Following is a little piece that I wrote last year before COVID hit and we had other things to worry about then birds in our backyards. Here is hoping this year we will return to something approaching normalcy.
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Last year I had planned to sign up for the Great Backyard Bird Count. I just forgot to do it. Next year I’ll sign up for sure although it presents some issues for me.
The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) (https://www.birdscanada.org/bird-science/great-backyard-bird-count/) is billed as a free, fun, and easy event that engages bird watchers to count birds. You can do this for as little as 15 minutes in your backyard or anywhere you want for that matter. The Count is open to experts, beginners or non-experts like me.
I wish my excuse for forgetting the GBBC last year was that I was busy. However, for the days in question mostly what I was doing was sitting at my keyboard, concocting excuses for not doing housework and looking out my windows at my bird feeders.
(I’ve got eight feeders up right now. One family member says eight is too many. A Port Rowan neighbour has fourteen, I point out, so you can’t really object to eight, right?)
But, back to my point here which is that I’ve been thinking and thinking and thinking some more about backyard birds; the context being that we run a small bed and breakfast and many of our guests are birders. The contemplation of this conundrum is causing me considerable anxiety.
Do you know any birders?
I’m generalizing here but birders are much like any other people who adopt an intense interest in a hobby. They are enthused, obsessed; some even fanatical.
The French novelist Honore de Balzac has said that, “a hobby is a happy medium between a passion and a monomania.”
Humour columnist Dave Barry wrote that hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby.
These insights are not lost on yours truly.
And then there is the whole problem of what to call the hobby/obsession.
I realized that I wasn’t sensitive to this issue when watching the movie - The Big Year. In that flick Steve Martin’s character (Stu) is insult put down by a professional for leaving work to go bird watching. Stu took great umbrage.
“It’s called birding,” huffed Stu!!
Our home is located in great birding territory. Indeed, it is a not so well known fact that more bird species have been seen in the Port Rowan/Long Point area than the much ballyhooed Point Peele vicinity.
Issues
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| Carolina Wren seen IN our Backyard |
Some have suggested that we ought to keep a list of all birds seen in our backyard. There are, however, a number of vexing issues that the development of such a list would present.
For example, to be counted does a bird actually have to touch down in our yard? That would be a fairly clear-cut definition to use.
But what if, say, one observes a “good” bird flying over one’s yard? We had an immature bald eagle fly past sometime back. Now, to be frank, it is probably more accurate to say it was over the neighbour’s yard. But let’s face it, our list would be a superior one if I could add that bald eagle. So, I’m leaning to the backyard list inclusion criteria being “seen from my backyard.” That should make for a better quality list.
But here’s another worry. From my front yard I have a distant view of the Inner Harbour of Long Point Bay on Lake Erie and this will surely produce many shorebirds and an enhanced list. In fact, a few years ago on Easter Sunday we recorded a couple of white pelicans flapping and gliding over the Bay. Clearly, it will be more gratifying for my guests, then, if that backyard list captures anything that can be seen from the front yard as well.
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| White Pelicans seen FROM our Backyard |
I’m certain the guests will be keen to contribute to the list. In fact, repeat visitors (some do actually return) could be encouraged to have their own personalized list. Perhaps this will be an incentive to return.
Do I anticipate problems? Well, I’m told that some birders can be competitive and argumentative. (Did I mention that we took photos to document those white pelicans?)
So, if there are disagreements on sightings will it fall to the reluctant but affable host to resolve disputes?
And will guests be trampling all over my much-in-need of landscaping front yard in an effort to maximize their viewing range
And what about the neighbours?
Lots to think about....
