Have you heard of the free eBird app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology? I use it to record the birds I see and other data including date and location of the sighting. It keeps track of my “Life List” — my personal cumulative record of every bird species I’ve ever seen. I also use it to generate reports using a variety of filters. For example, I can ask what birds I’ve seen at my cabin this year, or how many times I’ve seen a black-billed cuckoo, or when and where was the first time I saw a yellow-breasted chat.
eBird can also tell you where a particular species of bird has been seen and what birds have been seen at a specific location. But my newest obsession is using eBird to notify me when my “Target Birds” (birds I haven’t seen) have been spotted in my chosen location, such as Wisconsin.
These notifications — called “Alerts” — are emailed to me daily. Since birds on my target list contain all birds I have never seen, it includes both birds found in Wisconsin that I expect to eventually see at some point in my birding adventures, and birds not usually found in Wisconsin, rare birds that I most likely will never see if I don’t take action to see this bird now — when the “Alert” chimes its presence. Because of this alert system, I have had new adventures I otherwise would not have experienced and have seen birds I otherwise would never have seen.
It all started with a white wagtail being spotted at Portage Park in Door County. It is a common bird in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, with a small population that breeds in western Alaska. I found it hopping along the rocky shoreline. It was the size of a robin, with gray, black and white plumage and a long, near constant wagging tail. I couldn’t help but wonder how this little bird found its way here so far from home.
A kelp gull, a bird that resides in the southern hemisphere, was spotted nesting on a warehouse roof in Milwaukee. He had set up housekeeping with a herring gull, and they produced a hybrid chick. It was the first verified sighting of this species in Wisconsin, and birders from all over the U.S. came to see it.
So, off I went to join them. He would be easy to spot with his dark mantle (back), but when I arrived, he was not there. Apparently, he spent a lot of time hanging out on Lake Michigan. I had to leave before he returned.
On my second trip, I brought lunch and a lawn chair determined to stay the course. Within 45 minutes of my arrival, he flew onto the roof and made my day. How he ended up here is a “complete mystery” to experts. It is speculated he may make Wisconsin his permanent home. Wouldn’t that be great?
Even with “Alerts” of where a bird has been spotted, I don’t always get my happy ending. A short-billed gull, from the far northwest, was spotted on the same rocky coastline as the white wagtail. I couldn’t identify it amongst the hundreds of other gulls. I gave up after three hours and learned that it was spotted five minutes after I left. It hasn’t been spotted since.
My current mission is to spot a great tit that continues to be seen south of Fond du Lac. It is a common bird from Europe and Asia. It looks similar to a chickadee but sports a yellow breast with a black line running down the middle of its belly. He has eluded me the three times I’ve gone to look for him, but he is still being reported. So I continue to have hope.
While I still enjoy simply going out in nature and seeing what birds I encounter, technologies like eBird bring a new dimension to my birding adventures. How you record the birds you’ve seen, explore where to find birds and learn about rarities in your area is a personal choice. I just want to let you know about these technologies so you have choices.
Receiving rare bird alerts heightens my curiosity about these winged wonders. While I know many of these birds are run off course by strong winds, I question the details of how their journey to our neck of the woods came about. Are their migration tools equipped to get them back home when they are so off-course? Can they survive with our food sources and our winters? Some of these questions cannot be answered as yet, but they lead me to learn what I can and cause me to further appreciate the miraculous world of birds.
Lisa Jansen is a Wisconsin master naturalist, nature writer and award-winning photographer. She specializes in raising awareness of birds and butterflies of the Midwest.
