Video: Richard Crossley on Making Birding Bigger in America

Two of the many things that I love about working the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival: I always get to hang out and visit with a bunch of fun, interesting birders and there are great birding opportunities very close by, so it's often possible to sneak in an hour or so of wildlife watching and photography before the exhibit hall opens. 

One morning last week I was able to combine these. A bunch of us were out looking at a fabulous pool along the Black Point Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. While we were enjoying face-meltingly good views of large waders like Roseate Spoonbills and Reddish Egrets, interspersed with American Avocets, Northern Pintails, 2 types of Mergansers, and myriad others, I fell into a conversation with Richard Crossley, author of the much-lauded Crossley ID Guide - Eastern Birds.

We were discussing how to get birding in North America over the hump that if feels like it's been stuck at for a couple of decades now. That is, how do we move from being able to bring hundreds of birders to an event like Space Coast to bringing thousands? Even more important, how do we mobilize enough birders that we become a truly effective, unified voice for birds, their habitats, and improved birding opportunities for all?

If you've met Richard, or heard him speak, you'll know that he's a man of strongly held convictions and creative ideas. He's not shy about sharing them, either. Our conversation was rolling along with such a good head of steam that I popped my camera into video mode and asked Richard to tell us how he sees birding moving to the next level of popularity and impact.

Here's what he had to say: 

 

So, what do you think? Do you agree, or do you think other strategies are more important? Was there a club (formal or not) that encouraged and nutured your interest? Or do you think that birding will (or even ought to) remain more of a niche pursuit on this continent? Does it need popularizing? How would you like to see that process proceed?

Thanks, Richard, for sharing your thoughts and for your support of the ABA. See you on down the road! 

Comments

[Andy Johnson]

Cool stuff. I definitely think that birding needs popularizing. It's easy to think, once you're in that niche "club" he's talking about, and enjoying it, that it's good the way it is (and don't get me wrong, it absolutely is). But it's easy to start telling ourselves that more birders would simply make it worse– you'd have even MORE people crowding the Magee boardwalk in May, and maybe what you enjoy most about birding is walking down an empty trail alone to see what you find (I know I often fall into that latter category). But more people walking down those trails is ultimately exactly what we want and need. If there's not an ever increasing voice behind the conservation of birds and their habitats, the little trails we like to walk alone will be developed and there will be more people crowding the Magee boardwalk anyways, without any more birders to speak for it. That's maybe down the road quite a ways, but certainly not unrealistic in the long run. Conservation is such an immediate and massive concern around the globe that if you're out enjoying birds, you've got to be pulling for them in the long run, and I think 40 million people behind birds would mean quite a lot.

[Dave Magpiong]

TO answer some of the questions Jeff posed at the end of the post:

Richard's strategies are definitely important to get birding to the masses but they are not the ONLY strategies. If we become (remain?!) complacent and expect someone else to popularize birding, it wil never happen. ALL birders should be cognizant of the need to share birds with others AND proactive in sharing their own passion with the people in their lives (family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, strangers).

Also, birding NEEDS to become more than a niche hobby. The future of birds depends on it!

As more people become aware of the beauty and diversity of birds, they will become more concerned about support conservation programs/legislation AND also get directly involved with conservation action.

[Dave Magpiong]

Andy - You raise some good points about the connection to birding's popularity and conservation.

I would like to add some fodder for thought to your Magee Marsh example:

If we can get more people to become birders, could we possibly have more places to bird as a result of the confluence of simple demand and increased public awareness of the need for bird habitat?

Don't get me wrong. I know that certain places are what they are dueto years of migratory rhythm. Yet, perhaps there are other "out of the way" birding areas that have yet to be discovered or popularized?!

How many rare birds are "being missed"? I could cite several NJ/PA examples in the past few years alone of "none birders" being the ones responsible for finding a mega-rare bird.

Just some random questions.

[heidi]

More conservation. More ethics. Perhaps more politicians than celebrities need to be birders, but I do worry about the crowded trails - we need more accessible land in urban areas but it also needs to be safe.

Or we can just keep encouraging people to move to un(der) birded areas and just have the entire town/county to themselves! *cough* Worked great for us!

[Stan VanSandt]

I think part of the strategy, in order to be ecologically responsible, needs to be to refocus the competitive aspects of birding away from listing and twitching and move it toward community patch birding. Anybody can get a long life list if they can afford to fly all over the place (and they are always going to congregate at High Island, Magee Marsh, Cape May, etc.). If there were contests, awards, kudos for the best local club patch, that would encourage development of new preserves as well as more involvement by beginners. And use local celebrities: here in Austin Sandra Bullock would be a draw, but Mac Brown would revolutionize the local birding scene.

[Nate Swick]

I don't that discouraging listing and twitching is necessarily the right thing. I agree that a big ABA area list is more a result of time and money than birding skill, and it has a reputation as being overindulgent (that's another discussion, there), but I'm really into my county lists, particularly the few in my immediate area, and have really enjoyed listing - and yes, even twitching - great birds in my community patches. So I think there's a line to walk there.

After all, look at the growth eBird saw when it included the option to keep track of your lists. And I know for a fact there are tons of state twitchers that eBird turned into serious county and patch listers, too. I see that as an unqualified good thing.

[Morgan Churchill]

I agree with Nate...Birding is a lot of things to a lot of different people. Some people like listing, some people like to travel, some people like patch birding, some people get really into difficult ID questions, etc. I don't think we need to discourage some types of birders and encourage other types; birding is big enough for everyone.

[Lance Tanino]

I agree with Dave. Every birder should set goals for themselves to 'popularize' or raise awareness of birding by becoming more proactive with everyone they know in their lives.

I have been thinking about 'popularizing' birding in Hawaii. If residents and visitors were aware of the possibilities of seeing beautiful birds and conservation issues related to the birds in the islands, perhaps people would be more interested in seeing them for themselves. I hope to lead birding outings through Hawaii Audubon Society and FB this year.

[Lance Tanino]

Last month I also began my attempts to raise awareness by starting new FB pages: Hawaii Birdwatching and Hawaii Conservation

[Claire Baker]

I think it would be wonderful if more people could just get some good binos in their hands, that's what it takes, a REALLY good look at even a "regular" bird. And then, by all means, when someone asks you about a bird, don't make them feel dumb. I've seen it happen, though most park rangers are wonderful about making everyone happy. All this talking about increasing numbers reminds me of a little town I used to live in, San Miguel de Allende. When I got there in 1982, people there said there was too many Americans and the town was ruined. I thought it was lovely. In 1992, we moved back there and heard the same thing, still thought the town was great. Recently I heard there is a Starbucks and a McDonald's in the historic central part of town. The huge increase in prices of real estate threw the residents out of their sweet little town and out into the dirt. Travel shows and magazines kept extolling the coolness of the town. There IS a tipping point on beautiful areas.

[Rick Wright]

Congratulations to Richard on his recent PROSE Award!

[Hank Julicer]

Richard really deserves this award. Good on ya!