If you’ve started birding during the pandemic, you’ve probably been going it solo—without the company of fellow birders on a group walk or field trip. Thankfully birding is perfectly suited for this! You can social distance, explore nature at your own pace, and enjoy the meditative benefits that come with the hobby. But at some point, you’ll likely find yourself interacting with the larger birding community—whether locally or online—and you might find that you’ve been missing out on some birder-to-birder socialization.
Birding, like all hobbies, comes with its own culture. Learning the language that some birders use in the field can help you discover more about the hobby and how to participate in it responsibly, but also help you have more fun and connect with other birders over shared experiences.
This week’s Entryway to Birding blog brings context to some of the stranger terms you might hear in the field. So if you’ve been wondering what it means to “dip” on the sighting of a “vagrant” bird, read on! This week is for you.
Birders scan Lake Superior on a winter birding trip, hoping to spot a potential rarity. Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt
Lifer (noun): a bird that you are seeing or hearing for the first time
Sometimes a non-birder has a lifer experience so stunning that it turns them into a birder right then and there! That bird becomes your “spark bird,” and the world is somehow brighter after you see it. My spark bird was a green heron, like the one pictured here. Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt
One of the most exciting moments as a birder is seeing a bird species for the first time. How you react in this moment is pure you, but I guarantee there may be a rush of adrenaline, a spark of joy, or a wonder-filled afterglow that sits with you the rest of the day.
Heck, you might even find yourself partaking in a celebratory lifer dance! Yes, this is a thing, and yes, I have one. (Don’t believe me about the lifer dance tradition? Watch comedian, voice actor, and newly-turned-birder, H. Jon Benjamin, celebrate the a recent lifer during his “Morning Bird Report” on Twitter. He’s convinced me that my lifer dance also needs a soundtrack.)
Life list (noun): a list of all the birds you have seen
Lots of birders like to keep track of which bird species they’ve seen. After you’ve been birding for awhile, that list can start to get long—maybe too long to keep stored in your head. You can use free apps like eBird and Merlin to keep track of your life list for you, or you could keep it written down in a journal somewhere. However you choose to record your life list (if at all) is totally up to you, as are the parameters for what you include.
For example, I don’t include birds on my life list if I saw them before I was a birder. My rationale is that I likely didn’t get a good look at them or appreciate them in the way that I would now, so I’m not ready to count them on my life list until I actually do run across them while birding. I know I’ve seen some cool birds on my pre-birding travels, but I guess I’ll just have to go back and track them down again. (There are worse tasks!)
There are several noisy Clark’s nutcrackers up in this tree at Rocky Mountain National Park. But I didn’t know what they were at the time and I didn’t appreciate them for how neat they were, so I haven’t counted them on my life list. That’s a personal choice, since you set the terms of your own life list. Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt
Bins / binocs / binos (noun): various ways to shorthand “binoculars”
Binoculars is a long word. It’s a lot to type while messaging and a mouthful to say when you’re in a hurry and some folks prefer to shorthand it. Whatever you choose to call them is fine—just don’t forget them on your outing!
Pish (verb): to make a noise that sounds like “psssh psssh psssh” with the intention of luring out a hidden bird
Pishing works best on passerines (songbirds) like warblers, sparrows, wrens, and such. These are birds that have their own “scold” calls and may be curious about yours. While “pssssh pssssh pssssh” is the standard noise to make, there are variations—read more on pishing here!
Chances are you’ve run into a skulky bird—you can hear it rustling in a bush or a brush pile, but it’s simply not giving you good looks and you haven’t been able to make an ID. Some birders will try pishing to draw out the bird by making a noise that sounds like “pish” when said through clenched teeth. The harsh sound is thought to mimic the noise of a bird’s scolding call—and if there are birds nearby, they’ll (sometimes …) pop up to see what the commotion is. There’s no guarantee it’ll work, though—you might only end up confusing passing hikers!
Pishing is a fairly accepted practice, but it’s best used in moderation. Pishing too much or continuing to pish a bird that’s already come out for you can stress out the bird. Don’t overdo it, and be conscious of pishing while in a group—it’s good etiquette to ask your fellow birders if they’re okay with it, since some folks prefer to avoid pishing.
Playback (noun): recordings of bird calls or songs that are played in the field to attract a bird
Playback is related to pishing, but it’s more directly focused on drawing out a particular species by playing its song or call, and its use is a bit more controversial. Always evaluate if it’s necessary to use playback and don’t use it lightly. Playback should never be used during breeding and nesting season, where it can have unintended consequences—like a bird choosing to abandon a nest site, or a bird using its hard-earned resources to defend its territory instead of focusing on nesting.
It’s not as serious when it’s the dead of winter and you’re trying to summon a bird from a dense thicket of branches. Sure, see if you can get that sparrow to pop out for a better look. But please don’t overdo it by playing too much—always err on the side of caution.
Twitch (verb): to drop what you’re doing to chase a rare bird that’s been reported
One bitterly cold day this past winter, I was having a nice cozy day at home—a “cuddled up with a book and some hot chocolate” kind of day. My phone rang and I ignored it. But then a text message from a birder friend came through, right after. “Northern goshawk at the Arb at Big Spring right now!!!” with a quick snap of an undeniable juvenile northern goshawk.
I went from pajamas to fully bundled up in my winter gear, running out the door, in under a minute. This is twitching.
