Birding

Birding is a lifelong big-tent interest! There are many ways to pursue it depending on your personality, available time, health, lo-cation, and other commitments.

• Focus is on the actions of one bird or interactions of a pair, family group, or flock.
• Sounds. Songs, chip notes, and wing sounds often appeal to those with a musical ear.
• Fascination with a particular group (shorebirds, gulls, raptors, sparrows, etc.). This intense interest may dictate a year’s calendar, even determining vacation destinations.
• Single species. Preference for one species (Wood Duck, Purple Martin, Eastern Bluebird, etc.). Enthusiasts may improve habitat, provide nest sites, or offer food.
• The most successful wildlife photographers cultivate a knowledge and understanding of the behavior and habitats of certain groups or species
• Even amateurs can assist in scholarly research, while involvement in Citizen Science projects is limited only by one’s time and energy.
• Assisting at a banding station requires deep commitment and extensive training. The intimacy of handling birds can be an excellent educational experience, as well as awe-inspiring,
• Appreciating birds for their grace and beauty is legendary.
• Social/Family Activity. Sharing an interest with a friend, social group, or family may be more satisfying than amassing long lists of species. It may spark a lifelong interest and strengthen generational bonds.
• Health and Exercise. The sights and sounds of birds can enrich a daily walk or run, while immersion in the natural world is a way to reduce stress. Gardening is gentle exercise that can also improve habitat.
• Providing food is an easy way to connect with local birds without leaving home.
• Conservation. An interest in birds can lead to activism protecting habitats and species.
• Writing sharpens observational skills and preserves memorable experiences.
• Art and Crafts. Birds are both subjects and inspirations for a wide variety of arts and crafts.

The word “birder” is frequently used synonymously with “lister.” The term refers to the person who creates multiple lists of birds, amassing as many species as possible. Becoming an accomplished observer who can do this accurately requires intensive study, extensive field time, and cooperation with other birders. Most listers are extremely generous in mentoring those with less proficiency and experience. The Howard County Bird Club is fortunate in having a large and growing cadre of excellent birders who enthusiastically share their skills and knowledge.

But what if you are not a lister? Are you also a birder? Absolutely! There are many ways to enjoy birds. Your method may fall into one (or more) of these categories (or one that isn’t listed). Interests can change and overlap, sometimes within a short period, almost certainly multiple times in the course of one’s life. What characterizes your birding interest?

Whatever your method of enjoying birds, you, too, are a birder!

I am deeply grateful to the dozens of individuals who, over a birding lifetime, have opened my eyes to the size and scope of the birding tent.

—Jo Solem

Programs

Our programs feature travelogues and photos from birding trips, bird identification tips, natural history features, conservation topics, and other topics of interest to people who love natural history.

Programs are held the second Thursday of each month from September through May at the Robinson Nature Center and virtually using Zoom. Hospitality session at 7:00 p.m. Meeting/program begins at 7:30 p.m. Starting December, 2020, previous programs were recorded and are available on the HCBC channel on YouTube

Field Trips

Mostly Howard County, and mostly birds—but we include butterflies, dragonflies, fungi, and anything else that strikes our fancy—as long as we can find a leader to lead and enough people to participate! Why so many different locations and times (throughout the week, but mainly on Saturdays and Sundays)? Because all of us enjoy the outdoors, and we all bring different skills and schedules to these trips. With the availability of a web page, the results of the club’s birding field trips are now available in an electronic format on the Field Trip Reports page, which also lists cancelled field trips.

In addition to a full schedule of programs and field trips, we compile migratory and resident bird records four times a year. May Count, Fall Count and Mid-winter Count are one day county-wide surveys, and members can also participate in the Audubon Triadelphia Christmas Count that includes about one-third of the county. On these counts, new or inexperienced birders can be placed with those with more experience.

More information is available on the Seasonal Bird Counts page.

Programs

Our programs feature travelogues and photos from birding trips, bird identification tips, natural history features, conservation topics, and other topics of interest to people who love natural history.

Programs are held the second Thursday of each month from September through May at the Robinson Nature Center and virtually using Zoom. Hospitality session at 7:00 p.m. Meeting/program begins at 7:30 p.m. Starting December, 2020, previous programs were recorded and are available on the HCBC channel on YouTube

Field Trips

Mostly Howard County, and mostly birds—but we include butterflies, dragonflies, fungi, and anything else that strikes our fancy—as long as we can find a leader to lead and enough people to participate! Why so many different locations and times (throughout the week, but mainly on Saturdays and Sundays)? Because all of us enjoy the outdoors, and we all bring different skills and schedules to these trips. With the availability of a web page, the results of the club’s birding field trips are now available in an electronic format on the Field Trip Reports page, which also lists cancelled field trips.

