It’s Time to Redefine Birding

 “Anyone who enjoys birds - wherever, however - should be able to call themselves a birder.”

Freya McGregor, Birdability

 

Who is a Real Birder?

 

A couple of summers ago, a copy of Freya McGregory’s “It’s Time to Redefine ‘Birding’” published in Audubon Magazine was sent to me.  I immediately loved it and the message it was putting out!  Then in the hustle and bustle of hiking the Trans Canada Trail (ironically for birds), I promptly lost the article.

 

Luckily, a few days ago, I was re-sent the article thanks to another individual who follows the #Hike4Birds trek, and I am incredibly grateful!

 

Since first proposing our #Hike4birds in 2018 to members of the Canadian Birding community, I have been advocating that birding, science, exploration and especially Citizen Science need to be seen as something anyone and everyone can participate in.  

 

Questions about Citizen Science

 

Yet from day one, there has been pushback by some corners of the professional community, and by scientists and data managers for this idea.  Questions of how do we know they (whoever they might be) will correctly ID the species? How do we know if the “common people” will enter their e-bird data correctly?  How do we regulate who is involved?   How do we do this? How do we do that?  (really the range of questions and what ifs are endless.)  Long messages were sent about how e-Bird and iNaturalist data need to be curated, often focused on how only those who can provide accurate data should be allowed to be Citizen Scientists. 

 

Amid these conversations, even my submissions were questioned “because my life list was too short” and therefore (so the logic goes) “I was not a real birder.”  This, despite having a PhD in Forestry and Ornithology and despite submitting pictures of the species! While I am not suggesting here that having a degree grants one the same knowledge base as those with large pools of lived experience.  The fact remains that I had, by this point, spent several decades watching birds, studying birds and researching birds.  So I did at least know a little about them – certainly enough to correctly ID a chickadee or blue jay.

 

Now, to be honest, there are some legitimate limitations regarding citizen science participation and observations.  Certainly, I can accept that a submission reporting a dinosaur in Toronto might give way to skepticism. That’s fair, error analysis and the need for data accuracy in the sciences is certainly necessary.  Yet it was nonetheless also clear to me that many of the arguments were more focused on the fear of widening the definition of who was to be considered a birder.  After all, what would happen if a casual birder saw a rare species first? Or if a new birder actually had a great Big Year or built an awesome (or even larger) life list?

 

What would all that mean for the supposed “real birders”?

 

Personally, I think it would be exciting, but others fervently disagreed.

 

A Birder is someone who loves Birds

 

The simple fact is that for scientists, ensuring that records and sightings are verifiable is essential, however these ideals should not be framed such that they take away from the fact that anyone can be a birdwatcher, enjoy birds, and protect birds without being a professional scientist, a top e-bird contributor, a life lister, or a Big Year participant.

 

A birder can and is often simply someone who loves birds!  That’s it. That should be the definition.

 

A birder can be a scientist with a scope and field notebook, or a kid with a cracked phone camera standing under a city bridge watching a crow. Both matter. Both are valid. Both are real.

Yet too often, we’ve seen how passion and enthusiasm get dismissed in favour of pedigree.  And the demands for scientific rigour serve as barriers rather than bridges.

 

To me, it seemed the sheer fulfillment of curiosity and the passion for exploration and love of nature and birding had been lost amid the gatekeepers.  Many of them, birders from an age when binoculars and cameras cost a small fortune and the only way to become an ornithologist was to get a PhD, were adamant to keep new participants out.     

 

Objections appeared to be less a means to ensure that sightings were accurate and data were verifiable and more of a mechanism to protect their own life lists and ensure they were still seen as the top birders in their region.  They held up ornithology as a means of gatekeeping rather than seeing nature conservation and bird protection as a passion for the outdoors held by many across the nation.

 

Challenges to a message of Inclusion

 

As a result, barriers to our 28,000 km trek across Canada to educate people about birding and Citizen Science, to get people outdoors and reconnected to nature, immediately began to arise. 

 

When we set out in 2019 and began talking about inclusion in the outdoors and birding, what I discovered was that often requests to interview us, write articles and participate in Podcasts would be cancelled at the request of Life Listers and ‘real’ ornithologists.  Similarly, presentations that we would take 4-5 days off the trail for would be mysteriously cancelled at the last minute, despite the delay to our hike across Canada.  In our place, a local “real birder” would give a talk.

 

Later, we even had one birding group demand that we give them control over our blogs and social media content “so that the right birders got the right type of pictures and messages."  The demand being "More rare species, fewer common species.”  As though birds were like Pokémon and value arose from rarity!

 

This isn’t just about us, this is about everyone who has been made to feel like they don’t belong in nature because of how they look, where they come from, or how they started.

 

The Times are Changing

 

Thankfully, however, the times are changing.  This is aided by a huge grassroots push for more inclusion in the outdoors, and the rise of amazing new scientists and initiatives happening across North America. To get a sense of this, check out the Canadian Museum of Nature Inspiration finalists each year – they will blow your mind with their projects and ideas! 

 

And check out the material and movie on the Central Park birders in New York.

 

And of course, all of this is helped by the fact that now good binoculars and zoom camera lenses are not that costly (compared to 10 and 20 years ago), and there are many amazing birding backpack programs (check out Vancouver and region Library Birder Backpacks) for those who just want to try birding out. 

 

These days, anyone can quickly learn about birds online through YouTube forums and Facebook groups while submitting Citizen Science data from their phones (which most of us have).  Even better is the fact that more and more boardwalks, natural trails and bird watching areas are being built to ensure that nature is increasingly made accessible to everyone.   

 

In other words, it is long past time to shift who we think a birder, an explorer or an outdoors person should be and can be.

 

Nature is for Everyone

 

We walk because we believe that birding belongs to everyone. 

 

“Birds don’t care if you have a PhD. They’ll still show up at your feeder.”

 Come Walk With Us Presentation

 

I have said it before and will keep saying it throughout our expedition on the Trans Canada Trail - the simple fact is that Nature is not in one special place, and is not for one special person, nature is wherever someone is trying to find it...and it is for everyone.  To enjoy nature and birds, you don’t need to look a certain way, come from a specific background, be ultra-rich or have a degree.

 

The pursuit of nature and time outdoors is enough to make you a birder, an explorer, and an outdoors person. Best of all, birds are a great way to connect to nature because they are free and fun to watch, and they are everywhere.  No matter who you are or where you live - whether it's in an apartment building or a condo tower, in the suburbs or somewhere out in the country, it is impossible to go outside your door and not hear or see at least one bird. 

 

This is why, as Birdability’s Freya McGregory states, “Anyone who enjoys birds - wherever, however - should be able to call themselves a birder.” 

 

Exactly!

 

See you on the trail – bring your binoculars!