ABA Blog

Certainty, Experts, and Confirmation

A couple of friends and I were birding around Jamaica Bay in New York a few years ago. We came upon a couple of people, a man and a woman, looking out over the water and discussing a bird perched in plain view, but a bit distantly, out in the marsh. They didn't seem to be birders (judging by their lack of optics), but one of them suggested it could be an Osprey. I took a look with my binoculars, easily saw the relevant field marks due to the benefit of magnification, and assured them that yes, it's an Osprey. The woman replied "Could be" as they were walking away.

Could be?! How could she doubt someone with expensive binoculars and birding experience? I had confirmed that it was in fact an Osprey, there was no doubt necessary, we now knew it was an Osprey, didn't we? In this post, I want to discuss how we confirm identifications, what we mean by expert, and how we ever know we are right. It is a treacherous subject, as birding reputations are built on accuracy and perceived infallibility, but I think it is a necessary discussion that may reveal a lot about the community of birders and our interpretations of other people's birding abilities.

What kind of hawk is this? Larger pictures available here. Read more about this bird below.

More recently, I found a hawk on our property. We haven't had a lot of raptors on our farm, not even migrants. I've been hoping for more buteos, and as soon as I saw this bird I knew it was a new species for us. However, I also knew it was going to be a tough ID. It seemed to be a young hawk, smaller than a Red-tail, perched on a dead branch in the morning fog. I immediately had it down to two species: Red-shouldered or Broad-winged. But which one? I quickly digibinned a few pictures, taking breaks to look more carefully with my binocular. I really wanted to see the top of the wings, so I decided to walk around the row of pine trees beside me and have a better angle on the bird's back. I quickly but quietly moved around the pines, and of course the bird was gone. Fortunately I had the pictures, and headed indoors to clinch an ID.

I started with reference books, but didn't find a definitive answer. I only saw the bird from the front, and young Red- shoulders and Broad-wings can be really similar from that angle. I was leaning toward Broad-wing (it was around the peak of their migration through the east), but I certainly wasn't leaning very strongly. I decided to seek outside help, get some other views on the matter. I emailed pictures to some of my birding friends and to the Ohio-Birds email list. One of my first responses was from the list, someone I didn't know. His name was John Blakeman, and he introduced himself: "Blake, I'm a master falconer and raptor biologist. The bird is a red-tailed hawk, clearly. But I'm not so sure it's an immature. Did you see the brown tail? The tail here looks too short for an immature. Immie RTs have tails about an inch longer than adults. But no doubt, a red-tail. --John Blakeman."

I panicked for a second. Wait, was this a Red-tail? Did I just jeopardize my birding reputation by asking for ID help on the most commonly seen hawk in the country? I went back to the pictures, and quickly assured myself that it indeed wasn't a Red-tail. How did I know? Well...it didn't look like one to me. I started to receive other replies; Haans Petruschke said, "...Looks like a Red-Shouldered Hawk. Others may say something else based upon plumage, but the eye structure and shape is pure Red-shouldered." Then another reply, "Immature Red Shouldered Hawk. (For what it's worth, raptors are my specialty.)" This last was another reply trying to convey the idea of knowledge and experience. Not confirmation necessarily, but just trying to indicate that they weren't some random person who started birding yesterday; they had time and experience and background with this subject. A couple of my birding friends agreed with Red-shouldered, but then a couple said Broad-wing, and then a couple more from the email list also said Broad-wing, so I was faced with a split vote. I really wanted to add this bird to our property list, so what to do?

I joined the ID-Frontiers email list to post a message about this bird. I included a link to the pictures, hoping to gain some insight from those on the 'frontiers of identification.' I knew that there were a few people on the Ohio-Birds email list who also subscribed to ID-Frontiers, but I hadn't heard an opinion from them. Based on the split vote, I thought that moving it up to a higher court was acceptable. But what do I mean by acceptable? Aren't birders available to help others, would anyone judge you for asking a stupid question? I mentioned to my wife I was thinking about emailing Sibley to get his opinion. She was incredulous: can you just email Sibley? I felt like it was an identification question that was worthy of expert advice; I'm not a new birder sending out a fuzzy picture of an obvious Brown Pelican. I have some idea what I'm talking about and didn't know what this hawk was, and other people couldn't agree, so I didn't think I'd be wasting anyone's time. I knew many respected birders were on ID-Frontiers, and I would get some good feedback. I received three responses; the one I weighted highest came from Bill Clark, co-author of the Peterson Field Guide to Hawks of North America. He said it was a Broad-winged, and I took that as the final answer.

