Ellen Tomczak

We built a house in a rural area, moving from the city. I received a bird feeder and bird seed as a house warming gift. I put it up in my yard. One day I spotted a beautiful bird I had never seen before. I had to buy a book, since it was the spring of 1995 and I couldn't google it. Next came binoculars. I began to see more and more birds. I was hooked! I joined a bird group through our local science museum. I have been birding ever since that spring day. I have traveled around the United States with this group, searching for new birds to see. My life list is just under 500 birds. My spark bird is the Rose breasted grosbeak.  [age 43]

Patrick Quinn

My spark bird story occurred on the shoreline of beautiful Chautauqua Lake in Western New York.

Growing up in Pittsburgh and spending most of my adult life in Bucks County, PA, I've always loved birds. As I got older I found I had a deeper interest and appreciation. I always loved when male Northern Cardinals would visit my feeders, and American Goldfinches made me gaze with delight. But my spark bird moment happened as I sat on my back deck sipping coffee in the second year of my retirement.

Depending on the time of day, the shores of Chautauqua Lake can be a literal bird circus. From the annoying early morning cawing of crows, to the sparrows, finches, mourning doves (always two), to the turkey vultures that are flying over as I write this, to the amazing osprey and bald eagles that often show up just after the osprey. Once, I saw an osprey snag a big perch by our dock only to have a bald Eagle swoop in and steal the fish from the osprey!

I feel like I'm starting to ramble so I'll get to my spark bird moment. Sitting on the deck, maybe 40 yards from our dock, I spotted a bird perched on one of the poles of our dock stanchions. Next thing I witness is this bird diving into the water like a missile. A BIG splash followed by the bird landing on our dock with something in its mouth. It then proceeded to brutally beat the crayfish on the wooden dock. If it was a boxing match the referee would have stepped in and stopped the fight. This bird was kicking the sht out of this bad luck crayfish. Finally, the bird devoured the crustacean and flew to a tree limb above the water.

The Belted Kingfisher created my spark bird experience. I still sit almost every morning lakeside with my binoculars. When I hear, or see a Belted Kingfisher I always hope for another show. I'm rarely disappointed. I've seen multiple minnows, tiny snakes, and even a small perch suffer the same fate as that crayfish. Now I drink my morning coffee from a mug with a Belted Kingfisher image, fingers crossed, waiting for the star to show and the show to start. [age 62]

Allen Carter

My spark birds were many. The pair of Baltimore orioles in their hanging nest in the giant elm that towered over the 2 lane highway near my house. The elusive scarlet tanager whose song I kept hearing in the woods across the road from my house and which I finally glimpsed after careful stalking. The flocks of evening grosbeaks that flooded our feeder in the dead of winter. The raucous bobolinks in the alfalfa field down by the river. Or the redstarts that flashed their colors in the riverside brush. All learned from my little Golden Guide to Birds. [age 10]

Stephen N Anderson

I was about 3 years old, growing up in an apartment in Jamestown, New York. There was a bird nest outside my window. One day , the bird that had been sitting in the nest was away, and one of the two blue eggs started to open. A little bird nose came out. It was like magic. In just a little time this tiny bird crawled out of the egg. Now I knew what eggs were because we had them some days for breakfast. But I had no idea birds lived in them! That fascinated me. Birds became something I looked for.

Several years later, in Washington Junior High School my algebra teacher, Claude Parker, was a bird watcher and frequently interrupted the class to direct our attention to a bird flying in and out of the bushes outside our first floor classroom, reinforcing my teenage mind away, temporarily from girls and football to birds. It remains in me today after a few years as journalist at he NYT in Manhattan and subsequent positions in Philadelphia, setting my own consulting business in San Francisco and after 26 years there, returning to a cottage in southern, New Jersey with three bird feeders on three sides of our house where we can watch. [age 3]

Joanne Goetz

My sister and I grew up on a large dairy farm on Route 39 near Forestville, NY, in the Town of Hanover, Chautauqua County, New York. In addition to the dairy cattle there were also other animals on the farm such as workhorses. We also had chickens with a chicken coop. That was my first experience with feathered creatures. I still remember how much I enjoyed going to the chicken coop to watch the chickens and we even had our pet chickens. I became aware of other birds on the farm such as the Barn Swallows swooping in and out of the barns to their nests. I enjoyed seeing the Eastern Bluebirds perched on fence posts. I loved hearing the Mourning Doves cooing in the distance. But through the years I especially remember our mother pointing out birds to us especially an Eastern Towhee that was scratching around in the grass in back of our house. That really caught my attention to birds and I can call that my spark bird. I was about 12 at the time. After seeing the beautiful towhee my interest in birds continued to increase and still continues today at age 83.

