Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Connect with Local Birders to Guide You to Better Birding

Barrow, also known as Utqiagvik, is a prime location to find Snowy Owls during the nesting season.

After 35 years of waiting, I was finally going to Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost city in North America. My first taste of the tundra! That was the good news. The sobering part was that this was a business trip and I would have only about three hours to go birding. As my flight descended toward the airport, I scoured the watery landscape and hoped that a hike through the town would turn up some good birds.

The terminal was tiny and packed with travelers. As I waited for my luggage, a middle-aged man, clearly a local resident, greeted me. He offered taxi service to my meeting site, pointed me to the only open restaurant for a little breakfast, and beamed when I asked who could show me the local birds, wildlife and habitats. “I can do that,” he said. “I have a special vehicle that can get us all the way to Point Barrow. Finish your breakfast while I get the truck and I’ll pick you up right here.”

For the next two hours we bounced along the rocky road in his balloon-tired tundra truck, spotting Snowy Owls, picking out Pomarine, Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers swooping over their nests, and eyeing King, Spectacled and Steller’s Eiders. All the while, my new friend regaled me with stories about native culture and his community. He wasn’t a birder, but he knew where the birds were. Our whirlwind tour ended when he dropped me at my meeting place. For a modest price I enjoyed a guided tour and saw far more than I ever would have on my own with some local color thrown in for good measure.

Guide, Redefined
When most birders envision guides, they picture high-powered pros who lead exotic field trips to far-away places. That is certainly one category of guides, and in most foreign countries, a professional tour leader and highly-organized tour can maximize your birding pleasure.

Guides come in many other shapes and sizes, however. Scan the classified advertisements in Birding Magazine, published by the American Birding Association, and other birding publications and you will discover pitches for hotels and lodges nestled in birding hotspots, many of which offer guides for a day, half-day or a specialty trip. If your time is short, or you absolutely can’t afford to miss that local rarity, or you just want some company while birding a new area, hiring a local guide is a smart move.

Some of the best guides are not professionals, they are other birders, just like you, who enjoy showing out-of-towners around. I love to be birding, but I really love to take others birding, especially if I can show off the special places where I spend so much time. Think about it, if a birder from another area asked if you had time to show them your local specialties, wouldn’t you enjoy the opportunity?

Sharing your birds and their habitats with visitors can help you appreciate just how special your area is. When a business colleague from Great Britain asked me to help him find Pine Warblers and Brown-headed Nuthatches in the Atlanta area I jumped at the chance. He was on an airline flight layover, so I scouted out a small pine forest behind an airport hotel. It’s a place I never would have gone on my own because it was so small and urban. We had a blast, though, because everything was new for him, and he added two new species to his life list.

Finding a Guide and Being a Guide
There are many ways to connect with non-professional guides. One of the best bets is to check out a local birding club via their website that provides points of contact. Plan ahead by contacting the club nearest your travel destination and ask if there is a birder who would consider showing you around. The more specific you are about what you would like to see and your time frame, the more likely you are to be successful.

Many wild bird retail stores maintain lists of bird sightings and are sure to know locals who are good birders. eBird is a great source of contacts too. If you visit the “Explore Hotspots” feature, you can view checklists submitted by birders, some of whom may provide email or other contact information.

Birding list serves often reveal the most active birders and where they go to see good birds. Personal recommendations are always valuable; contact birding friends and let them know where you are traveling, and ask if they have any experience in the area. On many occasions I have contacted the friend of a friend of a friend who turned out to be a great guide and field companion.

Questions to Ask
Use common sense when you are investigating the potential to hire a professional guide or meet a fellow birder. Professional guides are experienced and will typically ask what you want to see, how long you want to be in the field, how willing you are to travel long distances, and how much you are willing to spend. Amateur birders are likely to be less familiar with the needs of a guest, so be upfront about what you are looking for in your experience, including mundane details such as when and where you’d like to stop for a meal or how often you’ll need to use restrooms. The more detailed you are in your requirements, the more likely you are to have a successful trip. Whenever possible, ask for references.

To add a little flavor to your own birding, consider being a guide. It may take a while for other birders to find you, but when they do, you’ll be on your way to an enriched experience and many new friends.

Article by Peter Stangel

The American Birding Association maintains a list of bird clubs at https://www.aba.org/birding-clubs-organizations/ and they also provide state birding listserves at http://birding.aba.org/news

To track down local wild bird retail stores, begin with Wild Birds Unlimited (www.wbu.com) and Wild Bird Centers (www.wildbird.com), the two largest chains. You can also search the internet for local independent stores.