President’s Column
Redwood Region Audubon Society:
Birding and Conservation:
Conflict or Compatibility?
January 2006
I recently had a pleasant discussion with a longtime RRAS member on memorable experiences we had while birding. We agreed that many of our better observations seem to occur when we let the wildlife come to us. This is a far cry from “big day” type birding, both philosophically and environmentally.
Big day birding events, notably the celebrity and/or benefit ones, don’t spare the petroleum fuel or greenhouse gases to get to as many hot spots as possible in a day. When energy expenditures for scouting and ground support are added to the jet fuel for the primary participants, one wonders about their overall effect on bird habitat.
The opposite of the corporate big day birding is that which is limited to the home feeder watch. This conserves resources and avoids generating greenhouse gases and pressure to extract more petroleum. The downside is that the feeder-watcher-only may never see interesting birds just a short walk or drive away in a different habitat.
Most of us enjoy birding between these two extremes. Regular RRAS field trips to the Arcata and Eureka marshes and the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge are great examples of park-and-walk birding that minimize petroleum use and maximize outdoor birding enjoyment.
Many birders are professional, with enough disposable income to travel. That’s what makes birding festivals economically viable and birding a worldwide economic force. Many of us travel thousands of miles to see new and exotic birds. Last summer Donna and I flew to Borneo to stay at an ecolodge. It seems that this irony is inescapable because the square riggers stopped their scheduled transoceanic voyages!
We are fortunate to be able to go to the far corners of the earth and back more easily than our great-grandfathers did, even though we might have a greater impact on the environment. The least we can do is to give some thought to minimizing our impact once we get to our destination.
Some birders are so intent on birds that other interesting natural events are virtually ignored. What value is there to putting a bird’s name on a list when it is merely seen and identified? When we take the time to see how individual birds interact with their environment, we learn more about the birds than any field guide can describe and we understand more about their surroundings. By slowing down, we can become part of the environment, rather than just passing through it. We also have less of a negative effect on it by using fewer resources. What could be more compatible?