In addition to a full schedule of programs and field trips, we compile migratory and resident bird records four times a year. May Count, Fall Count and Mid-winter Count are one day county-wide surveys, and members can also participate in the Audubon Triadelphia Christmas Count that includes about one-third of the county. On these counts, new or inexperienced birders can be placed with those with more experience.

More information is available on the Seasonal Bird Counts page.

Ever since the Howard County Bird Club was founded in 1972, field trips have been a vital part of the club’s activities. It did not take very long before the leaders started recording the birds seen. Soon a notebook was passed from leader to leader to ensure a permanent record.

With the availability of a web page, the results of the club’s birding field trips are now available in an electronic format on the Field Trip Reports page, which also lists cancelled field trips.

The third DC/DC BBA began in 2020. Sue Muller and Dave Ziolkowski are co-chairs for Howard County. The Howard County Bird Club BBA3 page has information specific to Howard County.

The Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA) concept of surveying breeding birds using a grid system was based on a British five-year project. Chandler Robbins designed a county-based survey for Montgomery County, Maryland Ornithological Society (MOS) begun in 1971. Howard County MOS joined this effort in 1973 testing a smaller grid, mini-routes, and workshops to determine both observer efficiency and a shorter survey period (1973-1975). Results were published in Maryland Birdlife 34 (1): 3-39.

The first Maryland BBA (1983-1987) was sponsored jointly by MOS and Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MdDNR). The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Maryland and the District of Columbia was published in 1996.

Repeating an atlas periodically to provide comparative data is important in order to establish population trends. The second statewide BBA (2002-2006) was also co-sponsored by MOS and MdDNR. Results were published in 2010 as the 2nd Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

A species page for each Howard County breeding bird contains maps from each atlas to illustrate results: Breeding Bird Atlas Maps (Howard County). There is also chart showing species recorded in each block covered: Previous BBA Results by Block.

Consult the Backyard Birding page to learn about:

Food types

Expected Backyard feeder birds

Feeder styles

Feeder placement

Feeder care

Birding Howard County, Maryland

All members receive emails about sightings for bird species that are unusual for Howard County. Not many sightings qualify for inclusion: The sighting must have been sighted or verified by a qualified observer. The bird must remain long enough for other birders to travel to the site and expect to see it. The bird must be on property accessible to the average birder. If there are restrictions on access imposed by the property owner, people will be required to register with the HCBC Field Trip Chair (who will organize groups permitted to access the property on a schedule that may extend over several days). The Howard County alert will be of benefit primarily to those members who are not already part of eBird or privately organized alerts.

Even it it is not your trash, follow the example of Mary Lou and Meg!

The WSSC Manager can provide gloves, trash bags and other supplies and perform pick up to assist our reservoir efforts. So if birders haul to the parking lots (next to the porta potties is useful) of Pigtail and Big Branch, WSSC will do the removal from there. They appreciate us.

Do your part in keeping other areas clean, too!

Birding Howard County, Maryland

The print edition of Birding Howard County, Maryland had four major sections: Site Guides, The Birding Year in Howard County, Species Accounts, and the Howard County Checklist. Most of the sites had appeared in the club’s newsletter as Birding Hot Spots, initiated by Chris Ludwig in 1985. The Birding Year by Joanne Solem had also been published in the newsletter from 1989 to 1992.

When copies of the first edition ran out, it was reoriented to a web version that could be more easily updated to incorporate current information. These sections are in the drop-down menu “Birding”: Howard County Annotated Bird Records, Directions To Howard County Birding Sites, Site Guides, and Birding Year in Howard County.

Like the original book, this web version provides birders with information that can be used to see a maximum number of locally occurring bird species. Many of the best areas in the county are described in detail. Areas not readily open to the public such as undeveloped county parks, locations with restricted hours or access, and private property visible only from public roadways may have abbreviated site descriptions covering access methods, special species, and the safest parking locations or only Directions. Occasionally, the Howard County Bird Club plans trips to some of these restricted locations. Field trip information may be obtained from the club’s newsletter or on this website.

Most sites have a list of all the bird species recorded there. Since areas attractive to birds are often excellent locations for other flora and fauna, many site guides will also include butterfly, dragonfly, amphibian, and reptile lists.