I’m a competitive person.

I have played sports most of my life on this earth. From baseball to basketball and quite a few others in between. Even as I write this I coach my son’s travel baseball team and personally play in a men’s baseball league. I love the thrill, the adrenaline rush, and the stimulation of competition.

When I began my birding adventure way back in 19(mumble, mumble), I didn’t realize how much that that could tumble into the birding world. I’m reminded of the scene in “The Big Year” where a fallout (where birds stop at the first landing spot after a strong storm front) hits the gulf coast and the British birders say “only an American would make birding into a competition!”

My first tallies of bird sightings were with a mark in my trusty Sibleys birding field guide. Sometimes with a date and location and sometimes with only an “x” above the species I just viewed. Then I would add it up and put the number in the index section so I would have the total number of my “life list”. I was always looking for the next life bird to add to my number, which is currently 471 life birds and 311 Michigan life birds. Most birders know exactly how many birds are on their life list and where their last one was seen by date and location. My newest lifer is the Black Guillemot seen in Sagadahoc, Maine on February 11, 2023.

Then came the creation of eBird!

eBird.com is a website that helps you keep track of all your sightings wherever you bird. Whether your track is only 15 minutes or 4 hours you can keep the list of birds seen and when finished save them. Then the site tabulates your sightings at the world, country, state, and county levels.

This is where the competition starts! You are able to challenge yourself or the whole state. Many birders I know have yearly goals. How many counties can I get to? How many counties can I get to 100 birds? How many can I get to 200? How many species do I want to have at the end of the year?

Currently my competition is a solo competition. The goals are pretty simple. I usually try to stay within the top 100 list in eBird for my state. Maybe one of these years I will go after a “big year”, which requires getting as many species of birds as possible within a calendar year, but not this year. I do try and get one species more than last year. I don’t over-obsess about it though I do get a stronger itch when the bird is a lifer.

Whatever your level of birding is, whether grandiose or watching the birds on your backyard feeders, birding can be as laid back or as competitive as you want it to be! As long as you have fun!!!