![On the back of a Dragonfly [B&W]](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6194/6128449851_14ec409b56_s.jpg "On the back of a Dragonfly [B&W]")
If you're one of the hundreds of thousands of American birders, The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has a suggestion for your summer vacation: spend your time and money investing in "conservation birding." You can see some of the most spectactular birds in the Americas (like the Yellow-scarfed Tanager, above) while helping to prevent their extinction.
ABC has partnered with bird conservation organizations in a dozen countries to set up thirty-six preserves covering a quarter-million acres of unique and critical bird habitat for more than 2,000 species. Eighteen of the preserves offer on-site lodging.
"Visiting birders can provide a source of direct financial support to the reserves," said Mike Parr, VP of ABC, at the project's recent unveiling, "helping them become self-sufficient and sustainable in the long-term."
A Birding Portal
Part of the project includes a resource-rich website, www.conservationbirding.org. From that site, you can read details about and see photographs of many of the reserves, browse sample itineraries, download a file that shows birding routes when used with Google Earth, and watch a covey of amazing videos (rookery? clutch? gulp? charm?) like the one below.
Eighteen of the conservation birding preserves are listed as key preservation sites by the the global Alliance for Zero Extinction. These areas have been singled out as extinction "hotspots," where "species are in imminent danger of disappearing."
Do You Love Birds?
The NRDC does. That's why it has worked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to create a website/blog devoted entirely to our feathered friends, at WeLoveBirds. The site is designed as an online meeting-place for birders to share information, photos and just, well, flock together.
There's a gorgeous slide show on the home page, a forum for asking technical questions about birding equipment ("What specs should we look for" in a digital SLR camera used for capturing images of birds, is the most recent question), and links to live "Nest Cams" across the country. (As I write, I'm inordinately mesmerized by a pair of nearly motionless Barn Owls hunkering down to stay warm -- it's 49°-- in a nest in Italy, Texas.)
Favorite Bird App
To wrap up this week in birding, the New York Times cooperated by recently naming BirdsEye their "Gadgetwise App of the Week."
Of course the app include photos of nearly a thousand birds in the U.S. and Canada (and recordings of most of their songs), along with text describing their habits, range, etc.
What really sets BirdsEye apart is its tracking capability. Because it streams information from Cornell Lab's eBird program, you can see, instantly, where different bird species have been cited. Or check your location to see which birds are migrating through your "backyard.
No word yet on when a similar app will be available for use in the Conservation Birding preserves. Such a program might not be terribly helpful there, anyway. On two recent ABC-sponsored trips, participants spotted bird species that were new to science.
Great to mention BirdsEye, the iPhone app that partners with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to help you have more fun birding. You wondered whether a similar app would be available to cover Conservation Birding preserves. Actually, another app isn't necessary. Already, if birders contribute their sightings to eBird at the preserves, any sightings of any of the 847 species found in North American north of Mexico will already appear in BirdsEye. For example, right now you can see current Hudsonian Godwit sightings in Peru, or Bar-tailed Godwits in New Zealand. What BirdsEye needs to do next is to expand the species they cover to other geographic regions. Over time, the developers are committed to making that happen. They are working first, however, on making it possible to contribute sightings to eBird using the app. To read about BirdsEye, visit www.GetBirdsEye.com.
That's good to know. I still need to get an iPhone, though.
Mortals take it one step at at time. Even mortal genius programmers, like the ones that have done BirdsEye. That said, BirdsEye works not just on iPhone but also iPod Touch, and will work out of the box on iPads.
Osha Gray Davidson covers energy and the environment for OnEarth. A freelance writer, Davidson's work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Salon, Grist, Mother Jones, and many other publications. He has written five nonfiction books, including The Enchanted
...Osha Gray Davidson covers energy and the environment for OnEarth. A freelance writer, Davidson's work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Salon, Grist, Mother Jones, and many other publications. He has written five nonfiction books, including The Enchanted Braid, a natural history of coral reefs, which was a finalist for the U.K. Natural World Book Award. His blog on solar power, The Phoenix Sun, is widely syndicated.
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