I also must mention our first bird books that we received when we were very young. They were a series of four bird guides and I still have three of them: The Yellow Book of Birds of America, The Blue Book of Birds of America and The Green Book of Birds of America. They are not in very good condition, but somehow I have managed to keep them through these many, many years. They are the only books that survived out childhood and look very worn.

Through the years I have continued my interest in birds by attending birding classes and many workshops sponsored by different organizations. My husband and I also did much traveling to great birding locations throughout New York State as well as other states including Maine, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. My sister and I also went on a birding tour to Arizona. Through the years my husband and I have birded by county in New York state. Of the 62 counties in the state we have birded in 47 counties. One of our favorite locations has been Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and we birded there several times. Although we aren't traveling much now we are still delighted to have so many good birding locations right here in our own Chautauqua County, New York.

For many years I was a member of the Lake Erie Bird Club. I am so grateful for all that I have learned through my membership in the bird club. Birding through all of these years has been a terrific experience - and continues to be. And it all began so many years ago with the Eastern Towhee back on the farm.  [age 12]

Harrison Thomas Armstrong Reeds

Since I've been a young kid, I've always been fascinated by birds, birds and fish. I don't remember a specific time that made me fall in love with them at all really. My Grandmother, a great Canadian and concert pianist, gave me a very special gift when I was visiting her and my Grandfather. It was a tree, with many beautiful animals to go with it. I've always found woods mystical, eerie, serene, timeless, and intriguing. For a child like myself, it was the perfect gift. I took it down the hall and into a bedroom of their house, and spent time just looking at the figures, my mind enamored, eyes glowing, just in awe. In the woods, of course, there are birds, constantly singing away. I've been interested in knowing which bird sang which song, what they look like, for the entirety of my life. Now I am older, with the freedom to explore almost at will, and I try to take those liberties as often as I can. And when I am out there, at peace with everything, those same birds that captivated my thoughts in that spare bedroom at my Grandparents' house, still captivate me now.  [age 3]

Rose

As a young child living in Lackawanna NY, I enjoyed the occasional visit of hummingbirds and cardinals to my family garden as something colorful and exotic, beyond the starlings and house sparrows. But my "spark" occurred after we had moved to Hamburg, specifically Lakeview, NY. There my parents had bought a house on a wood lot that had lots undergrowth. I was walking up the driveway when I spotted a small bird feeding in the gutter of the house. It was striking, yellow with black around its face. I rushed to tell the others and grab a bird book, as we called my fathers field guide, and found I had stumbled upon a hooded warbler, of all things. The hood hooked me for life. It made me think of all the birds that were out there, waiting to be found by me, or not, as chance would have it. [age 16]

Carl

My interest in birds started around 10 years old when my mom put out a bird feeder. That Christmas I got the Golden Guide to the Birds of North America. I used to peruse every page of that book, dreaming of seeing the birds we didn't get at the feeder. I grew up in Cheektowaga, near the airport. When I was 13 or 14, I was playing street hockey with a group of friends in early May. I noticed a small bird in a young maple tree and to my surprise and delight, it was one of the "dream" birds and one I never expected to see, a Blackburnian Warbler! One of the guys playing was a closer friend also interested in birds and I yelled "Blackburnian Warbler!". We both stopped and watched it while the others thought we were crazy. From that day I began more seriously watching birds. [age 13]

Anonymous

One of my best friends, who is a bit older than me, had a reputation for "bird watching". As someone who did not come to fully appreciate birds growing up, this struck me as odd. I cannot recall the exact moment but I remember when my friend invited me along for a trip. He said we would get in the car, go to an area with a stream, and check out an area that's known for birds. We pulled onto the road and every minute we stopped to see what bird was flying, perched, or just sitting in the water. He would help me with the binoculars and say, "Hey, look there". At first, I was saying to myself what in the heck are you looking at? It took me some time but then I quickly felt the rush of trying to find the next bird.

It was a few minutes later when my friend pointed and said look there. It was the first time I saw a Kingfisher. He was the most interesting bird I've ever seen and just beautiful. From that moment on, I was hooked. Everywhere I drove I always have my binoculars and we are always on the look for hawks wherever we drive.