I emailed the Ohio-Birds list, saying I'd accepted the expert testimony from ID-Frontiers (all in favor of Broad-wing). Case closed. John Blakemen replied, "Blake, You are certainly welcome to assign the ID of the hawk photo to a Broadwinged. But all of the Broadwings I've ever dealt with have distinct but subtle horizontal patterns on the breast, not the vertical ones on your provided photo...Redtails (except in the vary rare melanistic specimens) always have the central, upper breast lighter than the belly band or flanks of the upper breast (chest area), exactly as on your photo of your bird. Red-shouldereds and Broadwings have evenly hued coloration and evenly-patterned upper breasts. But the lack of horizontal patterning on the upper or middle breast negates a Broadwing for me, and the presence of a less-patterned, slightly lighter central area on the upper breast marks the bird as a Red-tail for me. I've trapped, banded, and rehabbed many dozens of Buteos in 40 yrs of working with these birds. John A. Blakeman".

I quickly did an internet search for John Blakeman. Who is this guy? Does he really have the credentials that he claims? I quickly found that yes, indeed he does. He has many years of hands-on experience with these birds. How do I decide which expert to believe, which claims to consider valid, how do I confirm an identification when it isn't clear-cut? The bird is gone, there is no way to get it back. We can't collect further evidence to make a final determination. What if everyone I consulted said it was a Broad-wing? What if they all said it was a Red-tail? Would I listen to the majority, or choose voices here and there? Maybe this bird was a hybrid, or a ghost (I mean a literal ghost, not one of the two species we sometimes call 'gray ghosts')?

My point is, we often have no way to be certain of our identifications. We see a bird, we put a name on it, and it flies away. We don't know whether we were right or wrong. Even if we move it to a higher authority, we can't know for sure if they were right or wrong. One of the people who corresponded with me suggested I try whatbird.com; the site includes a forum where people will help you identify birds. Many people post pictures, hoping to find someone knowledgeable to determine the bird's identity. Many times the responses say something like, "Chipping Sparrow. Confirmed." That is supposed to mean that the person doing the confirming knows what the species is, and they know that they are right. But how do any of us ever know that for sure?

When I decided to write this post, I emailed all of the participants in the discussion and asked whether it would be okay to use their names and responses. A couple were reticent at first, they wanted to check what they had said to me before having it thrust upon a larger birding audience. Why is that?

It is partly because birding credibility is fragile; there are people who think they are good at identifying birds, very willing to share their expertise, but who in fact lack those skills. People who are well-known in birding circles or make their living from birding-related enterprises are justifiably concerned about being lumped in with these other 'bad birders.' Unfortunately, this often keeps them quiet when a difficult identification arises. Sometimes the best identification is 'I Don't Know', but we don't usually want to admit that fact. Even worse is proposing an incorrect identification. This has the obvious side effect of stifling discourse and preventing knowledge from being shared. I was impressed when Birding began running photo quizzes where different birders explained their identification and how they got there. This prevented a consensus view from clouding perception and coloring judgment. Sometimes the experts differed, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. Maybe there was no right answer (hybrids...or ghosts).

My point with this post is not to decide what kind of hawk is in the pictures, or decide which birders are better than others. I wanted to point out that we perceive different levels of birding expertise, and there are people and organizations we are more likely to believe. It isn't always clear why we choose to believe some people over others, or how we pick which 'experts' to consult. The next time you are out birding and run across someone grossly misinformed about the identification of a bird, feel free to do your best to correct their obvious error. Just remember, they may be trying to do the same thing for you.

Video!: Greetings from the Governor and Thank You from the Kids!

George Armistead did a wonderful job earlier today with his photos from the weekend's ABA events in Delaware. As a companion, here are two short videos, one from the Mid-Atlantic Young Birder Conference and one from the Annual Membership Meeting.

First, the Sep 23rd Membership Meeting: when I introduced Collin O'Mara, Delaware's Secretary of Energy and the Environment, he proceeded to play this welcome message from Delaware's Governor, Jack Markell! 

 
It was wonderful to have a head of state welcome the ABA, and birders, so directly and so warmly. Think of it, when have you ever heard a governor even try to pronounce, "dowitcher?" And, of course, I was pleased to be mentioned by name. I think Delaware's Bayshore Initiative, and the way the state is reaching out to birders as the project is still in the planning stages, marks a wonderful evolution. I'm pleased that the ABA is playing a role in moving it all forward and I very much want us to do the same in other states and provinces.

I want to especially thank Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and Eagle Optics, ABA's optics sales partner, for providing generous sponsorships for our Membership Meeting, and to the Delaware Nature Society for providing a lovely space for us to have it.

