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Young Birders Hone their Skills
Birds and nature inspire youth across the country
© Jason Paluck
Teens hone their birding skills as part of a nature camp run by the American Birding Association. One camper, Anya, says about birds: "They’re beautiful, they’re full of life, and you can see them basically anywhere.” At home in New York City, Alexandra got hooked on a Red-bellied Woodpecker, like this one. A third camper, Maia, says: "When I went to my first birding camp, I knew nothing and I just liked looking at birds… then I started learning about all the taxonomy, and I think it’s really enhanced what I know about science." These three campers revel in the opportunity to spend time with their peers while immersed in nature.
BirdNote®
Young Birders Hone Their Skills
Interviewed by Chris Peterson
This is BirdNote!
[A tiny stream and the song of the Pacific Wren]
In an old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest, three young women hone their birding skills. What got them started? Here’s Maia Paddock who lives in Pennsylvania:
[“Well I was always kind of the animal person in my family, the animal and science person.] …I love monkeys, but unfortunately it’s really hard to go outside and look at monkeys... So I …went ‘I can go look for birds, because there are birds here.’ And from then on, I just started looking for birds!”
Here’s Anya Auerbach of New York City:
“Well, my mom was always really into nature and she took me outdoors to Central Park,…And ... I …gravitated more towards the birds as time went on. … They’re beautiful, they’re full of life, and you can see them basically anywhere…”
And Alexandra Hale?
“I grew up in Utah, so my parents …showed me moose and bears and wolves and I absolutely loved that. And then we moved to New York City…and I was miserable. …So I went to Central Park… and I ran into these birders who were watching… a Red-bellied Woodpecker nest, and they were watching Starlings kick the Red-bellied Woodpeckers out of the nest. And I just got immediately hooked.”
As you know, an interest can take you new places. Once again, here’s Maia:
“I have a much greater appreciation for … science than I had before I started birding. […When I went to my first birding camp, I knew nothing and I just liked looking at birds…then I started learning about all the taxonomy, and I think it’s really enhanced what I know about science, but I didn’t expect that.]”
To learn more about birding camps run by the American Birding Association and Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, begin at birdnote.org. (Editor's note: camps are on hold for now. Rockjumper is now the lead sponsor of the camps.)
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Song of the Pacific Wren [109126] provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by G.A. Keller.
Stream at South Whidbey State Park recorded by C. Peterson.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and produced by John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org March 2013 Narrator: Mary McCann
ID# birding-20-2013-03-25birding-20Marantz III Tracks 309,310, 311
Chris Peterson
Writer