For me, birds highlight what's best in the world. Beauty, curiosity, and nature. This was the first bird moment that changed my life and made me appreciate the world in a whole different way. [age 22]

Katelyn Davis

When I was around 7 years old I had a memory card game with all sorts of animals. One of those animals was the Common Loon. I would play with the cards all the time and it became my dream to actually see a Loon in real life. Years later when I was around 13, I went tent camping in the Adirondacks. We stayed along a lake and that was when I heard the song of a Common Loon for the first time ever. While we were kayaking I even got to see them up close! At night, they would do their wail call and I would hand whistle to get a response for hours. I still did not fully get involved in "birding" until 2018 when I was 17. There was a big weather related fallout during April of 2017 that caused 8 Common Loons and 2 Horned Grebes to land on the small pond in my neighborhood. I was so excited seeing them there and had never realized they could even be seen in our area. This sighting put me in contact with other birders and opened me up to the birding world. Before that I could have never imagined how many other people shared the love of birds. Since then, I have seen many birds and a lot of really cool and rare ones, but hearing the call of a Common Loon never gets old to me and takes me back to my first experience with them. [age 7]

Antonio Xeira

During a spring vacation trip in 1983, I took a picture of a small bird perched on a bush. One day, at a friend's house, I found an edition of Roger Tory Peterson's Birds of Europe, beautifully bound in leather. I asked him to lend me the book and when I got home I checked the picture against the guide, and identified the little bird as a European Stonechat. I had such fun in the process that from then on I never stopped. The photo can still be viewed here https://ebird.org/checklist/S17536134. [age 23]

Harley Winfrey

In 1998, my girlfriend and I went to the Everglades for a camping trip over Spring Break. She was taking an Ornithology class and was keeping a bird list for the trip. One night we were camping on a shell island with scattered palmettos and we could hear and barely see a bird skulking in a thicket of leaves. We saw the bird in bits and pieces but couldn't get a great look at it. We flipped through every single page in her Golden Guide to Birds until we finally figured out that it was a Gray Catbird! The experience was so satisfying and memorable that we both became lifelong birders and have both found careers as wildlife biologists. Puzzling out the identity of a mysterious bird is still something we enjoy when traveling to new places. We have now been married for more than 20 years and we have taken our kids on many birding trips! [age 19]

Pam Harland

My grandfather invited me to join him for the day on Plum Island (MA) because he heard a King Eider had been spotted there. He showed me all of the popular birding spots, shared his binoculars, and taught me how to use his bird book. Near the end of the day, I was walking along a path by myself when I saw a huge face staring at me from above. It was a Short-Eared Owl in a tree about 10 feet away from me. It took flight and we stared at each other as it flew away. I felt as if this bird had seen deep into my soul! I was stunned and breathless by the time I caught up to my grandfather to tell him my story. He did not see the King Eider that day but did see it several times afterward. My spark bird was a combination of the elusive King Eider and the all-knowing Short-Eared Owl. [age 19]

Sarah Hutchinson

My spark bird was an European starling. I had always loved birds and animals, but didn't know too much about them and honestly wasn't able to see many of them because my eyesight was so poor. For many reasons in my past, I never wore the right prescription of eyeglasses until four or so years ago. While I was walking back from the optometrist with my first properly-fitted glasses, one of the first things that I noticed was that starlings were specked. I had never known that, though I had "seen" starlings before without glasses, and observing how beautiful they were for the first time--glossy night-sky feathers percolated with with "stars"--was incredible. It was like something that had been mysterious about the world was suddenly revealed to me, the curtain had been pulled back, there really was so much of the world that I had never seen before. How much more was out there? The experience of seeing a starling clearly for the first time pushed me into buying my first pair of $25 binoculars to see if birding was something that I could get into. It stuck. Birding now plays an important role in my life, helping to ground me in the movements and seasons of the natural world, and has also given me the tools to begin to "read" a forest, marsh, field, or waterway. Learning to name the birds that I see has continued to help me see more and more of the world, the same as the first day that I saw my starling . [age 26]

Robin F.

My spark bird was the American Redstart. I was hiking with a friend at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in late spring 1998. I had already started doing a little birding casually, but was mostly interested in large, charismatic birds like eagles at the time. As we walked down the trail, we noticed this bright flash of orange and thought it must be an oriole. As we got closer, I could tell it wasn't, but I had no idea what it actually was. I just knew it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. We stood there for a long time watching it do its display, and I was completely fascinated by it. As we continued our hike, we saw the eagles and herons we had come there to find, but I couldn't stop thinking about that beautiful little bird. I went back to that trail several times that year trying to find it again, but I never did. In the process, I started noticing all sorts of other small birds I just had never paid attention to before. I was hooked. I bought my first "good" field guide - a Peterson's Guide to Birds of the Northeast, and starting birding regularly. It wasn't long before I had my first Sibley's Guide and a pair of binoculars, gleefully heading out on the trail every chance I got to learn as many birds as I could. It was several years before I saw another redstart, but every time I see one now I think back to that magical moment when I realized just how beautiful and exciting birds really are. [age 23]

