Hardwear Sessions

For the past hundred years or so, birders have braved snow, ice, and inclement weather for the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count. Experienced birders note even the smallest changes, such as the decline of a local population or the re-appearance (or disappearance) of a certain species. As a child, I hiked through snowy woods and around frozen lakes, following my mother and her birder friends as they took detailed notes on every sighting. When we sent in our Christmas Bird Count results, mother and I unwittingly became a part of the Audubon Society's experiment in "citizen science."

The Audubon Society's "Common Birds in Decline" study drew on four decades of Christmas Bird Count data, combining information from every Bird Count since 1967 with the U.S. Geological Survey's annual Breeding Bird Survey. The study noted that "populations of some of America's most familiar and beloved birds have taken a nosedive over the past forty years, with some down as much as 80 percent."

Twenty North American birds appear on the Audubon Society's Top 20 Common Birds in Decline list. The list includes the Northern Bobwhite, a once-familiar sight in the eastern United States, the Field Sparrow, and the Common Tern. Meadow- and ground-dwelling birds have suffered the most, affected by real estate development and changing land-use patterns. As developers drained wetlands and paved over fields and meadows, the "edge environments" favored by many birds--including the bobwhites and pintails on the Audubon's Top 20 list--have disappeared.

None of the birds on the Audubon's Top 20 list are sexy or "charismatic," like the California Condor and the Giant Panda. The birds on this list can best be described as "average"--solid, mundane mainstays of our local ecosystems. Our relative nonchalance towards their declining numbers may have something to do with our relationship with Nature.

Even today, with more and more Americans embracing a greener, more environmentally conscious lifestyle, we still draw a hard line between Nature and Culture. Too often, we seek Nature in the mountains or the desert, in all those places that we consider pristine wilderness, and ignore the natural bounty that sits at our front door. And so we ignore the birds and other creatures that inhabit our urban (or suburban) environs. My mother and I were certainly guilty. On our bird walks, we hoped to encounter the rare and the spectacular. We noticed the jays and sparrows that inhabited our yard, but we wanted something less ordinary.

If we cordon Nature off from Culture, do we also absolve ourselves of responsibility? If we save the wilderness but let our local environments fall to pieces, have we really done our duty?

This Christmas, when I go walking along the San Francisco Bay, I'll keep an eye out for the little guys, the blue herons and the sparrows, all those birds that I take for granted. And in the New Year, I'll do my best to help Nature flourish right here in the concrete jungle. I've learned to love the Sierra Nevada and its spectacular ecosystems. It's time I learned to love the birds and bees that live in my backyard.

Participate in your local Christmas Bird Count.

Read the Audubon Society's "Audubon At Home" recommendations.