For a person who has only identified or “I.D-ed” New York City pigeons, bird watching proved to be extremely enlightening. “Enlightening” may seem too extravagant of a word to describe simple bird-watching. There are birds constantly flying about. They relieve themselves mid-air, leaving the remains on your clothes. Their chirping – the earth’s natural alarm clock- are a sad reminder that there are only a few more hours until school begins and the essay is not even complete. Birds are constantly crossing streets without care, causing drivers to have unnecessary panic attack. And that summed up everything that I knew about our neighbors in the skies before Bioblitz. Raising my hand to go into the “birds group” was probably my best decision of the weekend.
I was originally assigned to bees but upon arrival to the New York Botanical Garden, three volunteers were needed to fill the bird group and I immediately joined. Only when our scientist, Tim*, handed a binocular to each of us did I realize that we would not simply walk through exhibit like areas where we would pet the birds, take pictures of them, and feed them.
No. We walked down trail after trail, coming to dozens of forks in the roads, stopping every now and then when we heard a distinct sound we would stand still and squint our eyes through layers of tall trees and branches crossing at all angles. What I realized was how diverse New York City’s birds were. We saw an amazing variety of birds such as an American Robin, a black and white warbler, an American Gold Finch, a Catbird, a European Starling, a Red Wing Blackbird, a Blue Jay, and so many more. Who knew that our own city could host so many birds and how quickly we could learn to differentiate between them. Within those few hours, our group could identify a warbler from a sparrow from a catbird (who’s chirping sounds like a cat scowling) from a European Starling (which is actually an invasive species from Europe). Even more interesting was the fact that we were identifying these birds in their natural habitat. They were not being held in captivity or anything. We were being true observers. Now as I stroll through parks and bike on trails I can identify birds and appreciate them for their unique characteristics.
BioBlitz further demonstrated how vital patience is to the art of observations to get qualitative and quantitative results. Our “scientist”, who in reality is a bird-watching hobbyist, could walk around for hours observing and identifying birds. Listening to their chirping and keeping a sharp eye for movement. We heard a Red Tailed Hawk but did not find it until the last 15 minutes of our session. The patience to go a half hour without spotting a single bird and still keep eyes and ears peeled for movement was admirable. While the group would get tired, he was consistently determined. Such patience and investment allows for good data and efficient research.
