Urs at Fermilab

 
My Personal Birding History

Urs Geiser

Urs at Powell Marsh
Fermilab, January 1, 2001 (photo courtesy of Jim Frazier)
 
 
  Powell Marsh (Wisconsin), August 2, 2003 (photo courtesy of Dora Geiser)

People often ask me when I started birding. I don't think there is such an onset date. Rather, I eased into birding gradually, starting during my childhood in Switzerland, where my family had a field guide and a pair of old army binoculars. While I didn't exactly keep track of my sightings, there were some memorable species that I have not seen since, such as Black Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan.

In 1981 I moved to the US. When I noticed birds unknown to me flying around the campus of Washington State University, I bought my first field guide (Golden) and started my North American list. However, I was a 'poor' graduate student and didn't think I could afford binoculars. Therefore, most additions to the list came when I traveled around with visitors who brought binoculars along. A memorable trip was a loop through Washington and Oregon that also touched Tule Lake NWR in northern California and that boosted my list considerably.

When I moved to the Chicago suburbs in 1985 and finally had some spare time and a little spending money (the joys of a regular job!), I bought myself a pair of binoculars (Nikon Travelites) and started taking walks through the nearby forest preserves, where I gradually came across more and more birds. This was still a low-key activity, and I carried it out all by myself. A decisive turn-around came with a trip to south Florida in January 1989. It was meant to be just an escape from the winter cold, and I didn't have any real plans, but when I saw all the birds in the Keys and at Everglades National Park, I was hooked. With very few exceptions, the remainder of the trip turned into a birding expedition. If I'd only had a clue what Florida specialties I really should have looked for...

Another turn-around came in 1993, when I discovered the Internet and the birding community that was using it. First it was rec.birds, then BIRDCHAT. On the Usenet, I discovered that one of my co-workers in another division also was a birder, and in no time he recruited me to participate in my first Christmas Bird Count. After this experience of birding in company, it didn't take long until I joined the local birding organization, the DuPage Birding Club whose field trips introduced me to habitats and species right in my home county that I hadn't yet discovered on my own. Better binoculars, a scope, and a National Geographic field guide were soon acquired.

From then on there was no stopping me... Now suddenly every business trip and every family vacation (unfortunately non-birders) became an opportunity to see more birds. However, these occasions are still few and far in between, and I do most of my birding in the greater Chicago area. I served as an officer of the DuPage Birding Club and have started to lead some of its field trips. And last but not least, I started this WWW site.

Here are the approximate numbers of species that I've come up with so far, grouped by geographical area. Also included are the latest additions to each list:

AreaNumberLast Species AddedDatePlace
DuPage Co., IL1278 Trumpeter Swan02/27/10Watefall Glen F.P.
Cook Co., IL2270 White-winged Crossbill03/01/09Swallow Cliff, Palos Area
Lake Co., IL3223 Neoptropic Cormorant07/08/09Almond Marsh F.P.
Illinois, USA340 Neoptropic Cormorant07/08/09Almond Marsh F.P. (Lake Co.)
Wisconsin, USA246 Black-billed Cuckoo06/29/08Hazelhurst (Oneida Co.)
ABA area4533 Curlew Sandpiper08/23/08Greene Valley F.P. (DuPage Co.), IL
AOU area5712 Curlew Sandpiper08/23/08Greene Valley F.P. (DuPage Co., IL), USA
Western Palearctic6249 European Roller09/13/09Camargue (Bouches-du-Rhone), France
Eastern Palearctic775 Blue Rock Thrush09/14/01Rusutsu (Hokkaido), Japan
World931 European Roller09/13/09Camargue (Bouches-du-Rhone), France

1 DuPage County is approximately a square area 18 miles (29 km) on a side and located in the western suburbs of Chicago. It is land-locked, with a minimal distance to Lake Michigan of 15 miles. Ca. 290 species of birds have been observed in the county.

2 Cook County includes the city of Chicago, the southern half of the Illinois shore of Lake Michigan, as well as the inner belt of Chicago suburbs.

3 Lake County is located between Cook County and the Wisconsin border and includes the northern half of the Illinois shore of Lake Michigan.

4 The ABA area includes all U.S. states except Hawaii, plus Canada. I have only birded actively in ca. 20 states and spent limited amounts of time (not necessarily birding) in another 25 or so and two Canadian provinces. See following table for all U.S. states, which also includes the last species added to the respective state list.

5 The AOU area includes the ABA area, the Hawaiian islands, most Caribbean islands, and Central America. Outside the ABA area, I've visited Hawaii (3 islands) and Mexico (Veracruz) so far.

6 The majority of my birding observations in the Western Palearctic (Europe, Middle East, North Africa) come from my native Switzerland. Additional observations from short trips to Italy, Austria, Hungary, Greece, and Germany.

7 Within the Eastern Palearctic (temperate and cold zones of Asia), I have only visited Japan and South Korea.

State List Totals

Number in parentheses is rank for number of species observed.

AL   -- AK   -- AR   -- AZ  43 (24)
Brown Creeper
CA 196 (4)
Clapper Rail
CO  58 (22)
Rock Wren
CT  20 (31)
American Oystercatcher
DC  11 (33)
Chimney Swift
DE   -- FL 172 (7)
Chuck-will's-widow
GA   -- HI  62 (21)
Anianiau
IA  97 (15)
Lesser Black-backed Gull
ID   6 (36)
Canyon Wren
IL 340 (1)
Neotropic Cormorant
IN 180 (6)
Little Gull
KS   -- KY  43 (24)
Killdeer
LA   6 (36)
Purple Martin
MA  73 (18)
American Redstart
MD  14 (32)
Northern Mockingbird
ME  66 (20)
American Kestrel
MI  91 (16)
Horned Grebe
MN 105 (13)
Rough-legged Hawk
MO 134 (9)
Mississippi Kite
MS   -- MT   0 NC  36 (28)
Carolina Wren
ND   0 NE   --
NH  80 (17)
Red-tailed Hawk
NJ 103 (14)
Dunlin
NM 124 (10)
Lewis's Woodpecker
NV   1 (38)
Rock Wren
NY  40 (27)
Laughing Gull
OH   52 (23)
Blackpoll Warbler
OK   -- OR 136 (8)
Mountain Bluebird
PA   7 (35)
Chipping Sparrow
RI  11 (33)
Least Tern
SC   -- SD   1 (38)
Turkey Vulture
TN  70 (19)
Wild Turkey
TX 228 (3)
Black Tern
UT 182 (5)
Bufflehead
VA 122 (11)
Brown-headed Nuthatch
VT  21 (30)
Song Sparrow
WA 108 (12)
American Dipper
WI 246 (2)
Black-billed Cuckoo
WV  36 (28)
House Finch
WY  41 (26)
Double-crested Cormorant
 
 
Legend: --
Not visited
0-19 species
Incidental birds, if any
20-59 species
Limited effort
60-119 species
Some serious birding, not sustained
120+ species
Repeated or sustained serious birding

 


Hawk Ridge photo Here I am at the Duluth Hawk Ridge hawk watch in October 1998 (Photo by Linda Kahlbaugh).

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Urs Geiser; ; February 28, 2010