And here's a quick shout-out, literally, to the Leica Sport Optics and to all of you ABA members, from the kids and adults who attended the Mid-Atlantic Young Birder Conference on Saturday the 22nd. I wish you all could have been there. Between George's photos and these clips, maybe you can at least get a feeling for the positive energy directed towards birding and the ABA. Thank you so much for making this all possible.

 

 

Remembering Jeri McMahon

All of us at the American Birding Association are saddened to learn of the death of Jeri McMahon this past Sunday. ABA's Membership Experience Coordinator, Nancy Hawley, worked with Jeri's friends and family to put together this biographic sketch and the special memorial that accompanies it.

Farewell, Jeri. Thanks for your many contributions to the birding community. May the sights and sounds of birds, and the thrill of young eyes being opened to them, keep your memory alive in all our hearts.

—Jeffrey Gordon                

Jeri McMahon, birder

Jeri started birding at 12 years old in northern Iowa. Her first bird guide book was by Chester A. Reed. Two teachers (the Hagarty sisters) lived on her block, and Jeri would spend hours at their house, studying birds at their feeders or bird bath, or reading all their bird books. She birded all 7 continents and when asked about her bird list, she would say she had about 7000 birds on it. 

Jeri in Brazil

Jeri belonged to the American Birding Association, Indian Nations Audubon Society of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Ornithological Society, The Bluebird Association, and the Arkansas Birding Association. She had served as president and bird recorder for Indian Nations Audubon and as President and awards chair for the OOS.  

At the OOS fall meeting, Stillwater

She banded birds with MAPS at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge as well as Fort Gibson Wildlife Management Area and also banded bluebirds in Muskogee County. Jeri was a map consultant for Oklahoma in the Sibley Guide to Birds and also made contributions to the Peterson Field Guide to Birds.

She headed up the Christmas Bird Count for the Fort Gibson area, lead many field trips for birding, and headed up Eagle Days in Fort Gibson for years and introduced her grandson, Donnie, and several other children to the fun of birding.

 

Jeri's grandson, Donnie

 

Jeri has sent one child per year to birding camp, which she found to be one of the best and most meaningful ways to share the joy of birding. 

In Jeri's final weeks, another long-time ABA member, Kathy Roach, approached the ABA about setting up a special memorial to Jeri that would help fund other young birders attendence at birding camps. As one of Jeri’s closest friends, Kathy says, “We feel Jeri is certainly worthy of being honored for her life-long love of birds as well as her patience and mentoring to all of us her knew her. In addition, Jeri provided both physical and financial support over the years, to many of our Young Birders. Her outstanding dedication has helped many of our youth to expand their knowledge and gain confidence, as well as allowing many of them to attend our ABA birding camps”. 

Kathy adds, “The ABA’s new "Jeri McMahon Memorial" will help maintain and expand all future Young Birder programs and camps. We feel this is a very special honor for a very special lady.”

Jeri lived a life of giving back to birding that all of us would do well to emulate.

To make your donation to Jeri's memorial now, please go to www2.aba.org/jerimcmahon or call Nancy Hawley at 800-850-2473 or 719-578-9703.

Scenes From Mel and Jeanne's 600th Party!

Yesterday, we had a great open mic post from Mel Goff, our volunteer librarian. In it, he recounted his recent trip with his wife, Jeanne, to Alaska.

 

Mel Goff, ABA's volunteer librarian, as we're used to seeing him every Wednesday

If you read Mel's post (and if you haven't, go do it!) you know that the Goffs had a very special milestone on their cruise: their 600th ABA Area life bird. So we thought that a little congratulatory celebration was in order. 

 

 

If you can take your eye off the chocolate cake long enough, look at that box. What could be in it?

Here's a quick video of Mel and Jeanne opening their special gift. 

 

 

 

A shot of the happy couple.

 

Leach's Storm-Petrel ornament painted by Marcia Poling. Even got the tube on the nose!

Ted, Michael, and Ned, I'll save you the trouble...she missed the hyphen in Storm-Petrel. Mel, maybe you can add that in? Pretty darn cool otherwise, huh?

Thanks so much, Mel, for your service to the ABA. You're a credit to our community and we're just thrilled to have you as part of the ABA family. Now, get to work on that 700!

Been Banding Lately?

