Words On Birds 09-25-26

What’s Liked Best About Birding in 2026
September 25, 2026
By Steve Grinley

     Our birding friend, Brian Cassie, is a retired Brookline elementary school science teacher whose owl stories I have shared with you in the past. It seems that you can take the teacher out of the school, but you can’t take the school out of the teacher. Brian sent many of his birding friends an assignment:

     “I just sat down and wrote a short piece about my favorite thing about birding in 2026. I think it would be fun to get a collection of these, from birders who started birding before the electronic revolution. So, if you are a birdwatcher who was out in the field in 1990 or before and want to share a few thoughts, please do. This is an anonymous forum….no names of anyone mentioned. Say when you were born, when you started birding, and go from there. Here is mine:

     What I Like Best About Birding in 2026

     I was born in 1953. I started birding in 1971.

     Here we are fifty-five years later and the one thing that I most enjoy about birding is knowing the vocalizations of birds. I thank my stars so many times when I am out walking, hear birds around me, and know what they are. When I got into birdwatching, I was amazed at the veterans’ ability to identify birds merely by hearing them. This was, of course, back in the days when one learned bird songs and calls three ways: listening to and watching the birds making their vocalizations, having experienced birders point out these vocalizations, and listening to bird’s songs on vinyl records. I did these things and before too too long people were asking me which birds were singing and expecting the right answer…and that was a kick.

     I know we all wished fifty-five years ago that we might have a device to point into the trees that would tell us which calls were which. But we did not and so if one wanted to be a player in the birding world, it was look, listen, ask questions, and commit bird sounds to memory. Somehow, after fifty-five years, long after so many things have rattled out of my brain never to return, the bird sounds remain. Hurray for that.”

     And the responses began:

     What I Like Best About Birding In 2026

     Seventy Years A Birder, I was born in 1944. I started birding in 1956.

     Things have changed in such significant ways since I began birding as a kid. In the 1950s and 1960s vinyl records taught us bird songs…then cassettes started to appear. In the late 1900s, recording devices vastly improved. And now, in the 2000s, it is The Age of Merlin. Birders and legions of potential birders home and abroad can now quickly ID most bird sounds (but not mammals, amphibians, nor insects) with accuracy in the high 90’s.

     In photography, digital cameras changed everything. Images are cheaper, faster, and much more easily forwarded.

     Rare bird alerts, such as the Mass Audubon “Voice of Audubon” telephone hotline, have been around since the 1950s. The internet has now largely replaced telephone rare bird sites.

     “Event Birds” came on the scene along the way and such ultra-rarities as the Ross’s Gull in Newburyport and the Red-footed Falcon on Martha’s Vineyard brought thousands of birders to Massachusetts and made national headlines.

     The internet and sites such as eBird have greatly made things easier. eBird alerts on rarities caused many who have never seen either local cuckoo to dash to Rhode Island and watch a European Cuckoo that remained for days.

     Birding has indeed changed from the days of shotgun ornithology. Technology has negated the rationale that a specimen is needed to confirm a rarity. Such vagrants can enrich the memories of so many with the click of camera and shared with our community.

     What I Like Best About Birding In 2026

     I was born in 1943 and started birding for real in 1976. (Way too late, of course, and yes, I missed The Ross’s Gull).

     I love sitting on the porch with a cup of strong coffee and Merlin and the morning “paper” (or a good novel) and letting the e-device identify all the birds that I mostly cannot hear (high-pitchers like warblers and Cedar Waxwing). Once in a while, I beat it to the punch when I happen to spot a silent Great Blue Heron ambling overhead.

     All right, all right, I still do like to get up and out and chase down a really cool year-bird, and would make even more effort for a state lifer, and especially appreciate one that comes easily [such as] Chestnut-collared Longspur.