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CAMP REPORTS 2004

2004 Young Birders' Conference Report

26-30 June 2004

By Michael Harvey

Looking Up

Since the inaugural Young Birder's Conference (YBC), held in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2000, this biannual event has become known as one of the best opportunities available to young birders (YBs). This year's YBC was held from June 26th to 30th in the Kern River Valley and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California. The scenery was dramatic and no one seemed to argue about the weather with temperatures in the eighties and nineties, dry air, and plentiful sun. Of course, travel opportunities for young birders are few and far between, so the chance to see new birds was high on everyone's list of priorities. Kern County is one of the top contenders in the annual "America's Birdiest County" competition, with a unique mix of coastal lowland, mountain, and great basin species. The conference list easily exceeded 150 species and for some of the YBs roughly half of those were life birds. The biggest rarity on the trip was a Grace's Warbler that was seen and heard by all the participants. In fact, almost all of the birds on the trip were seen by a majority of the YBs.

Looking back, though, the value of birding with and learning from the attendant adults on the YBC exceeded the excitement derived from ticking lifers. YBs emulate expert birders just as other teenagers look to sports stars as heroes. Thus, in our eyes, the roster of leaders organized by the American Birding Association was equivalent to the lineup at an all-star game. Steve Howell, Jon Dunn, Louise Zemaitis, and Michael O'Brien were returning champions, while local experts Bob Barnes and John Schmitt were fresh YBC talent. Terry and Judy Moore, veteran youth birding supporters from Leica, were always present to help out and to hand out bits of wisdom along the way. Jennie Duberstein and Lori Fujimoto managed their championship team and helped the YBC run smoothly. The typical daily schedule they planned for us generally began with breakfast between 4 and 5 AM. Cereal, yogurt, cold pizza, and candy abounded and were shoved down our throats or stowed in our packs (I hope no one's parents read that). The mornings were spent on field trips while workshops were scheduled in the evenings. An hour or two of downtime was scheduled in the afternoon for sleeping, swimming, ping-pong, or pondering the photo quiz that had been posted at the beginning of the conference. Many of the participants didn't get to bed before midnight, so exhaustion was almost universal. "We can sleep when we get home" was a common sentiment.

Arriving from all corners of North America, the 21 YBC participants collected at the Hi-Ho Lodge in Kernville, California on Saturday night, June 26th. The initial awkwardness and insecurity quickly dissolved as young birders began to put faces and names (or internet screen names) together. Steve Howell threw us full bore into the conference the night of our arrival with an in-depth presentation on hummingbird identification. Afterwards, a little owling around the Kern River Preserve produced some very visible Barn Owls and a calling Western Screech-Owl. On Sunday, the groups headed out to explore the South Fork of the Kern River and adjacent areas. As on most field trips, the YBC participants and leaders split into two groups of more manageable size. I was with the "Archilochus" group under the leadership of Louise Zemaitis, Bob Barnes, and Jon Dunn, while Michael O'Brien and Steve Howell led the other group ("Zeledonia"). The wetlands, riparian woodlands, and open fields supported a great mix of western species and typically more eastern species. Appropriately, the most interesting bird of the morning was also a mix of western and eastern species; a male Lazuli x Indigo Bunting hybrid seen well by all the participants! At the Kern River Preserve, hummingbird feeders attracted Anna's, Costa's, Black-chinned, and Selasphorous Hummingbirds as John Schmitt set up for a talk on feathers. Louise Zemaitis followed that up with her field-sketching workshop. We sketched birds in slides she presented and Steve Howell and Jon Dunn tried to identify them based only on our drawings. Personally, the idea of having my field sketches critiqued by a mock "records committee" made up of some of the best birders in the country was somewhat daunting! It was a great learning experience to watch how birds could not always be identified based on the notes of one observer, but could be identified based on a composite of all the information from multiple observers. A post-dinner trip netted us Rufous-crowned Sparrow at John Schmitt's favorite spot, and a Flammulated Owl that called frequently but would not show itself.

On Monday and Tuesday, the group split in two to cover the western and eastern slopes of the Sierras. On Monday's trip, the "Archilochus" group headed up the moist western slope with leaders Steve Howell and Michael O'Brien and the capable assistance of Jennie Duberstein. Highlights included all three expected swifts (Black, White-throated, and Vaux's), White-headed and Pileated Woodpeckers, Hammond's Flycatcher (heard only), Cassin's Vireo, Hermit and MacGillivray's Warblers, "Thick-billed" Fox Sparrow, Lawrence's Goldfinch, and Evening Grosbeak. Mountain Quail slipped across the road several times, providing some birders with good views, but others with frustratingly quick glimpses. The spectacular Giant Sequoias were reason enough to briefly stop birding and whip out the cameras. In the afternoon, Jon Dunn's workshop covered the biogeographic differences created by the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He explained how birds to the west of the mountains are frequently quite distinct from groups to the east. Species such as Nuttall's and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and Oak and Juniper Titmice are split by these mountains, as are species like White-breasted Nuthatch and Sage Sparrow with populations that don't (yet) have the status of separate species.

The third, and final, field trip along the arid eastern slope was somewhat longer than the other two. Jon Dunn, Michael O'Brien, and Bob Barnes led this trip with Lori Fujimoto's assistance. Shortly after dawn we were watching Le Conte's Thrasher and Verdin in a small desert oasis. A Prairie Falcon flew over and landed in the distance on a telephone pole. Well up into Nine Mile Canyon, Chukar and Scott's Oriole were located with some effort on a slope covered in Joshua Trees. Chimney Creek Campground was the Grace's Warbler spot and also yielded a Cooper's Hawk nest, Gray Flycatcher, and Plumbeous Vireo. A few Mountain Bluebirds and a large Pinyon Jay flock warranted stops in Kennedy Meadows, and Troy Meadows produced Clark's Nutcracker, Pygmy Nuthatch, and Townsend's Solitaire. At Bald Mountain, the entire group finally got good looks at an agitated Mountain Quail parent, a target species that had been eluding many of us. Perhaps more exciting were looks at a male Blue Grouse sitting 80 feet up in a tree! The final stop for Williamson's Sapsucker found a male and two females visiting the nest tree. Michael O'Brien covered shorebird identification in an easy to understand but also quite detailed presentation on Tuesday afternoon. It was a useful primer for the upcoming fall shorebird migration, which was already underway along the coasts.

The finale to the YBC, as in past years, was a panel discussion in which the participants asked the leaders questions and vice versa. Former young birder Ben Winger showed up and added an interesting college student perspective to the discussion. The main topic of conversation was birder demographics. Why are there so few young birders? Why are so few of those young birders female? We could never come up with a definite answer but decided there are probably multiple reasons ranging from societal expectations to genetics. The conversation was so interesting we went over the allotted time and found ourselves rushing to get to the photo quiz awards ceremony. Three different young birders identified 10 of the 12 photos correctly! The following morning, after a couple hours of birding, we were off to all corners of the continent, at least until the next conference. Needless to say, it was a bittersweet farewell. Many thanks to the ABA, Leica, and WINGS; I hope they realize the significant effect that the YBC and other sponsored events have on the lives of dozens of young birders every year. Many of the young birders at this year's conference remarked that this had been the best event of their lives. Based on what I saw at this conference, I believe that both the lives of these individuals and the future of the birding community as a whole are looking up.

The author thanks Jennie Duberstein and Sean Fitzgerald for reviewing a draft of this article.

July 2004

These young birders attended the camps/events they report on with the help of ABA scholarships.