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting an educational bird banding station run by the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory at Barr Lake State Park, just northeast of Denver.  Meredith McBurney and her team of volunteers do a fantastic job of engaging school groups, bird club trips, individual birders, and passers-by (the banding table is along a popular hiking trail.)  Meredith is amazing at explaining what's going on with each bird to anyone from pre-schoolers to folks with decades of serious birding under their belts.  Birds in hand catalyze discussions ranging from the esoteric to expressions of delight and amazement.  During my visit I compared and contrasted subtle Dusky vs. Hammond's Flycatcher features and pondered why silent fall "Western" Flycatchers in Colorado should be left at that instead of putting Cordilleran or Pacific-slope tags on them.  But equally cool topics included shared retinal wonderment at the vivid azure hues on a Blue Jay or amazement at the impossibly tiny bundle of migratory energy wrapped up in a MacGillivray's Warbler.

Birders of all ages & experience levels have much to learn at a bird banding station.

I've been to many banding stations throughout my birding life and always come away knowing more than I did before the visit.  My last trip also reminded me that bird banding is also a potentially good hook for beginners.  As a follow-up to the outstanding Pledge 2 Fledge initiative, perhaps you'd consider bringing a new birder to a banding station near you!  

Seeing what Peter Pyle says about determinging age & sex of Townsend's Warblers.

One last detailed look at a Townsend's Warbler before it continues on its way towards warmer climes for the winter.

Kids who mind their P's and Q's might even get to help release a bird like this MacGillivray's Warbler.

Studying in-hand nuances of birds like this Cassin's Vireo can help birders get a grip on tricky field IDs such as separating species within the Solitary Vireo complex.

 

Pledge to Fledge: The Best Thing You Can Do This Weekend

 

School children in Wilderness, Western Cape, South Africa earlier today participating in Pledge to Fledge. Photo courtesy Keith Barnes.

It's August 24, the first day of the first Pledge to Fledge event. If you've somehow missed the buzz surrounding this event, take a look at Richard Crossley's post here from last week. Also check the P2F website and Facebook page, where there is already quite a bit of material up from last night's kickoff event in Cape May, as well as some cool shots of Keith Barnes' efforts to fledge some new birders in South Africa. No doubt there will be much more to come.

I'm especially encoraged to see Pledge to Fledge emerge now, as I think it represents an important evolution in birding culture. Though I've often heard birders decry the lack of "new blood" coming into our community, I've rarely seen much in the way of focussed efforts to do something about it. Don't get me wrong—I know we've all stood at tables, gone to various events, and so on in hopes of minting some new birders. These are laudable efforts and they haven't been wholly unsuccessful.

But I think what is needed is an almost complete overhaul in how we recruit and I see Pledge to Fledge as an important step in that direction. Putting it in birding terms, we have to get as good at finding, identifying and sparking new birders as we have gotten at finding, identifying and spreading the word of vagrant birds.

Think how much time, effort, and ingneuity has been put into learing the habits, habitats, hotspots, weather patterns, and search techniques involved in ferreting out rare birds. Where these efforts have been most successful, they've involved shifting our frame of reference, dropping our old behavior patterns and learning to think like like the wayward birds we seek.

When I started birding the Mid-Atlantic in the mid-1970's, early November was considered a sort of lull between the peak of hawk migration and the peak of waterfowl migration. Not too much to see then, the thinking went. Now, thanks to the efforts of Paul Lehman and dozens of others like him, early November is recognized as perhaps the most exciting, productive time of the year, if finding Mid-Atlantic vagrants is your thing. And our expectations of what's possible then, in terms of numbers and diversity have been exceeded time and again.

What I'm really excited about in the coming years is helping the ABA get just that good at reaching and sparking new birders. There's much to be learned about where we can find them, how they behave, and what conditions set the stage for that magical conversion experience. I think we're not that far from a day when how good a day we've had in the field will be measured not only by how many species we found but also by the number of new birders we recruited.

As a community, we have so, so much to learn about how best to do this. And there's no substitue for getting out there and just giving it a whirl, refining what works and sidelining what doesn't. And the fact that so many others will be doing the same thing this weekend, gives us all a great opportunity to share our triumphs and our tribulations.

 

Liz shares her bins, and a view of a Prairie Falcon, with a birder-to-be at Garden of the Gods.

Liz and I have already got at least one spot picked out where we'll go birding for new birders this weekend: Garden of the Gods. It's a big tourist attraction, so there are plenty of people around, almost none of them there for birding. But there are nifty birds to look at, usually including Prairie Falcons. And a spotting scope set up in a place like that always draws a crowd, and the inevitable, "Whatcha lookin' at?," conversation openers. I think it's an ideal place to practice our recruitment skills.

