During the second week of January 2009, while walking along the trail that runs down to the little pond in our neighborhood, I decided to make it a point to come out at least once a week and count birds to try to get a sense of what birds are in the neighborhood, when they’re here and how many I could see.
I jokingly called it my Pond Trail Big Year, mainly because I didn’t expect to see all that many birds on our little stretch of trail. It turned out to be more of a medium or even small-sized year, but still worth every moment. Keeping counts and lists is cool, but for me it’s more of a memory tool since I’ve never been terribly competitive about such things.
I managed to keep my commitment to birding the trail at least once per week, expect for a week in May when we were in Missouri and a week in August when we were working at Camp Periwinkle. In all, I counted 61 species on the pond trail and if I also include the birds I saw at my house and the birds I saw on the regional trail (with which the pond trail connects) leading to the lake where Double-crested Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls and Greater Roadrunners can be seen, the number jumps to 67 birds seen on foot, which is a decent number, I think, for someone still learning to find birds.
It wasn’t long before I started paying attention to more than just the birds. There are trees, wildflowers, rabbits, turtles, deer, butterflies, snakes, and frogs out there. I started to try to pay more attention to those things as well, and it wasn’t long before I went beyond just birding to a different kind of seeing that seemed more a witnessing the little patch of nature just beyond my yard.
Some of my most memorable days include the day after one of our hailstorms when I saw an Osprey and a Black-and-white Warbler on the same day; the day I discovered the Blotched Water Snakes that live under the bridge; or the time I watched a Yellow-crowned Night Heron catch and kill a crawfish (which made me realize that being boiled alive is probably the easy way out for a crawfish compared to the hard way administered by the night heron).
There were times, particularly during last summer’s especially brutal drought-ridden days of infernal heat, on which I had to force myself to get out, knowing I would see only grackles and vultures, but even that was fun since I really do like those birds quite a bit.
I learned a lot about the seasonal migration patterns of my local birds. Things like when the different duck species come and go from the pond, which ones just pass through and which ones stay. I learned where to look for different kinds of birds and what to listen for and how to let my ears guide my eyes when trying to find something.
In addition to learning a lot about birding, I realized some things about the kind of birder I am. I rarely drive to go birding and when I do, it’s usually just to go somewhere else in Austin like Hornsby Bend. There’s something immensely satisfying about walking out one’s door and seeing the birds that live nearby. Considering the toll taken on all wildlife by cars and roads, birding by foot just seems a bit greener, and getting to know an area inspires a deeper understanding of a place that goes beyond the superficial. I think I’d rather know every bird in my neighborhood than see every bird in the state (which isn’t to say I don’t try to see as many birds as I can; rather, I’m just not going to kill myself—or anything else—to do it).
Other people joined me on these walks: my wife (quite frequently), my parents, my father-in-law, various houseguests. It was fun to be able to share some of the discoveries I’ve made, and those were some of my favorite walks.
Here’s the final 2009 Neighborhood Small Year list with stars next to the ones that were life birds:
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck *
- Gadwall
- American Wigeon *
- Blue-winged Teal *
- Northern Shoveler
- Northern Pintail *
- Ring-necked Duck *
- Pied-billed Grebe *
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Little Blue Heron
- Green Heron
- Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Osprey
- Accipiter sp. *
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- American Coot
- Killdeer
- Ring-billed Gull
- White-winged Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Greater Roadrunner
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Black-chinned Hummingbird
- Belted Kingfisher *
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Ladder-backed Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Eastern Phoebe
- Ash-throated Flycatcher *
- Western Kingbird
- Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
- Blue Jay
- American Crow
- Purple Martin
- Barn Swallow
- swallow sp.
- Carolina Chickadee
- Black-crested Titmouse
- Carolina Wren
- Bewick’s Wren
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Eastern Bluebird
- American Robin
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- Cedar Waxwing
- Orange-crowned Warbler *
- Yellow-rumped Warbler *
- Black-and-white Warbler *
- Common Yellowthroat *
- Chipping Sparrow
- Song Sparrow *
- Northern Cardinal
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird *
- Baltimore Oriole *
- House Finch
- Lesser Goldfinch *
- American Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
I’m looking forward to my next walk. I’ll probably keep walking the trail weekly since I did that anyway, but if I don’t feel like it, I won’t. It will also be nice to enjoy walking without listing and counting, though I’ll still list occasionally and continue posting those numbers to ebird for whatever scientific value it may serve.
This was a good exercise for me, but I’m glad to be able to just get back to walking and enjoying the birds, which is what it’s supposed to be about anyway.
Update: This post was included in I and the Bird #118 at Ben Cruchan – Natural History.