A juvenile northern goshawk perches on a branch while a brave squirrel tempts fate. According to eBird, this was the first reported sighting of a northern goshawk in the Arboretum since the 1970s! Thankfully Brandyn was there with a camera! Photo by Brandyn Kerscher
You might also hear the word “twitcher” or “lister” used to describe someone that often chases birds. There is somewhat of a competitive sport to birding and—should you choose to explore this aspect of the hobby—you might encounter this behavior more often. Sometimes there’s a negative connotation that a person is only seeking a bird to check it off their list, but who are we to judge? Folks can bird however they want, as long as they are respectful of the birds, nature, and other folks trying to enjoy both.
Dip (verb): to miss out on a bird sighting that you were hoping to see, despite your best attempts
Did I see that northern goshawk that day? No. No, I did not. I dipped on the goshawk sighting, much to my dismay. I had run into another friend in the parking lot who was also on the chase—and we both bounded down the snowy trail as fast as we could, but were a painful two minutes too late. It had just flown. (I’ve learned now that I should always answer the phone if a fellow birder is calling!)
It happens to all birders. Because at the end of the day, birds have wings. They fly away. They wait for no one. It can be fun to put in the effort to track them down, but don’t get discouraged by dipping—even though it may feel frustrating in the moment. It will give you lots of fun stories to bond over, as many birders are happy to commiserate over the time that they missed a great bird too.
Nemesis bird (noun): a bird you’ve been trying to find, repeatedly, with no success
One of my recent nemesis birds (yes, I have several…) was a Carolina wren. They’re notoriously loud with a distinct song and call, but I couldn’t spot or hear them anywhere, despite visiting numerous places where other people were finding them. I finally found mine last week, after my third visit to the Grady Tract at the Arboretum, where a fellow birder had been seeing one consistently. And of course, it only gave me a brief glimpse and wouldn’t even pose for a photo. Typical. Photo by Andy Reago and Chrissy McClaren FCC
Maybe there’s a bird you really want to see and you’ve been looking for it everywhere you can. Other people are seeing this bird regularly. Other people say that “oh, I just heard one over near the park entrance.” Other people seem to conjure this bird out of nowhere. Yet … you cannot find this bird.
This is your nemesis bird.
How many failed attempts does it take for a bird to verge into nemesis territory? That’s up to you. It could depend on many factors: the number of hours (or days, or weeks, or months) you might spend searching, the number of miles you travel on your search, or the number of mosquito bites you obtain in the process. But I do know that while the nemesis-ness (yes, I just made that up) increases with each failed attempt, the reward for eventually finding your bird is priceless.
Stringer (noun): the term for a person who falsely reports bird sightings, especially rare ones
Don’t be this person! The birding community is built on honesty and trust. Falsifying sightings helps no one.
Fallout (noun): when a storm or severe weather brings migrating birds down from their journey
When I first started birding, I would never have thought to associate bad weather with good birding, but it turns out that storms in the right place at the right time can be a birder’s best friend. Severe weather during spring or fall migration could interfere with the plans of migrating birds—they may not be able to fly through and will land to spend the day refueling before continuing their journey. And that is your chance to see them.
Tracking when this type of fallout situation happens is challenging without help and lots of meteorological knowledge, which is why the lovely folks at Cornell Labs developed an amazing resource called BirdCast. Yep, a forecast for birds. It’s active during spring and fall migration, and you can check it out right at this link. It’s coincidentally a great website to learn more about bird migration patterns in general.
This is a forecast image that looks ahead as to what might happen overnight, but you can also watch live migration maps that show bird movements and projected patterns. Screenshot from BirdCast
Vagrant (noun): a bird that is found way out range; might also be called an “accidental”
Migration season is also the prime time for a potential vagrant to show up. No one is ever really sure quite how it happens, but sometimes birds show up in unexpected places, places that are very far off-track from where they are “supposed” to be. Here in Wisconsin we recently had a Mexican violetear, a type of hummingbird whose range lies within Central America, show up in the Driftless region. And earlier this spring, Dane County saw a Eurasian shorebird called a ruff, whose range is on a completely different continent.
I didn’t dip on the ruff sighting, thank goodness. Here’s a blurry scope pic I took of this handsome bird in a flooded field north of Waunakee. Notice his “ruffled” front feathers on his chest that speak to his name. Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt
Finding or getting the chance to see a vagrant bird can be exciting—so exciting that some birders have defined “vagrant” as “what birder’s dreams are made of.” Vagrants fall within the category of “rare” birds, obviously—but they are on a different level than many of the rare birds you might encounter while out birding. You’re more likely to see a bird known to our area, but spot it early or late in the season, where it’s presence and timing may make it rare for different reasons. Vagrants take rare to a whole new level.
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but it’s a start! Hopefully this will give you some new insight into birding culture—and the language needed to swap some lifer stories at a future bird walk.
Have you heard any other birding terms that you’ve been confused by? Leave them in the comments below and we’ll help you decipher them!
That’s all for this week! Happy birding, folks!
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Caitlyn is the Communications and Outreach Assistant at Madison Audubon. She’s crazy for birds because they changed her life. She’ll be back next Monday with some tips and tools for birders, new and experienced! Between now and then, she’d love to hear about the birds you’re seeing and hearing. Leave a comment below or email to drop her a line!