How about you? Where might you spend an hour or two this weekend and snag a new birder or two? A local park with a duck pond? Maybe a zoo that has wild but relatively tame birds wandering the grounds? Remember, you don't need rare birds to do this. You want close birds, preferably lots of them. Don't worry if it's starlings or magpies. They'll work.

ABA board member Kenn Kaufman and Kim Kaufman, director of the Ohio's Black Swamp Bird Observatory, have a nice post on their blog with tips on taking new birders birding. It's worth a look as you're making your plans.

Mainly, remember to be friendly and enjoy yourself. Birding is a wonderful thing. Let's all get as good as we can at securing its future by growing our ranks.

So take the Pledge. Then get out there! Make sure your Bird of the Year stickers are in place and wear your ABA logo wear, if you have it. And be sure to tell us what you discover!



 

 

ABA Debuts Birding News!

 

Since the early 1990’s at least, birders have been sharing news via e-mail subscription lists. These lists were a great way to keep up with the birding scene in a given region. But they weren’t always the most convenient things to work with, especially if you just wanted to check in on what’s going on in a region but didn't want to go through the process of subscribing, figuring out settings, managing e-mail flow, and so on.

Enter Jack Siler and Birdingonthe.net. Jack is a Philadelphia birder and ABA member who long ago saw a need for a single place where all these user-generated news feeds could be aggregated and easily accessed. Nothing like that existed, so Jack, who isn't officially a web programmer, went ahead and built it himself. His groundbreaking site, especially the BirdMail page, quickly became one of the most heavily trafficked and most beloved birding spots on the entire world wide web.

And for years, Jack has maintained the site with incredible dedication and attention to detail on which thousands have come to rely. But the time has come for Jack to move on to other things including, we hope, getting a well-deserved break from tending these particular fires.

We’re thrilled that Jack has honored us by passing the torch of his inspired marshalling of local, regional, national and international birding mail lists to the American Birding Association. The result is ABA's Birding News (birding.aba.org). We’ve worked hard and are working hard to preserve Jack’s vision while building an entirely new site that incorporates the expanded possibilites of rapidly evolving web technology. We hope you're as excited by the initial results and the possibilites for the future as we are.

We have updated the inner workings of the site, allowing us to archive more messages on each list (30 day’s worth, instead of just a couple dozen), and to filter the messages so you can easily see reports of rarities based on the ABA checklist codes. Additionally, we’ve plugged in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, so you can easily share messages that you find interesting, funny, provocative, or otherwise worthwhile with a huge audience that would have been highly unlikely to see them previously.

We at the ABA have always believed that the birding community is an immense storehouse of incredibly valuable and hard-won knowledge. And that birders know an awful lot about how to have a good time, plus some great stories of having some not-so-good times. We've always tried to shape and curate that knowledge and experience into useful things like the ABA/Lane Birdfinding Guides. Birding News is an attempt to do the same thing for the millions of bytes of birding information that go winging around the web every day. We want to make it all easier, more useful, and more fun.

The best part is, this is only the beginning. We can't wait to see what you, the birding community, make of Birding News. We promise to keep making it better, responding to your comments and suggestions, learning together as we all move forward. It's what birders do, after all.

We'll be talking a lot more, here and elsewhere, about Birding News. For now, go on over and have a look around. We think you're going to like what you see.

The address is easy. Say it with me: BIRDING dot ABA dot ORG! birding.aba.org Remember it. Visit it. Bookmark it, and the individual lists you visit often. And tell your friends.

Special congratulations are due to ABA's David Hartley and Greg Neise for their painstaking work setting this all up. They were aided by a succession of contract programmers, especially Greg Mahoney and Andy Sheppard. Thanks, too, to Carrie Hartley for a fresh but classic new look.

And finally, once again, thank you Jack Siler! For your hard work, your creativity, and your involvement in the birding community. We can't begin to express our gratitude that you've trusted the ABA with your baby. We aim to make you, and all birders, proud.

Young Birds & Young Birders

I'm enjoying my last day of summer break, doing a little back-to-school shopping (yeah, teachers do that too) and taking some trips down memory lane as I review some pics & vids from the last few weeks' worth of adventures.   Some of my most rewarding experiences this summer involved birding & naturalizing with young birders, particularly the privilege of leading at Camp Colorado and taking my most important client (my son Garrett) around Colorado's high country.  I also enjoy summer's chance of finding young birds, both to celebrate successful nesting and to entertain the hope that the next generation of birders and nature lovers will still have productive habitats and special birds to see.  Here's a little video that combines both themes- I hope you enjoy it.  -Bill Schmoker

 

The ABA Area in 2012—What Should Be In and What Should Be Out?

