I had planned to be in Texas right now. I wanted to see my granddaughter and share the delights of High Island with my friend, Diane. I had almost counted my lifer Black-capped Vireo that I was sure to get this time. But like nearly everyone else on the planet, my plans were shattered by the coronavirus. Even if most local regulations don’t prohibit interstate travel, common sense dictates that this is the time to stay home. Fortunately, I’ve found a new birding game to keep me occupied.
A few years ago, I wrote about Games Birders Play. Since then Matt Smith has taken birding games to a whole new level with the launch of Fantasy Birding on New Year’s Day 2019. Matt, a birder, writer, and web designer/developer, works as a GIS analyst and publishes children’s books in his spare time. He lives with his wife and three kids near Charlottesville, Virginia.
I was slow to join Fantasy Birding, but on a whim I started playing the Carolinas game on March 1. I didn’t want to start one of the big games (ABA or global) two months behind, but Carolinas just started on March 1. I’m glad that I decided to play; otherwise I would not have known about the newest game that Matt kicked off at the beginning of April – the Yard Squad Challenge.
This latest game is real life birding, but only in one’s backyard or birding location close enough to walk to, i.e. patch birding. Fantasy Birding fans across the globe formed seven teams of nine players each. The draft was held live on Facebook and it was fast and crazy. The team captains had a spreadsheet with the names and locations of all players along with the number of species that each person expected to observe in April and May. The first three rounds were public, but the “peanut gallery” enjoyed it so much that Matt extended the drafting in public for another two rounds. I was amazed and thrilled when Joost Brandsma, a Dutch birder marooned on an obscure island off the European coast, picked me in the fourth round. Joost trained as a geologist but now work as a data scientist for a biomedical NGO based in Maryland. I didn’t know Joost or any of the other team leaders, but who wouldn’t want to be on a team named “The Yardbirds”?
Ruby-crowned Kinglets were plentiful and easy to see in the first stretch of the challenge, but difficult to photograph. At least a bit of the ruby crown on this pretty male kinglet is visible.
The game will consist of four two-week stretches with winners for each stretch as well as an overall winner. As I write this, it is day eleven and I have birded in my neighborhood every single day and nowhere else since the challenge started. I have considered something like this for years, but it’s been too hard to resist running to all the county hotspots chasing birds. And, that’s if I’m even home during spring migration and not in Florida or Panama or China, all places I’ve been in April or May in past years.
So far, it’s been a combination of tedium and amazement. I am learning a lot by birding my neighborhood every day and I realize how much I must miss in normal times. One day, at least a dozen Northern Rough-winged Swallows swooped around the dam between two of our lakes. Every other day, I have seen no more than two or three. The day after the swallow extravaganza, the same area was occupied by a flock of about 40 Cedar Waxwings. They stayed two days and then they were gone. I have already found a new bird for the neighborhood list bringing it to 131 species – a Palm Warbler near the swallow/waxwing spot. The list of discoveries goes on and on. I have found four White-eyed Vireos, a bird that I had seen in my neighborhood only once before. The story is similar with Blue-headed Vireo, Blue-winged Teal, and Field Sparrow.
Taking a rest from swooping around the lakes, a Northern Rough-winged Swallow poses on a neighbor’s garden fence.
This hasn’t been just like the typical experience of birding my neighborhood only more often; it’s significantly different. This is real patch birding. Patch birding is described as regularly birding in a place close to home. There are no hard and fast rules, but some suggest that the patch should be within a mile of your home; nearly everyone agrees that you should walk to your patch. And, all descriptions of patch birding suggest birding your patch year round, at least once a week, preferably several times a week. Previously, I birded in my neighborhood when I felt like it, which might have been a couple of times a week or it might have been weeks or even months between outings in my neighborhood beyond my yard.
It’s the every day habit that is making this an entirely new experience. Concentrated birding in one small area is resulting in more than learning about the birds in my neighborhood. I’m learning the rhythms of my patch, the microhabitats that certain species prefer, when the seasonal birds arrive. I feel more intimacy with the birds. Since I have a small area to cover, I have the luxury of just staring at a Yellow-rumped Warbler for 20 minutes if I feel like it. I can soak it all in. And, when I’m still, just watching and listening, new birds appear that I would normally miss. Yesterday, I must have stared at the trees in my backyard for nearly half an hour (does this count as meditation?) before I saw a Black-and-white Warbler. It wasn’t exciting like something rare, but those sweet quiet moments satisfy my soul.
White-eyed Vireos are easy to hear, but hard to photograph. But I’m happy when I can see the white eye.
The Yardbirds finished the first two-week stretch in second place. The competition was tough and I’m proud of us and proud of my contributions to the team. For the second stretch we have one new player on each team plus two entirely new teams. The competition is heating up, but so is spring migration. What will happen in the next two weeks?
Birding for Life 