Jay Burney

I was born and grew up in New England. New Hampshire to be exact. My family were outdoor people and from the time I was a month old, I was experiencing the outdoors regularly. I remember my earliest experiences in the context of trees, fields, beaches, sky, wind, and rain and snow. Birds and butterflies, chipmunks, squirrels, fish, all made part of my world. Both my mother and father were artists, my mother creating beautiful enamels that often had nature scenes, and my father a woodcarver. He often focused on birds and I remember a beautiful cardinal and a chickadee that he made, which I could hold in my hands. These carvings and the enamels caught my imagination, intrigued the young me me to no end. When I was about 4, I developed a focus on certain living species, and certain individuals. We had a family of chipmunks at one of our summer cabins and my grandfather would feed them and they would come close to us. I was fascinated. A bird species that caught my attention was the Bluejay. It both carried my name, and was beautiful, noisy, and always seemed to be involved with the business of other birds at the bird feeders and with other animals including the chipmunks. This bird vocalized loudly including scolding, warning, and singing sounds that included imitations of other birds. I had a large tree outside of my bedroom window in Concord N.H. One of the constant visitors to my window, on a branch just outside was a Bluejay. I think that this bird visited almost every day in the fall and winter of my 4th year. It would preen and call, fly away and fly back, and sometimes stare at me even as I stared back. We had a feeder nearby and this brought a lot of birds, but this one Bluejay seemed to favorite the branch outside of my window. One day I was sleeping under a tree at this camp and I was woken by a screaming Blue Jay. When I looked up I was literally surrounded by 8 cows that had escaped a pasture and were grazing on the grass that surrounded me. I yelped a little bit and my grandmother came running out of the cabin to rescue a frightened little Jay. From that day on I learned that Blue Jays have a warning call. And it woke me. I had become very interested in Bluejays, and as a result over the next few years, many other birds and bird species that I observed almost everywhere. Chickadees were very friendly and my grandfather taught me to hold seed in my hand and feed them from my hand. Robins, Canada Geese, crows, and cardinals were always around. One of my grandparents favorite birds, that they told me about was the Bluebird. However in these days of the late 1950's and for decades thereafter they had vanished and so the bluebird story was more like a fairytale. My grandparents lamented this vanishing and told me about how the Bluebirds had always been the harbingers of spring in their youth. Thinking and learning about that brought me seriously to nature studies. I was reading Rachel Carson by the time I was 10. I started studying science, natural science, and even in elementary school I was winning science fairs about things like clean water and Karner Blue Butterflies. It took decades, until the late 1970's early 1980's before I actually saw my first bluebird. This was in Western New York. I had been working as a volunteer at Beaver Meadow Nature Center and my friend, Ana Mae Bacon, then a 90 year old naturalist, introduced me to a bluebird restoration project (and wood duck projects also). We built boxes for both. One day we saw a bluebird visit one of the next boxes. That was the beginning of a wonderful relationship to these beautiful birds. Today it is difficult to go out almost anywhere anytime of the year, in a rural area and not find a bluebird. Just this week, late March 2022 I have encountered dozens of these birds, singing, checking out next boxes, from Allegany to Letchworth, Montezuma, Beaver Meadow, Beaver Island, Iroquois, and Knox State Park. The vocals of this beautiful blue bird are quite different from the Blue Jay. While the Blue Jay is loud and confrontational vocally, the Blue bird has a soft, gentle, sometimes wistful call and song. I tried to upload a short video of a singing Bluebird that I recorded yesterday, (154 MB) just to provide a bookend experience for this narrative, but it would not take the video. My spark bird, the blue jay, introduced me to life long engagement, and I think, on this day as I reflect, that it helped me be involved in the restoration of bluebirds, Wood Ducks, and a life long commitment to advocating for vanishing birds. [age 4]

Meaghan Boice-Green

I grew up in an old house that was not in great shape when we moved in. From one of the upstairs bathrooms, you could see the roof of a one-story addition that had been added to the house at some point; it wasn't heated when we bought the house so we didn't use it for much. It eventually became our family room, but until that renovation happened, every spring starlings would nest in the eave of that roof. I would stand in the bathroom and watch the parents feed the babies and see how the babies changed as they grew.

Starlings tend to get a bad rap, but those starlings sparked an interest in nature in me. I paid more attention to the other birds and creatures in our neighborhood, and wondered about how those birds raised their young. [age 7]

Sam

we were at the Cleveland museum and in the outside area, and there was a peregrine falcon in a enclosure. it was the first time I saw one in real life. it was really amazing and i have loved birds ever since. [age 7]

Maisie