Why Birdwatchers Now Carry iPods And Laser Pointers

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Why Birdwatchers Now Carry iPods And Laser Pointers
Devices Help Spot, Call, Identify and Spread News; The Noise of Wireless Alerts
By ANDREW LAVALLEE
February 26, 2007; Page A1

Birdwatchers have long headed into the woods with little more equipment than binoculars and a notebook. But when Laura Erickson sets out on a birding trip, she now brings along two digital cameras, a Palm device with a bird-species database and an iPod loaded with bird songs.

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Technology available to birdwatchers includes National Geographic Society's Handheld Birds, a Palm-enabled field guide; BirdGuides Ltd.'s bird-news alert for the BlackBerry and other devices; and Mighty Jams LLC's birdJam for the iPod. Earlier this winter, she used a parabolic microphone in her backyard to record the sounds of woodcocks three-quarters of a mile away. "That doesn't seem any more cheating than using binoculars" does, she says. "But to some people, that would just be a horrifying thought."

Indeed, many traditionalists who think that the whole point of birding is to commune with nature bristle at the technology now available to the modern birdwatcher, from laser pointers used to identify birds perched on high branches to devices that play birdcalls. Professional alerting services, already popular in the United Kingdom and springing up in the U.S., allow hardcore hobbyists to receive notices of local sightings on their cellphones or BlackBerrys.

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Terry Hunefeld, a retired sales coach in Encinitas, Calif., recently saw an American oystercatcher in nearby Point Loma. "It was a big find," he says of the large bird, identified by its long, red-orange bill. He got a good look and then reached for his BlackBerry, firing off text messages to several friends. Six of them showed up in time to see the bird. The device came in handy again when he encountered a crested caracara, a raptor rarely spotted in Southern California. "A rare bird, when you find it, could be gone in two minutes. But it could also be there for an hour or two," so getting the word out quickly is key, he says.

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Discussions over the use of technology in birding can "sometimes get a little bit steamy," says Paul Green, director of citizen science at the National Audubon Society in New York. "This community is a very complex one." One point of contention is the use of mobile technologies that replicate bird songs. MightyJams LLC, in Atlanta, sells an iPod loaded with its BirdJam software and sample songs of 650 birds. The National Geographic Society also sells sample calls loaded onto memory cards for use in handheld devices. The song libraries are intended as identification guides, but they can also be amplified and played through portable speakers to attract birds. The American Birding Association's code of ethics advises against the tactic for rare or endangered birds because it can distract them from protecting or feeding their young. "It's a very kind of personal, selfish thing to do," Audubon's Mr. Green says... Camera flashes are similarly disruptive, and laser pointers, which some use to point out a hard-to-see bird, also pose risks, according to the American Birding Association. "Some people have a tendency to take that laser pointer and point it right at the bird, i.e., on the bird's body, which is really a mistake," says Mr. Payne, the group's president. A laser pointer can injure a bird's eyes.

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URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117226240759417633.html (subscription)

[XemaSab]

1. For real: I was birding in Yosemite and I heard a confusing call

I couldn't decide whether it was a squirrel, a woodpecker, or a raptor.

After an extensive search of my iPod, I found it on "Birds of Arizona." Cooper's Hawk. Booyah!

[vireo]

2. A plug for Laura's web site

For those of you who haven't visited it; she's a good liberal Dem birder: http://www.lauraerickson.com/