Entries Tagged '31 Days' ↓

#31 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

While we are not expert birders or all-knowing conservationists, we hope you’ve enjoyed this series of birding and conservation tips. We hope to provide information about bird conservation for years to come and to always promote birds and birding.

But we are just a small part of the world of birding. There are many wonderful bird focused blogs out there with daily commentary on birding and conservation. A good starting point would be Birds Etcetera, where you’ll find a large list of birding and nature blogs.

And you don’t have to stop there. There are many wonderful conservation organizations all over the world with websites loaded with information about birds and what we can do to help them. There are discussion groups all over the internet about birds and when and where to find them.

But, most importantly, get out there and spread the joy of birding to everyone, and have lots of fun doing it! Birds rule!!

#30 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

Unfortunately, the world is full of uncertainty and problems. Many of these require constant attention, debate, and can lead to utter despair. But the one thing that can bring birding and conservation up is a positive attitude.

Much of the world’s native habitat has been destroyed but much of it has been saved too. Species have gone extinct and yet, many have been brought back from the brink of extinction. All is not lost in the world of conservation. With millions of birders working together, how can we not make things better for our birds and ourselves?

#29 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

Birding is sometimes hard to understand when discussing with a non-birder. Explaining why you would get up before dawn and count birds for twelve hours in sub-freezing weather is sometimes difficult to someone who would rather spend their Saturday at the mall. But if you can coerce that same person into actually going birding with you, your chances increase at turning that person into a birder. (It helps if you can find some cool birds that are willing to stay still).

The more birders there are, the more conservation, and the more birds for us birders to enjoy!

#28 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

Shade-grown coffee has been around for awhile now and is important to bird conservation. Coffee grown in the shade allows for conservation of native habitats in Central and South American countries, as the land doesn’t need to be cleared for “traditional” coffee production. Supporting the companies that produce shade-grown coffee over traditional coffee gives them incentives to continue the process.

But even if you don’t drink coffee, the same principles of economics apply in other fields as well. If birders support companies with sound environmental policies and those that contribute to bird conservation, the more incentives they’ll have to continue what they are doing. No matter what people say, profitability runs businesses, even not-for-profits that need positive money to continue to function properly.

If bird conservation can mesh with sound business, we are infinitely more likely to accomplish more conservation. The best example outside of shade-grown coffee is ecotourism. If birders pay to see birds, businesses will not allow habitat to be destroyed, because in doing so they would be destroying their own livelihood.

#27 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

Each year we participate in multiple Christmas Bird Counts and the Spring Count but that is often not enough. So we’ve decided to start our own counts in the months where there are not official counts.

In May we did a 72-hour birding count where we spent 3 days trying to find as many species as we could in Winnebago County. Currently we are planning on doing bi-weekly counts of one of our favorite locations, Rock Cut State Park, from November through March.

These counts differ from Big Days or Big Sits because we are trying to inventory the birds and their locations and hopefully over a few years build up some data about our local bird populations.

So if you are looking for a little fun and a way to study bird populations, start your own count. Get as many people as you can involved and record the data. It might never be published in a scientific journal, but having an excellent understanding of your local birds will help when a new development is threatening to demolish the only forest in your area that has Cerulean Warblers or some other wonderful bird.

#26 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

If you’ve never participated in a Christmas Bird Count (CBC) make this be your first year! CBCs are held all over the country and internationally too. A count coordinator will assign you a circle and you count birds around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. It’s never to early to plan for a CBC, especially if you plan on doing multiple ones (like we are).

This year will be the 108th year of CBCs. Over the years the data from CBCs has been analyzed and used to help determine bird populations. The data is not perfect but the more counters, the more area is covered to get a good census on birds across the nation.

In the Midwest the weather is about as unpredictable as the number of birds found. A couple years ago we found ourselves in deep snow and below zero temperatures. Last year we birded in cloudy, 40-degree weather for one of our counts. For us, it is a fun challenge to face the elements and force ourselves to bird for many hours at a time. And that possible surprise find is always worth cold fingers.

#25 of 31 Days to Better Birding and Conservation

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Buying Duck Stamps is great for conservation!! 98% of the sale price of Duck Stamps ($15.00 each) goes to national bird conservation.

Duck Stamps make great gifts: you can buy one for a birthday or Christmas gift, you can stick one on your car, they make great decorations on binocular or camera straps, backpack zippers, etc.

So even if you already own a Duck Stamp, consider buying another one and if you do, let us know! For every Duck Stamp you purchase from now until the end of November, the Birdfreak Team will donate 1/3 of a stamp ($5.00). You can click the link on the sidebar to contribute through Pay Pal if you wish.

See how many Duck Stamps we’ve purchased since August 1st, 2007.