MEET SPIKE MILLINGTON!
A curious Crested Guan approaches Spike Millington in Ecuador (photo coutesy of Spike).
I grew up in England and my early birding was there, but I left 40 years ago and have lived all over the world since then, although nowhere more than five years. In this way I have amassed a reasonable world list without ever really trying. Currently, I work at the International Crane Foundation, where I was lured from East Asia with promises of mild winters and mosquito-free summers 😊 Most of my work involves saving cranes in China and other countries of east and southeast Asia.
In England, I used to travel quite far to see Great Northern Divers and Slavonian Grebes. Here, I can hear Common Loons singing from my bedroom and see Horned Grebes at the end of my yard. How cool is that? Maybe not that cool for those who have lived in Wisconsin their whole lives, but the beauty and mystique of loons is really something special and we are so lucky to have them.
What is your ‘spark story’—how you first got into birding?
I have been birding as long as I can remember, so there is no particular spark story. When I was eight, my parents gave me an “Observer’s Book of Birds” with illustrations of different species. Two years later was a very cold winter and two unusual birds arrived in my parent’s yard in the snow. I knew I recognized them from the book, but couldn’t put a name to them, so I looked them up—Reed Bunting and Goldcrest (a kind of kinglet). That was a real sense of achievement and it went from there (better books and more birds).
In the US I first experienced the spring warbler migration when I started graduate school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Every day I would cycle up the Arboretum before classes and every day, new beautifully patterned and plumaged warblers. A revelation! We had warblers in England, but they were mostly dull brown and gray and often shy (they could sing, though!).
If you could encounter any bird in the world, what would it be?
A Northern Hawk Owl perched on a wire (photo via Pixabay).
I guess there are two categories—outrageous birds like Wilson’s Bird of Paradise in New Guinea and White-necked Picathartes in Africa that take a lot of effort to see, and then those birds that I have tried for a lot but somehow always missed. Northern Hawk Owl is in the latter category and who knows, this may the winter for them in Wisconsin?!
LeConte’s Sparrow was up there: I missed a few, or at best got tantalizing glimpses as they skulked around in the grasslands. But this fall, one popped up in front of me and posed in a small dead tree. In the bright sunshine, this bird was just perfect, the more so for being so desired.
Favorite places to bird?
I am lucky to live on Lake Monona so my yard is where I bird most. My yard list is 141 species and every new one is a real joy. I’m still waiting for Brown Creeper: I know they are eyeing up my yard from across the bay in Olin Park and not coming across just to frustrate me!
I used to bird at Harvey-Wangsness wetland in Columbia County, a beautiful spot where many unusual shorebirds and other waterbirds would turn up. Sadly, this year, the whole area was drained and planted with corn (how can that happen? 😞). So now I go to nearby Goose Pond Sanctuary, where some of those same ducks and shorebirds showed up this year, including a lovely flock of Golden Plovers. Plus, it has prairies!
What advice would you share with new birders?
Spike watches for Long-tailed Ducks and Harlequin Ducks through a scope in North Korea (photo courtesy of Spike).
Birding is all about the pleasure you get from birds, no matter the level or scale. It’s non-judgmental. My advice is to buy the best pair of binoculars you can afford. It will open up your eyes to the beauty and diversity of birds and encourage you to get out and about. The more you care about birds and the places they live, the more likely you are to try to save them—and join organizations like Madison Audubon!
Second to birding, the thing I enjoy is showing people birds. The question I get most frequently when I am out birding is “What are those white birds?” Nearly always Great Egrets, occasionally pelicans, rarely swans (people seem to know those). So don’t be shy if you see me out birding. Better still, come up to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo—in summer you can sit and watch Whooping Cranes catching crayfish in their little wetland while listening to the burbling and chirruping of Cliff Swallows nesting above your head. It’s very calming in these stressful times.
Birding is for everybody! Know someone (maybe you!) who’d like to be featured in our Meet a Birder series? Send an email to Kaitlin at ksvabek@madisonaudubon.org.
Cover image: A Goldcrest perches on an evergreen branch (photo by Psubraty/Pixabay).