 

Hawaii. Attu. Saint Pierre. Which should be in the ABA Area and which, if any, should be out?
Images by:  SteveD./Steve Dunleavy (Hawaii); alaskanet/D. Sikes (Attu) The Tedster/Theo (Saint Pierre)
all images are used under a Creative Commons license via flickr 

The boundaries of the ABA area, especially whether they ought to include Hawaii or not, remain a topic of great interest and discussion within and beyond our membership. I’ve followed this debate closely, as I think these issues are important ones that will have an impact on the ABA's growth and effectiveness. In this post, I’ll share some of my own thoughts about what would be best for the ABA and most importantly, tell you about how we intend to go about getting your thoughts.

A very brief summary of the debate. Some say we should stick with tradition. And the tradition can be summed up as follows: 

ABA Area = (United States - Hawaii) + Canada + St Pierre et Miquelon, France + adjacent waters to a distance of 200 miles from land or half the distance to a neighboring country, whichever is less.

But much has changed, both inside the ABA and in the world at large. Though we proudly retain many long-term members, we have a very large and increasing percentage that are new to our flock in just the last couple of years.

At the same time, the accelerating peril of Hawaii's birds is easily one of the saddest spectacles or our era. Many have called for us to shine what spotlight we can on this amazing, vanishing avifauna and have argued that inclusion in the ABA Area is the best means at our disposal for so doing.

But changing the ABA Area isn’t something that I or the board or the staff can simply do. It would take a vote by the membership to change the bylaws of the organization to do it.

Though some of us may remember it as vividly as if it were yesterday, it's really been quite awhile since the issue was put to the membership. And so we have come up with a plan to get a sense of where the membership stands on this issue in 2012. First, though, I promised to let you know what I think.

While I'm under no illusion that the ABA adding Hawaii to the ABA Area will quickly halt or reverse the mass extinction now occurring there, I think it's the right thing for the ABA to do. In my estimation it can't hurt and it may well help. It will also send a clear message that the ABA can indeed change and adapt and that the risk of attempting to do something to help trumps the comforts of maintaining the status quo.

I also think there are other benefits to be had from refining the ABA Area. In fact, phrasing the question as "add Hawaii, yes or no," may not be the best or most helpful approach. I'd prefer to frame it just as much as a question of clarity and coherence.

People have often debated the ABA Area, saying it should somehow be "biogeographically" or "ecologically" defined. This is often a prelude to saying that it makes sense to keep Attu and the rest of Alaska, but exclude Hawaii.

These arguments, however impassioned and well intentioned, make no sense to me. If the ABA area is supposed to be biogeographically defined, then South Texas, Southeast Arizona, etc, are out. Or Northern Mexico, for starters, is in. And the latter is certainly an option, but my suspicion is that is adding part or all of Mexico wouldn't be approved by the membership at this point.

So it’s my contention that the ABA Area is more a political, cultural, and recreational construct, though certainly one with ornithological consequences.

Cutting to the chase here, my own own preference would be to have the ABA Area be the United States and Canada. I think that's the simplest, most coherent formulation. It's clear, memorable, and easy to articulate without asterisks and footnotes. Obviously, that brings Hawaii in and I suppose, kicks Saint Pierre et Miquelon, which are just off Newfoundland but technically France, out. But I'd likely be OK with that, as I suspect many of our members would be.

I also think we should internally ban and generally discourage referring to the ABA Area as, "North America," or "North America north of Mexico," etc. I think those formulations are inaccurate and clunky. Always have. 

On the other hand, I don't think making the ABA Area the same as the AOU area, as has sometimes been suggested, is the best course, either. 

For one thing, ABA=AOU would run the risk of seriously diluting one of the ABA's most recognized and valuable properties, the whole idea of a US/Canada-centric ABA Area that is different than the geographic North America. I hope everyone knows that this isn't any kind of slight against Mesoamerica, whose birds, people, food, music, culture, and nearly everything else I love. It's just that a US/Canada grouping makes a lot of sense, really. 

There have been proposals to include Greenland and Bermuda over the years. Never the Bahamas that I know of, for whatever reasons. Nothing against any of those, but I think the US + Canada formulation is in many ways the best. While I wouldn't be upset at all if Greenland or Bermuda (or the Bahamas for that matter) were in, I think that any of those starts to erode the simplicity argument.

But that’s just what I think. What I and the ABA board and staff are really interested in is what you, our members, think.

So we’re going to include a non-binding referendum on this year’s proxy ballot, which should be in your mailbox in the last week of August. On it, we’ll pose a series of questions about your preferences for the ABA Area boundaries.

