BRAINERD 鈥� They once were called "bird watchers" but now prefer the term "birders." And "bird watching" is now called "birding."
"Bird watchers" were once stereotypically thought of as the gray-haired lady that lived down the ally, who each day filled her backyard bird feeders and watched for her feathered friends out the kitchen window. Or, a person who drove a gas conservative foreign car, wore a tan vest, fancy pants, a fedora, and bearing $1,000 plus binoculars around his or her neck.
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No longer.
Birders now come from all walks of life, and each has a reason for pursuing birds. And the hobby is fast becoming a popular pastime for many Americans.
Some are very serious, oftentimes traveling great distances at the drop of hat, sometimes across the state, oftentimes across the U.S., or even the world, to add bird sightings to their "life lists."
Others are happy just to watch the various species of birds seen only in their yards.
So, what is the attraction? After all, birds have forever been a part of our lives, even if you live in the bowels of a metropolitan area, there have always been "city" birds to watch 鈥� pigeons, starlings, house sparrows to name a few.
"I got into birding 55 years ago,鈥� said Butch Ukura, a diehard birder who lives near Deerwood.
Ukura, age 72, has seen an extremely impressive Minnesota life list of 380 species of birds. That鈥檚 not 380 birds, but 380 different species of birds.
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Ukura has chased (a birder鈥檚 term for traveling to see a bird) birds from the Iowa border to the furthest reaches of northern Minnesota, and nearly every place in between.
One winter day Ukura drove north to Warren in northwestern Minnesota to see a lesser goldfinch, an extremely rare find in the state.
鈥淚t was 14 below zero when I left,鈥� said Ukura, 鈥渁nd likely near 20 below when I got there. But it was worth it. I got to see the lesser goldfinch. When I returned home my wife jokingly suggested I see a psychologist.鈥�
Ukura told me one his favorite aspects of birding is the chance to meet other birders.
鈥淎 sighting is posted on Facebook and people show up at that location,鈥� said Ukura. 鈥淚 have a chance to meet some birding friends who I鈥檝e followed on the site but had never met.鈥�
Ukura said he feels very fortunate to have had three master birders as mentors. He claims it鈥檚 a real benefit to beginning birders to bird with the experts.
For some birders, just being in nature is the allure, taking note not just of birds but also mammals, insects and flowers. Each outing becomes a new adventure. For some, birding is a spiritual experience.
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Other birders find satisfaction in attempting to figure out what bird species they actually see, or hear. Various species of gulls and shore birds can be particularly challenging to identify, especially during fall when they are typically not sporting their springtime breeding plumage.
Some birders like to confirm their sightings by photographing the birds they see. Image quality is not necessarily important so cellphones and relatively cheap optics often suffice, as long as the bird species is identifiable.
Birding oftentimes combines exploring new places with comrades. What better than to share with friends the sighting of a brilliant male indigo bunting in spring, or a stately great gray owl hunting from an old spruce snag prior to sunset on a winter day.
Serious birders usually keep a list of all the species of bird they see. There are backyard lists, county lists, state lists, daily lists, yearly lists and even life lists.
Birders, in general, are generous people, willing to share rare sightings with anyone, which nowadays is virtually instantaneous because of social media, cellphones, and GPS. And birders frequently know the best local restaurants where they gather for noontime pie and coffee, or at day's end for a steak and cocktail.
One fellow describes birding as a "social partying with binoculars."
