The Urban Birder: Here's why you should spend more time looking up
There's so much to see.
“Above all things, basically everyone needs to look up, open your eyes and look up and see what’s around us.”
Those are the words of David Lindo, a world-renowned birding expert who will be in Pennsylvania in May.
Lindo, 59, of Cáceres, Spain, known as The Urban Birder, is the keynote speaker for the Festival of the Birds May 12-14 at Presque Isle State Park in Erie. His presentation will take people around the urban world through 30 different birds. About 20% of the globe’s bird species have been found in towns and cities, he said.
“People are astonished as to what birds can be seen around the world,” he said. His favorite is a ring ouzel, a type of thrush found in his home country, the United Kingdom, during the summer months.
With a passion for birds since his childhood, he has become a broadcaster, writer, naturalist, photographer, public speaker and tour leader. He is the vice president of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and was voted the seventh most influential person in wildlife by BBC Wildlife Magazine.
“I just had this innate interest,” he said about birding at a young age. “I made up names for them. Sparrows were baby birds, starlings (are) mummy birds, blackbirds we have here were daddy birds.”
When he turned 7, he discovered a guide book in the library that revealed almost every species of birds.
“It was like finding the Holy Grail,” he remembered. “I learned all these birds religiously. I knew all their scientific names, I knew how big they were in inches, what colors they came in."
His work experience in marketing and sales came into play 16 years ago when he was invited to be on a television program in Britain called "Springwatch," about local birds.
“I realized this is what I want to do," he said.
Since then, he has traveled around the globe but enjoys where he lives now.
“This region in Spain is one of the best places in Western Europe for birding. For me it’s like living in paradise,” he said.
His thirst for knowledge revealed to him that the wilderness isn't the only place to enjoy birding because there are so many birds in urban areas.
“It’s really exciting as you never know what your are going to find," he said. He’s actually found birds to be more approachable than when he sees them in the countryside.
Lindo likes taking people into the city or to a local park. “Look up and you just see this whole array of life that you never expected because you don’t look for it,” he said when you are urban birding.
Birds are able to adapt to the habitat and structures that are available.
“You can watch birds practically anywhere,” he said, including everything from concrete jungles to cemeteries and backyards. He enjoys birding in the morning as an urban explorer and discovering communities of birds.
He also likes talking to other birders and exploring with them in their cities.
“It’s an eye-opening experience. It’s one that is really so accessible to anyone. You don’t have to go anywhere and other than buying binoculars and maybe a field guide, you don’t need to spend much money," he said.
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Technology and birding
Lindo feels technology and wildlife go hand in hand.
“To explore nature around us, as research has now shown, is great for our well-being, is great for our soul and is great for our sanity,” he said. To further that, he said technology plays a role in birding, too.
The phone can now help to identify what is discovered as well as to photograph and videotape birds, then share on social media. “Modern technology meeting natural history," he said.
He uses and recommends the app eBird to document findings. The app is a database of bird observations by scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists through the Cornel Lab of Ornithology. It’s a program that everybody can use to “add your little bit of information to the general well of knowledge. For me, that’s an amazing legacy. Every little sparrow, every thing you see, counts. We need to preserve what we have around us, and we can’t do that if we don’t know what we got.”
He believes birds are the metaphorical canaries in the mine shaft when it comes to the climate and the changes that are occurring. He said monitoring the number and species of birds is telling about the environment and habitat for wildlife.
“They are a good barometer for what’s happening around us," he said.
Spring is a great time for birders to see migrating species. Festival of the Birds in Erie is timed to coincide with spring migration in Erie each year.
“The males, especially the warblers, are in fantastic plumage right now. That’s exciting,” he said.
The autumn months are also great for migrating bird species. “Migration is one of most amazing things in life in general and we know very little about it,” Lindo said. Small birds are able to grow and develop fat tissues that allow them to travel thousands of miles to a predetermined location. “They become these amazing flying machines,” he said.
In the end, birding is something you can do wherever you live or travel, and Lindo likes people to have their own peaceful place to watch wildlife.
“Try and find your own nirvana. Try and find your own little spot in the world that no one else goes to. Not only is it your spot, but also you are adding to our knowledge,” he said.
Visit theurbanbirderworld.com to follow his travels and learn more about birding.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors ,Twitter @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Birding in urban areas, using eBird app and where to find birds
