Young Birder of the Year Contest

Young Birders' Conference

Camps

ABA Scholarships
   - Recipients

Connect!

A Bird's-Eye View

Join ABA

CAMP REPORTS 2003

A Report on Camp Chiricahua

8-19 July 2003

By Glenn Seeholzer

Many things can be said about a good birding trip. It was amazing, awesome, I saw so many new birds or other similar remarks. That is what I usually say about my forays into the field on a productive day or string of days. Of course my trip to Arizona this summer was no exception, but present for the first time was a different sensation, one of, well, enlightenment. Allow me to explain.

I have been an avid birder for a little over five years. During that time almost nothing could pull me away from that consuming interest. Many times while I was out birding with my local clubs they would stop to examine various orders besides birds, be it an interesting fungus or butterfly. Starting last summer I picked up my first butterfly guide and casually kept my eye out while bird watching for the occasional swallowtail or admiral just to keep things going when the birding lagged. At the end of that summer butterflies were swept out of my mind by the first hints of the fall bird migration sweeping down the coast. During the winter months I kept birding strong, not thinking much about anything else, except maybe school work, maybe. Then during those bleary March weekends when the birding was stagnant and I was cooped up in my room studying for the SAT examinations I started leafing through my butterfly guide once again. Each time I did I felt that strange sensation of anticipation in my stomach that, I assume, all birders feel when they know, the night before, that a great day of birding will be at their doorstep when they awake. When the first spring hatchings of butterflies occurred I may have had my first euphoric experience, all of the sudden I was looking at every flying thing, and not merely shrugging my shoulders in disappointment if it was a butterfly and not a bird. Now, I would immediately race down a path in pursuit of a butterfly I had not seen before as I would have done five years before with my first sighting of an American tree sparrow or palm warbler.

Spring migration came and went with all its splendor and discovery, even more so that spring than any on my record because of the butterflies. Still, to anyone who asked I would still consider myself, first and foremost a birder. That would all change with my coming trip to Camp Chiricahua sponsored by Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. I had previously been on two trips with VENT, one to Texas and one to the Cascades in Washington. Each time I would pack the normal gear recommended by the leader, 8 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of shorts, 2 canteens etc., and also the obligatory field guide. Of course, for me, there was only one guide I would bring, a bird guide; bringing any other book would be unthinkable. I am a birder. I only carry bird books. After packing all my clothes I started packing my field guides. Of course my National Geo went in first. Next, I picked my butterfly guide; this I put into my pack to study on the plane. The other bird guides went straight into my luggage to be unpacked out in Arizona. Only when I was on the plane flying out to my connection in Chicago did my actions the night before strike me as unprecedented. Never before had I chosen any other book over my bird guides for a trip.

Then came Arizona. One of the first things our leader Rob Day did when the whole group was assembled was ask each of the seven participants and his camp assistant where they were from, their age and what bird they most hoped to see on the trip. I said my bit about age and hometown and after stating which bird I hope to see the most - I don't even remember what it was - I promptly asserted my interest in seeing an Arizona Hairstreak. It was then that I realized that I was becoming a naturalist first, birder second. This became ever more apparent as the camp progressed.

While hiking up South Fork Canyon my eyes were spending half the time scanning the ground for butterflies and cool herps and the other half of the time scanning for the local avian species such a Painted Redstart, Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher, Arizona Woodpecker, and Dusky-capped Flycatcher. At the apex of our climb we had just heard Elegant Trogon calling and half the group had been able to see the male bird. I, unfortunately, had not been able to see the bird. If this had happened two years ago, I would have been off bush-whacking through the under story chasing another trogon that was calling up a tributary canyon but instead I immediately turned my attention to the stream bed where a huge assemblage of butterflies had gathered to drink or collect minerals from the wet soil. Here were California Sisters, Taxiles Skippers, Golden-headed Scallop-wings and Golden-banded Skippers to name of few. I also had my camera on hand, so while we waited for the trogon to call again I was completely absorbed in getting a picture of a California Sister, or studying a fiery red dragonfly. I did finally see another trogon on the way back down the canyon, just for the record.

Another clarifying experience was high in Rustler Park. After driving for 45 minutes up countless switchbacks we arrived into the camp ground. My mouth immediately dropped not when I saw the towering Douglas firs and pinyon pines or the Pygmy Nuthatches and Steller's Jays flying around our campground but at the acre of wildflowers seething with butterflies. Here I would find the much sought after Arizona Hairstreak, Pine and Canyonland Satyr, all three North American Ladies and the spectacular Two-tailed Swallowtail. Even among all these great butterflies, birds were not lost to me. One special memory I have is waking up to a very raucous family of ravens at dawn and then fifteen minutes later sitting with Alex (the other scholarship recipient) watching female and juvenile Broad-tailed Hummingbirds visiting a spring coming out of the hillside while observing the individual characteristics of each hummer.

Now, back from Arizona, I am truly enlightened about myself and my interests. No longer will I merely be a bird watcher, but I will be a naturalist. Watching butterflies has opened up the doors of the natural world to me. I have now taken an interest in botany so as to better understand and locate specific butterflies through their larval food plants. And as recently as last week I went out into the field with the sole goal of identifying the mushrooms that occur in my local birding haunts. I thank the ABA for helping in my development as a naturalist by awarding me a scholarship to attend Camp Chiricahua. It has changed my outlook on the natural world forever.

September 2003

These young birders attended the camps/events they report on with the help of ABA scholarships.