From that, we’ll work to come up with a proposed change to the bylaws that truly reflects our shared vision of where the ABA is now and where it ought to go. And if the answer is that most of you want things status quo, well, at least we’ll know it’s time to put the issue to rest for a while.

Here’s a draft of what those questions will look like.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Understanding that this is a non-binding referendum, please give us your opinions on the following questions.

1. My preferred definition of the ABA area is:

______ A. United States minus Hawaii plus Canada plus St Pierre et Miquelon, France plus adjacent waters (status quo)

______ B. United States plus Canada plus adjacent waters

2. I would like to see the following places added, whatever else happens _______________________________

3. I would like to see the following places excluded, whatever else happens ____________________________

4. It is important to me that St Pierre et Miquelon, France, be retained.       yes | no

5. If your preferred definition for the ABA Area isn't addressed above, please describe it below

_________________________________________________________________________________________

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So I have several questions for you right now, dear readers.

1. Are you an ABA member? We don’t typically ask commenters to say, but I think it’s important here, as we can only tabulate responses from members. Of course, you’re still welcome to comment here on the blog, member or no. And if you're a non-member with strong opinions on this issue, you can always join now in order to recieve the proxy.
2. How would you answer the questions posed above?
3. How can that list of questions be improved?

Remember that all of us, members, board, and staff, should be thinking of what’s best for the organization as a whole as we move into the heart of the 21st Century. Thank you in advance for your thoughts. It is both an honor and a privilege to serve the ABA community.

 

 

 

 

 

First Look: Swarovski's New ATX Scopes & Digiscoping Accessories At Hungary's Hortobágy

 

From left: Guide Attila Steiner looks on as Belgium's Gerard Driessens, England's Tim Appleton, and Sweden's Måns Karlsson field test Swarovski ATX scopes in Hungary's Hortobágy

 A little over a month ago, I was invited to represent the ABA at a pretty amazing gathering in Hungary. I say amazing in that it assembled quite a powerhouse of talent in the European birding industry. Editors, photographers, bloggers, from a wide variety of media outlets joined Swarovski country reps and a goodly number of Swarovksi Optik executives and staff from the home office in Austria.

North America wasn't slighted, though. In addition to me, Corey Finger of 10,000 Birds fame, Gus Axelson, Science Editor for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and Clay Taylor, Swarovski's US Naturalist Markets Manager all made the trip across the pond to attend.

 

From left: Corey Finger, Gus Axelson, and Clay Taylor at Tisza Balneum on the shore of Lake Tisza

 

To attend what? The invitees weren't exactly sure and Clay, who we grilled en route, wasn't telling. All I knew was that I was being invited to attend an event put on by one of the ABA's major sponsors and advertisers and that there was going to be some great birding with some great people. I was in.

We didn't have to wait long. Shortly after our arrival at the Tisza Balneum, we were shown the new ATX spotting scopes and a couple of new digiscoping adapters. Then, even better, we were given a set of of the new products to use for the next several days.

Even though we knew we would have to surrender these nifty new toys before leaving, there was a palpable Christmas morning wave of excitement surging through the crowd. These things looked really cool! But how would they perform? 

 

First looks through the ATX. Why is it that we birders so often look through spotting scopes where people are swimming or sunbathing?

What follows are some photos and thoughts about the experience both of birding and digiscoping with the ATX setup and in Hungary. I hope they'll be of value to anyone with an interest in spotting scopes and digiscoping.

First question: what's new about these scopes? I realize that in the shots so far they may not look much different from other products already on the market. Well, have a look at the shot below.

Rather than the standard spotting scope/eyepiece configuration we're all accustomed to, where the eyepiece determines the magnification and zoom, there is now a system that more closely resembles a telephoto camera lens. You choose either a straight (STX) or angled (ATX) ocular unit and then attach it by means of a bayonet mount, again very like a camera lens, to an objective unit of which there are 3: a compact 65mm, an 85mm that is in the range of most larger spotting current spotting scopes, and a stonking big 95mm unit. All can be interchanged, producing scope combinations of different magnification, weight, and brightness

The advantages of such modularity are obvious. You can choose to emphasize small and light or big and bright or split the difference.




I ended up using the angled unit with the 95mm objective almost exclusively, though I spend a bit of time with the 65mm, too.

One last product shot and we'll get back out into the field. I was also given a sample of Swarovski's new TLS APO to test, an adapter that allows you to connect these scopes to a DLSR, Micro 4/3, or other interchangeable lens camera.

