[Tweeters] Birding while cycling..

[Kevin Lucas]

Tom,

Details --

I am actually birding while I'm pedaling my bicycle. Before the hit-and-run
that shut down then greatly reduced my bicycling for years, I'd named areas
along the Yakima Greenway Path, where I bicycled, for birds -- 'kestrel
field', 'flicker field', 'egret slough',.... I have a nice quiet bicycle
that fits me well. Even drivetrain noise is quite low. It's well adjusted,
I wax my chain, and I ride on pavement. I whistle back to birds whose calls
I can imitate passably. When my wife rides with me, I'm always pointing out
birds, most of which I've first heard. I'm typically going 12 to 20 mph,
and with my current helmet, wind noise is negligible. A slight turn of my
head can help when needed.
My high pitch hearing is still good. It used to be painfully good. There is
a great amount of high frequency noise from electronics in our world that
doesn't seem to bother most people. I rarely carry my binoculars with me. I
tried carrying small ones, but I'm spoiled on my Canon Image Stabilzer
binoculars, and rely on their stabilization even more so when my heartrate
is elevated. If I were to stop to view, I'd want them, but they're big and
heavy, so I need a knapsack for them. I like to ride without that
encumbrance when I don't need to carry food and liquids for all day rides.

When I lived in Alaska, though I hated the noise, I found that travelling
by tremendously noisy air boat, Bald Eagles were unlikely to flush as we
passed. When in my canoe or raft on the same rivers, they usually flushed
as I passed silently by. I figured they thought I was trying to sneak up on
them. It was not a small sample size. Thousands were around.

Crippled, I wandered on foot clumsily on the Yakima Greenway Path. I was
amazed at the close looks afforded me by little brown jobs, started to see
their plumage well, and I got into identifying birds. It seemed to me they
were pretty sure I had no chance of trying to catch and eat them with my
slow and awkward movements. Similarly with my bike, it seems I often am not
part of birds' perceived imminent threats. I also have a high vantage point
on my bike.

A couple of years ago while bicycling I heard an Ovenbird singing away. I
stopped and tried to spot it without binocs to no avail. It was singing
again or still when I pedaled back past the spot. That was my rarest
bicycling find, but I also often heard and saw Lesser Goldfinches along my
rides long before their "rare" eBird designation was dropped locally. I get
joy from all sorts of birds while I ride, and often say to the Turkey
Vultures that I'm not ready for them yet, while hoping that the diclofenac
I've used for pain reduction wouldn't kill them if they ate me, as it has
done to vultures in India and Pakistan.

In a noisy, echo-y room, I'd have a tremendously hard time picking out bird
vocalizations. Echoes and peoples voices wipe out bird sounds to my ears.
The loud yammering of a local prominent bird lister always trashed my
ability to hear birds at stops on his field trips. When he'd loudly schuss
others, I'd laugh with a big smirk. Another lister makes loads of noise,
clanking his tripod and talking, flushing birds all around. In addition to
his carelessness and selfishness, I attribute his noisiness to his impaired
hearing -- not realizing how much noise he is making. Their noise
contributes to our desire and efforts to stay far from them. Even the noise
of someone walking alongside me can obliterate many bird sounds to my ears.
But the noise of my biking doesn't wipe out nearly as much. I don't hear
most of the quietest chips and peeps and such, so there's the effective low
sound pressure level notch filter that's built in to bicycling, but I hear
enough to keep me happy and attentive while I ride.

Since I bicycle at an aerobic pace, when I stop I can often hear the sound
of the blood coursing through my ears if I try to listen intently, so stops
aren't the greatest birding opportunities for me, other than the final stop
at our home.

Good Birding,
https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/
Kevin Lucas
Yakima County, Washington
*Qui tacet consentire videtur*


On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 4:58 PM Tom Benedict <benedict.t at comcast.net> wrote:


> On Sep 12, 2023, at 16:34, Kevin Lucas <vikingcove at gmail.com> wrote:

>

>

> Lately I've finally been able to return to enjoying birds while bicycling,

> something I thought I'd never be able to do again. It helps me get my fix

> of hearing and seeing birds with a much smaller turbine/lithium/carbon

> footprint.

>

>

> I’m interested in details Kevin. I have a hard time birding while walking,

> much less while bicycling. Or am I jumping to the conclusion that you are

> birding _while_ cycling rather than cycling between stops where you bird?

>

> Tom Benedict

> Seahurst, WA

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20230912/3fb78eb6/attachment.html>