Kirsten birding with friends
Please join us in congratulating Kirsten Aamodt of Flagstaff, Arizona, winner of the April 2019 eBird Challenge, sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics. Kirsten’s name was drawn randomly from 4,744 eBirders who submitted at least 20 eligible eBird checklists in April that contained at least one rated photo or sound. Kirsten will receive a new ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binocular for her eBirding efforts. Here’s Kirsten’s birding story:
Thank you Carl Zeiss Sports Optics for your sponsorship and thank you Cornell Lab of Ornithology for creating eBird! It was a year and a half ago that my friend, Bea Cooley, suggested I look into eBird as she causally pointed out a Golden Eagle flying just above our heads at the Mormon Lake Overlook. I am grateful to her for starting me on this path.
American Avocet chasing Wilson’s Phalaropes. Image © Kirsti Aamodt/Macaulay Library.
As I began using eBird I became aware of how little I know about all the birds surrounding us in spite of my life long, unbounded love and curiosity for everything wild. eBird is an incredible resource for learning and it’s free! The lists, the maps, the charts, the sound recordings, the photographs, the identification help, the life histories, the Bird Academy, Merlin, the All About Birds website—all here in my pocket to entertain and keep me growing.
Maybe best of all, because of eBird I began to meet other birders, Tom Linda, BB Oros, Thomas Hedwall and others who have been so generous with sharing time, information and teaching me birding. Their depth of knowledge is inspiring, their birding humor often brightens a day.
Birds have always been the jewelry adorning every landscape and eBird is my tool for mapping my treasure hunts and recording these jewels. What a bonus to feel good about adding to the Cornell Labs data base! Plus, this is a hobby that I can easily continue and grow old with.
Wilson’s Phalaropes by Kirsti Aamodt/Macaulay Library.
Thank you eBird for adding so much to my life and thank you Carl Zeiss Sports Optics for giving me the excellent tool that makes seeing all the beauty so easy.