally showed itself- a beautiful male chipping sparrow. One of the group muttered under his breath ‘dontcha hate it when you wait and wait and it’s only a chipping sparrow”?
Nope. I love em all.
I rarely bird with others because it defeats my own purpose for being out there and I can/have spend hours watching one bird be a bird.
Bwa haa haaaaa! That’s a heckuva post – something I think about sometimes too as a hypo-lister. Or maybe I’m a non-lister or an anti-lister. I may list one day, but I’ve not been particularly motivated to list to this point.
Cindy I like your comment too. I catch myself judging relative value of rarer birds over more common birds and subsequently feel guilty about it. “A chickadee is just as valuable as eastern towhee or a black-billed cuckoo,” I tell myself. On the other hand it is waaay cool to see a species you’ve never spotted before…
Raven in the Arctic night? Nightvision goggles?
To be ever-so-academic, I like to think about lists–of all sorts–as the first step toward a grand synthesis. Narrative, including blogs, might be thought of as a slightly sophisticated list (one already several steps nearer the grand synthesis).
Mike,
I’m pretty sure there is a Raven on the list, let me go over it one more time. Yep, it’s there.
And I wouldn’t fret to much about the acquisitive nature of your list, your inquisitive nature more than makes up.
Deb,
That thrill of discovery is wonderful, its how quickly it fades in some that has me puzzled. I remember on our second day in the Galapagos, someone seeing an unknown bird said “What’s that? Oh never mind, just another Blue-footed Booby”. Everyone stopped, and then burst out laughing. It became our running joke – “Just another Blue-footed Booby”
pohaginapete,
Sure would love to see some of New Zealand’s wild some day. Your post on the whio (I noticed I spelt it whia in my comments), in your tribute to Murray was incredible. Hope you find time to post on your trip.
Cindy,
Don’t you love Chipping Sparrows, such subtle beauty. It would have been a shame to have passed it by.
Troutgrrl,
Hypo lister, love it. I’m not so much anti-listing, as just bewildered by it taking precidence over observing.
larry,
Plenty of light to see Ravens here, especially now that they’ve staked out the air around the House as their own playground. And I’ve always knew I was under-contributing to the grand synthesis. I guess that’s why I started blogging, to make up for my lack of lists.
A Raven is a good start. They’re one of my favorite.
Great post. Captures many of my feelings about lists, which I would probably keep, just to remind myself of what I’ve seen, if I weren’t so darned disorganized.
Lol – Love the post! And the photos of the sun just appearing over the horizon are wonderful. I know I’m one lucky birder to travel like I do, but some days I really envy your solitude (though three months of total darkness may be a bit hard to handle…)