If you ever find yourself out and about with a group of experienced birders, you’ll do well to keep the following tips in mind…
1. Never use the term “bird watcher” around serious birders. It sounds far too passive and suggests cross-species voyeurism.
2. Avoid wearing white while birding. Birds are very sensitive to visual clues of danger, such as bright colours, sudden movements, and newby birders with the fashion sense of scarecrows.
3. There is no such thing as just a duck. They are mallards, wigeons, buffleheads, mergansers, teals, goldeneyes, and many others. The term “duck” should only be used while trying to avoid shotgun blasts from those attempting to shoot the species listed above.
4. Speak quietly and only when you need to. Birding is not a time to debate politics, chatter incessantly about your new binoculars, or shout, “Look! There’s a duck!”
5. Never bring noisy snacks on a birding trip. This includes potato chips, celery sticks, dill pickles, carrots, a fresh bowl of Rice Krispies, or anything wrapped in cellophane.
6. Do your research before entering a new area so that you’ll have some idea about which birds you may expect to see. Though birds sometimes do stray far away from their typical habitats, you might not want to call out “cactus wren”, “roadrunner” or “emu” while birding on Pender Island.
7. It is considered poor form to ask another birder how many birds they have on their Life List. If they bring it up themselves and it is a number far higher than yours, remind them that it is the whole natural birding experience that one must appreciate, not some cold, impersonal number. If, however, their Life List total is smaller than yours, feel free to let them know by how much.
8. Learn from the experts. If there is an experienced birder in your group who says it’s a Wilson’s warbler and you are sure it was actually a pileated woodpecker, chances are, you are incorrect. If however, the expert identifies a bird as a ruby crowned kinglet, but you are sure it was a golden crowned kinglet because you saw a flash of yellow on its head, feel free to respectfully disagree, unless the expert is your ride or you ever want to bird with him or her again.
9. Never bring a camera with a lens larger than a bazooka. Just saying…
10. All little birds you can’t identify are called “LBJs.” That stands for “little brown jobs”, not what you were thinking.
Welcome to an island full of bird life! Spotted towhees, dark-eyed juncos, downy woodpeckers, red breasted nuthatches, kinglets, Pacific wrens, and brown creepers abound within the moist forests of Pender Island. Be on the lookout for a 1 meter tall hollow stump of a mature Douglas Fir that now provides shelter for our featured friends. You'll have to leave the main trail a bit when you get within 10 m. of GZ, but no serious bushwhacking is involved. GPS reception can be a bit bouncy at first, but will settle down eventually. BYOP!