“Borealis” is Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s Emmy-winning outdoors and environmental program hosted by Aislinn Sarnacki, formerly a Bangor Daily News outdoors journalist and editor and currently a BDN Outdoors contributor.
Many readers fondly recall her One-Minute Hikes column and video series that appeared on the BDN website for years.
When Maine Public sought a potential birding guide for an upcoming episode, I leapt at the chance, thinking, “This is going to be fun!”
It was. We shot some of the resulting fun this month on video. During our first bird walk, Aislinn asked some good, basic questions other people should ask me, but rarely do. They are pertinent to situations all birders face.
How would you describe the birding community in Maine?
There’s a wide range of interests and abilities, with people of every skill level. All of us are still learning, even the occasional expert who pretends to know it all. Sometimes, less experienced birders worry about feeling intimidated or unwelcomed. They shouldn’t. Most experienced birders love sharing. If you meet a snob, ignore them. They’re no fun.
So what’s it like to lead a bird walk for beginners?
I love it. I get to relive all the excitement I once had when seeing a new-to-me bird.
It’s also an amusing challenge. Picking an appropriate beginner-birder route involves finding a predictable number and diversity of birds, on a path wide enough for a crowd.
I look for an open canopy, preferably sunny, allowing good views. A variety of habitats over a short, easy walk is a plus.
Maine has so many birds. It looks complicated and often overwhelming. What’s the best way to make birding easier?
Make it easier. Simplify. The best way to learn fast is to learn slowly. Identify the easiest species, the ones near your home that are making all the noise. Once you’re comfortable identifying those, branch out to other favorite locations, such as a local park, camp or the golf course.
Bird identification looks more complicated than it is. The problem starts the moment a beginner cracks open a guidebook. There they are, page after page of bird species, too many to remember. But only a few of those birds are in your immediate area. The others are either in a different habitat, or far, far away. Ignore them for now. There’s plenty of time to learn the hard ones later.
Think of it another way. An experienced birder can likely identify more than 90 percent of the birds found in Maine. An inexperienced birder can likely identify at least 10 percent, once they realize they already recognize robins, chickadees, crows, loons, mallards, herring gulls, blue jays, and often dozens more.
By learning the easy ones first, it doesn’t take long for beginners to identify 50 percent of what they’re seeing, then more. What does it take to become an experienced birder? Experience. Every expert learned birds one at a time. There’s no race to the finish line. Enjoy the ride.
Bob, you’ve been doing this a long time and you know the birds well. How has that changed birding for you?
I’m glad you asked. I went through all the same stages of skill development as everyone else, learning birds by sight, then sound, then other clues. For most of my life, it was a technical endeavor.
Now, birds are very familiar to me, and that has changed the way I watch them. Now I’m just hanging out with old friends. I know their personality quirks, and I get a chuckle out of them. I can walk in the woods and enjoy their company, without even bothering to look. I’m just happy to know they’re there.
I also found a new birding challenge. I started a YouTube channel to share my birds with others. I can tell you, identification may seem hard, but it’s a lot easier than trying to shoot video of a bird that won’t stop moving. It’s exceedingly difficult to find a bird foraging in foliage while looking through the camera’s viewfinder. It’s so narrow, it’s like peering through a toilet paper roll.
I’m looking forward to watching the “Borealis” crew film more of their birding episode. They’re attending Maine’s birding festivals this month. We’ll see how they do with those big cameras and narrow viewfinders.
This “Borealis” episode has been slotted for Season 3. It likely won’t air until next year in early May. Until then, I intend to binge-watch previous episodes, which can be found at PBS.org and on YouTube.
Let’s see what I got myself into.
