Homo sapiens are a complicated bunch, all eight billion of us, and we find different ways to support and amuse ourselves during our earthly sojourn. Some are drawn to dentistry and some to carpentry, and in our spare time some are artistic while others play tennis. Zeroing in further, some baseball fans derive satisfaction from the underlying statistics. Naturalists and birders are often of this ilk. During my life as a nature tour guide, I encountered one lady who was on a quest to see all of the species of otters in the world (and hence in B.C. to see a sea otter). Another lady was in B.C. to see Calypso bulbosa, the calypso orchid, having failed to find it in Scandinavia. Many people interested in birds could care less about keeping a list of the species they have seen, while others are fanatics and keep lists of everything.
Most keen birders keep a list of some sort, perhaps a life list, a B.C. list, a Sunshine Coast list, or a list of birds seen in each year. Which brings me to the Yard List. Even if individuals are not active keepers of lists, I often hear, ''That’s the first time I’ve seen one of those in my yard.” The species most associated with this comment is the male western tanager with its gaudy plumage of black, yellow, orange and white, and another is lazuli bunting, a blue and orange bird. Then there is Townsend’s solitaire, a drab, gray-coloured bird that people recognize as unusual. Occasionally, I receive notification of a real zinger in the birding world: an indigo bunting, a white-breasted nuthatch, a bobolink, a black-throated sparrow, a rose-breasted grosbeak, a northern oriole in December, or the famous Xantus’s hummingbird in 1989.
Keeping a Yard List can certainly add a new dimension to your interest in birds. It adds the element of increased awareness, the hunt, the quiet satisfaction of identifying a new species, of building up your list, to the passive observation of birds in your garden. Yard Lists will vary enormously depending on where you live. The rules are that you can count any species seen or heard from your property, and for some this will include many species of waterbirds seen on the ocean. I have lived on Redrooffs Road, non-waterfront, for decades and my Yard List is 108 species. It has been years since I added a new species, the law of diminishing returns, and the last species I added was house wren, which has colonized the Sunshine Coast in the last decade. Now would be a great time to start a list, with the winter birds still here and the summer migrants about to arrive.
To report your sightings or questions contact [email protected] or 885-5539. Good Birding.
