Episode 76: Fording in a Chevy

Aficionados track down birds ... some with a dash of obsessiveness

By Kathie Warco, Staff writer, kwarco@observer-reporter.com

Bird-watching is no more.

But you can still grab your binoculars along with a good guide to Pennsylvania birds, head out to your backyard or the gamelands and do some birding.

"It is now birding as opposed to bird-watching," said Roy Ickes of North Franklin Township, a professor emeritus in Washington & Jefferson College's biology department and an ornithologist. "I just love birds. I go on tours to study them."

"I've gone places I would not normally have gone if I hadn't been a birder," he added. "I'm not sure if I would've gone to Tibet if not for birding. It has taken me to Maryland's Eastern Shore, the Virgin Islands and Australia."

As a graduate student, Ickes worked on a project studying the American redstart. That helped to renew his interest in birds.

And if you really get into it, try twitching. A twitcher is someone who seeks out new birds while compiling a life list of the different species that person has seen. Ickes, at last count, stands at No. 53 in the twitching world, having seen almost 6,000 species. The top five have seen in excess of 8,000.

For some, twitching is serious stuff.

"In England, historically, young men were perilously close to obsession in wanting to see all the birds in country," Ickes said. "They'd make a list and check it off."

"The top twitchers often interconnect," he added. "Word comes out when a species not seen before is spotted and they all jump in their cars and drive to the place."

One enthusiastic twitcher, an anesthesiologist, would fly his own airplane to the location, record the new species and fly back home, Ickes said. Hotlines are set up so people can call in if they see something unusual.

But Ickes' passion for the feathered friends goes beyond just watching. He also helps collect data that is used in a scientific way. Ickes is a regional coordinator for the Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of volunteers are spotting the species of birds in their respective regions of the commonwealth and reporting them for eventual publication in the atlas.

"It is good to compare where the species are found," Ickes said. "We look at the bird population and migration, and we'll compare what has gone on in the 20 years since the last atlas was published.

"The ruffed grouse, which is the state bird, is significantly declining. They were never common around here, but the numbers are decreasing. The red-bellied woodpecker is slowly moving north.

"Bobwhites are pretty much gone," he added. "I haven't seen a whippoorwill for 20 years."

Ickes said a birder almost has to have a good field guide, if for nothing more than to sort out the half-dozen different species of sparrows. Field guides have color photos of the birds.

There are also differences between males and females of some species.

The male American goldfinch, for example, is the bright yellow bird of summer but loses its color in the winter to resemble the more drab female of the species, Ickes said.

"Birding is fun," Ickes said. "But it is more fun if you know what you are looking for."