Bird lists

Most birders and bird watchers keep some type of list of birds they have seen. Keeping lists of birds seen is just plain fun and, if you know how to interpret them, bird lists can also be useful tools to make you a better birder, assuming you add a bit more information than bird species seen to your list. Thus, nearly all birders keep some type of bird list. Indeed, keeping a bird list in birdwatching is as traditional as carrying birding binoculars and field guides, though the number and types of list you keep is entirely up to you.

For instance, all serious birders keep a bird life list – a list of all the birds they have seen in their lifetime. In the same vein, some birders also keep yearly bird lists and even monthly bird lists of birds seen within a certain timeframe. Birders may also keep geographical bird lists for birds seen in a given location, say your state or even your backyard.

I have kept all of these lists, at one time or another and I continue to keep bird lists, though, these days, my backyard bird list is the one I most faithfully keep. It’s not a typical backyard bird list, though, given that we live out in the woods along a secluded north country lake. The only issue for me on this list is where to draw the boundaries. Is seeing a Loon out on the lake though my birding spotting scope count as a backyard bird? Is spotting a Bald eagle flying low over the yard that I don't need binoculars to see the white head count? I say, yes, because, after all, it is my bird list. You can define your backyard bird list the way that works for you.

Go ahead and keep some bird lists. Get creative. Have some fun.