Travel Hacks : Bird Festivals

In high school I spent a lot of time birding in groups
like this one, I'm in the red hat, OYBC Field Trip 2006

One of the wonderful things about traveling is that there are new birds to see. It can also be a little overwhelming. trying to figure out where to go and what you are likely to see. Bird festivals are one way to get around this problem, visiting a new place during a festival you can take advantage of all the great people there.

Bird festivals are a strange beast, if your a solo birder, like Boone often is, they might sound a bit ridiculous. I grew up with the chaos of the Magee boardwalk in the spring, where claustrophobia and birding go hand in and and I love it. Birding to me at a young age was a group activity and spending time with the people was as  much a part of it as the birds.

If you want to meet people who are just as geeked out over things with feathers as you are bird festivals are fantastic. In addition to meeting many fellow bird loves they are great ways to check out new equipment (scopes and binoculars!) and meet birding celebrities. They can also help improve your birding skills but participating in workshops and field trips led by fantastic guides. Festivals can also be great ways to go birding in a new place. If you've never been to South Texas before knowing where to bird and identifying all the new species can be intimidating. By taking advantage of the bird festival you'll be around many knowledgeable people who can help you have a great time.

What is important when deciding to attend a festival is to do your homework so you pick the festival that best fits what you want. One of the big things to find out before you plan a trip, especially for big festivals, is if there is anywhere near by to stay. For some festivals in remote areas the limited hotel space fills up fast, so plan ahead, or prepare to be flexible. Often by checking out a festivals website you can get a quick feel for the festival and if it will fit your needs. Some festivals are all inclusive, where you are 'expected' to do everything. Others are buffet style, you pick a workshop here, or a field trip there, and can do things at your own pace.

The boardwalk at Magee WILL be packed, much more
then this (Dakota Kingfisher)

Last fall Boone and I were down in South Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival. Being cheap we didn't go on any of the field trips (though I hear they are fantastic!). We attended some of the speakers and hung out at the vendors fair. It was a great way for us to get to meet other birders and get to enjoy the atmosphere of the festival, while also having the freedom to go birding as it suited us. You can't take all in a piece meal fashion, though you can find a way to make any of them fit your needs, you just have to do your homework.

My personal favorite festival is The Biggest Week in American Birding, held every May in NW Ohio. I'm a native Ohioan, and I love the marshes of Lake Erie. The Biggest Week is the brainchild of the wonderful people at Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO). It has become a great way of bringing birds and birders to the attention of local communities. BSBO is all about showing local businesses that birders are bringing their money to NW Ohio because of the birds, and using the tourism opportunities to help both our local economy and the birds! (it's pretty awesome)

The Biggest Week is a festival you can definitely piece meal if solo birding is more your style. I should warn you though, true solo birding is going to be challenging because there are SO MANY PEOPLE around searching for birds, but you don't have to go on field trips if you don't want to. There are many workshops, talks and other activities going on though that I would encourage you to check out. They are great ways to expand your skill set and meet some like minded birders.

There are dozens of birds festivals in the U.S. alone every year (and many more in other countries). The database from the American Birding Association lists many of them and helps you get started planning your next big trip. What is great is you can search by both region OR month. So whether you're a student trying to find something over spring break or you want to find something in your home state, you've got the right resources.

Hope to see you at the Biggest Week this year, I'll be there just for a day, but I cannot wait.

- Auriel

Common Bird Profile: Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

Tufted Titmouse

When I was a kid my father liked to teach me the names of all the animals around us. He was by no means a birder, but a man who knew a little about a lot. I marveled at his knowledge as he pointed out Red-tailed Hawks on the fence posts or Cedar Waxwings zipping across the road. But out of all the birds he showed me, the one bird that I loved the most was the Tufted Titmouse. Here was a bird in my own backyard I had never heard of before. It wasn't a boring Cardinal or Blue Jay but a strange bird with a giant mohawk. It was a rockstar.

Anyone who's birded the eastern forests have come to intimately know this little bird. He's among the first birds you learn to identify as a beginning birder and easy to distinguish once you know what you're looking for. These charismatic and chatty birds are not just a staple but a fascinating bird of behavior.

The Tufted Titmouse maintains small territories and continues to defend them well past breeding season. They're so concentrated in their territory that that few pairs may never leave their homerange. This means your backyard titmice may stay with your for their whole life!

Like blue jays, they are a caching species that store food away for winter. In the fall, you can watch titmice raid bird feeders with what seems like a voracious appetite. Instead of eating the seeds, they'll crack them open on a branch and store them away for later. This can be a problem as they're also known to choose the biggest seeds possible even if that means throwing other bird seed on the ground to get to it. One way to avoid this is to have a bird feeder with just large sunflower seeds, so they can selectively feed there instead.

Charismatic and chatty, titmice are more curious than shy, and will readily come up close to you in response to your approach or sound. They give great looks to anyone around, and like chickadees are useful for birders. You can use their gregarious nature to find other birds any season. During the spring and fall, they are useful in finding mixed species flocks full of migrant warblers and vireos. In the winter, when birds are scarce, you can chase down the sound of a loud titmouse to find other winter birds foraging together. Once you learn their calls you'll realize 50% of the forest bird songs were really just titmice! This will hopefully make identifying other calls much less daunting.
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The Tufted Titmouse and Black-crested Titmouse

Up until 2002, the related Black-crested Titmouse was considered a subspecies of Tufted Titmouse. This sub-tropical species lives mainly in the warmer and drier parts of Texas and north east Mexico.

The two species maintain a hard range along the IH-35 corridor in Texas. This line corresponds not only with the raised elevation of the Balcone's faultline, but the precipitation gradient across the state. The wetter areas of East Texas favor the Tufted, while the semi-arid zones in the Hill Country suite the Black-crested Titmouse. There's even  a thin line between the two ranges where both species breed together creating a hybrid that has a completely black-crest and forehead!

The two ranges of the Tufted Titmouse (purple) and Black-crested Titmouse (green)
lining up along the 35in/yr precipitation line (per ebird.org)

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Admittedly, one reason I love the Tufted Titmouse is they remind me of Black-crested Titmice back home in Texas. In the Juniper/Oak forests of central Texas, the juniper is usually less foraged compared to the bountiful oaks. Usually only the resident endemics like the Black-crested Titmouse and Golden-cheeked Warbler regularly forage on them. It's because of this that I always believed they loved Central Texas as much as I do.

Sometimes you don't need a good reason to go birding, just a little reminder of home.

-Boone