They also had samples of a new swing bracket style adapter for digiscoping with smaller point and shoot cameras but I didn't evaluate that. I've done lots of bird and nature photography with DSLRs and standard camera lenses, and a fair bit of digiscoping with point and shoots. But I've never digiscoped with an SLR before though I've been curious about it. So that's what I resolved to do with my time in Hungary. I only wondered how much learning curve there would be.

 

A White Wagtail worked the edge of a dock ©Jeffrey A Gordon

The answer: not much. I found that within 10 or 15 minutes I was getting images I was quite happy with. Not to mention the fun of practicing on common European garden birds that for me were things I seldom or never see.

 

A House Martin gathers mud ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

In the reed beds around Lake Tisza, there were less domestic species. Three times, I was treated to brief fly-by looks at Little Bittern, one of which was exciting enough that I dropped one of my own lens hoods in the lake, losing it forever.

Any sting was soon eased by the looks and the photos I was getting at and of other birds. A Great Reed Warbler cooperated well, giving its loud, multipart song recalling by turns a thrasher or a chat and perching high up in its namesake substrate.

 

Great Reed Warbler ©Jeffrey A Gordon

A couple of things were obvious. One, Swarovski has really thought carefully about what birders and digiscopers experience in the field and tried to address many of the persistent issues. The TLS APO is easily the most elegant digiscoping adapter I've yet used, attaching a heavy camera body securely and easily. It also deattaches very quickly, making it possible to switch back and forth between photography and observation, which I did frequently.

For those who are not digiscopers, the ATX delivers beautiful views at the eyepiece, startlingly clear and bright and holding together very well even toward the upper end of the zoom range. With the 95mm, that's a whopping 70X. The other two front modules go to 60X.

The new arrangement of zoom and focussing rings adjacent on the barrel feels a bit novel at first but soon becomes second nature, especially if you have used larger camera lenses. And it solves another problem for digiscopers: now you can easily adjust the scope's focus and zoom with one hand while operating the camera with the other, you're not forced to make one hand switch between camera and zoom.

Ergonomically, the scopes were great. Even that giant 95mm didn't feel too heavy though my scope shoulder has carried a lot of weight over the years so your opinion might be different.

I will say, though, that the 65mm breaks new ground in portability. It's light and compact fully assembled. Break it down and it slides into an astonishingly small carrying case that looks more like it would hold a large pair of binoculars, not a scope. Traveling birders, and those who are fond of (or forced into) long hikes, take note. 

Did I see any problems or weaknesses? With the caveat that this was not an exhaustive field test, no. The only obvious question in my mind was how durable and resistant to water, dust, etc that bayonet connection will be. Swarovski's specs say that the ATX will be water tight to 4 meters, so they are confindent in that regard.

And though the ATX/TLS APO combination does indeed make DSLR digiscoping easy, it's still not quite as seamless as photography with a dedicated telephoto lens: there's no autofocus, of course, and metering with my Canon 50D and 60D bodies required frequent exposure adjustment, though nothing burdensome. 

On the plus side for ATX versus a big telephoto lens, the ATX is much smaller and lighter, less expensive, and offers you first rate viewing, something no camera/telephoto combo does.

Overall, I was extremely impressed with the quality and field functionality of the ATX system. I'm interested to see how popular it will prove with birders. Based on what I saw those few days in Hungary, it's likely to become among the most admired of birding optics.

To read Corey Finger's impressions from the same trip, go to his post at 10,000 Birds. Gus Axelson's report can be found at Cornell's Round Robin blog.

I'd also recommend perusing Swarovski's site devoted to the ATX/STX system. I haven't had much time to poke around it yet, but I thought the video here featuring Clay Taylor and Dale Forbes did a very good job of explaining how the TLS APO adapter works.

The ATX will debut publicly at the British Bird Fair next month. It should be available in the US and Canada sometime in September, when I'm sure you'll start to be able to see it in action at various birding festivals and other events.

Our partners at Eagle Optics will have more info on pricing and availibility.

What follows are a few more shots from the trip, which visited the marshes and steppes of Hortobágy, as well as the wooded Buuk Hills. All the wildlife shots are digiscoped with the ATX.

Walking the boardwalks at Halasto. ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

Truly a multimodal trip, our group traveled by plane, bus, narrow gauge railroad, and even horse cart    ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

A branchling Long-eared Owl at Hortobágy ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

Birding the Buuk Hills ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

Red-backed Shrike ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

A butterfly whose name escapes me digiscoped with the 65mm ATX When this shot is viewed at full size, mites are clearly visible on the butterflie's thorax. That's sharp. ©Jeffrey A Gordon

 

What trip to Hungary would be complete without goulash and paprika? The group enjoys an outdoor meal at the Nomad Hotel.