Birding & Geocaching

[Birding Is Fun!]

My brother "old mort" is an avid geocacher. My kids and I enjoy geocaching with him. I am a birder and I live the mantra "always be birding", so I found it very natural to combine the two activities of geocaching and birding. In an effort to spread the joy of birding and geocaching, I am about to introduce on my blog the concept of "BirdCaching" and how one might go about doing it. (link to BirdCaching page of BirdingIsFun.com)

 

Before I start promoting this, I wanted to get some feedback from the geocaching community to make sure I incorporate best practices. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

- Robert

[+CanadianRockies]

Before I start promoting this, I wanted to get some feedback from the geocaching community to make sure I incorporate best practices. Any thoughts or suggestions?

You should read Groundspeak's policy regarding the use of their logo.

 

Participants also must be careful how they word their cache listing pages. Groundspeak guidelines don't permit Additional Logging Requirements, so it must be clear that it is entirely optional for finders to conduct a bird survey and report their results.

Edited June 19, 2012 by CanadianRockies

[Birding Is Fun!]

You should read Groundspeak's policy regarding the use of their logo.

Thanks! I have removed the logo for now and I have emailed asking for permission.

[+The_Incredibles_]

You could also do what I did and create a series of bird caches!

Edited June 20, 2012 by The_Incredibles_

[Birding Is Fun!]

You could also do what I did and create a series of bird caches!

Great suggestion! Thanks!

[Birding Is Fun!]

You could also do what I did and create a series of bird caches!

I finally got the chance to look at your Bird-themed Caches. Well done! That's great that you're sharing some bird knowledge with others. Do you ever make a list of the birds seen at different caches?

[+The_Incredibles_]

You could also do what I did and create a series of bird caches!

I finally got the chance to look at your Bird-themed Caches. Well done! That's great that you're sharing some bird knowledge with others. Do you ever make a list of the birds seen at different caches?

 

I don't personally, although that would be a great idea to have it part of the logbook. Some people do mention which birds they saw in their online logs.

 

Many of the containers are bird-themed as well. One is a chickadee nesting box. For some, I spraypainted plastic easter eggs gold and put a micro inside for the log. Another is a round lock n lock with an old birds nest glued to the top.

[+Max and 99]

I hope you will consider a Birding Puzzle Cache. That would be so awesome! I think we have one near where I live, but I haven't solved it yet! I like the idea of you sharing your expertise with others.

 

Has anyone seen the Steve Martin movie about Birding? Funny AND educational. My 13 year old couldn't believe how much the family learned about birds from that movie. It was great!

[Birding Is Fun!]

I hope you will consider a Birding Puzzle Cache. That would be so awesome! I think we have one near where I live, but I haven't solved it yet! I like the idea of you sharing your expertise with others.

 

Has anyone seen the Steve Martin movie about Birding? Funny AND educational. My 13 year old couldn't believe how much the family learned about birds from that movie. It was great!

Thanks for the recommendations. I will have to come up with some puzzles. Glad you liked the movie "The Big Year". The real life guy that inspired Jack Black's character, Greg Miller, is a friend of mine.

[+ArmyFanGeo]

I hope you will consider a Birding Puzzle Cache.

 

Thought to share this local one: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC12R7W

[Birding Is Fun!]

I hope you will consider a Birding Puzzle Cache.

 

Thought to share this local one: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC12R7W

Thanks for the tip on the BirdCache in NJ.

[Birding Is Fun!]

I've included your series on my website. Happy Birding and Caching!

[Birding Is Fun!]

Thought to share this local one: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC12R7W

I've added the New Jersey BirdCache to my website. Thanks again!

[Birding Is Fun!]

Geocaching and birding have many characteristics in common. Both allow one to experience the thrill of the hunt in an intense or leisurely game of hide-and-seek. Participants try to get as many as possible, be it birds or caches. Both motivate you to get out and explore areas that you otherwise would not - bringing excitement and adventure. Both have about the same amount of nerdiness involved, including similar amounts of specialized equipment, apps, podcasts, and blogs. Geocaching forums can be just as snarky as birding listservs as folks layout their subjective opinions for the rules of the game. Most of all, geocaching and birding are similar in that we are finding things in plain sight that the average person on the street is missing out on.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Thought to share this local one: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC12R7W

I've added the New Jersey BirdCache to my website. Thanks again!

 

There's a wonderful five stage multi-cache located in an area called Sapsucker Woods, the location of the Cornell lab of Ornithology. The cache doesn't really have anything to do with birding but the location is a bird sanctuary. The cache is called Trolls Treasure II. Apparently the Lab of O. (as it's called here) has one of the largest bird song audio clip archives in the world.

[+popokiiti]

I love it when there is bird life around our search area. We have been "serenaded" by woodpeckers pecking, and on one occasion after a 10 hour workday I had to have a rest and let Popoki Nui go on alone. I was watching the robins (there were many) swooping at a tree across the trail from me, making an awful racket. I eventually spotted the reason for their angst - a Great Horned Owl. It was worth not getting the cache for that!

[+frinklabs]

I am not a birder officially but wherever possible I try to imitate indigent bird calls, and watch for as many different types as possible -- except for crows, which always seem to be watching me.

 

I did an excellent multi called Osprey Feeder where I may have seen an osprey:

 

 

And the goose-enhanced sunset at GCPRND was tangibly relaxing:

 

[knowschad]

I am not a birder officially but wherever possible I try to imitate indigent bird calls

What is an "indigent bird"? One without money for a birdhouse?

[+frinklabs]

I am not a birder officially but wherever possible I try to imitate indigent bird calls

What is an "indigent bird"? One without money for a birdhouse?

 

Listen to what I mean, not what I say.

 

I probably meant indigenous. Spell check pick word good not.

 

I didn't include this one in my original post because these birds are neither. Its freaky the way they seem to like to make eye contact (mute to avoid the whining kid in the background):

 

[Birding Is Fun!]

There's a wonderful five stage multi-cache located in an area called Sapsucker Woods, the location of the Cornell lab of Ornithology. The cache doesn't really have anything to do with birding but the location is a bird sanctuary. The cache is called Trolls Treasure II. Apparently the Lab of O. (as it's called here) has one of the largest bird song audio clip archives in the world.

Thanks NYPaddleCacher! I'm a huge fan of the Cornell Lab of O. They do a lot of great things for birds and birding. I hope to go birding and caching at Sapsucker Woods one day.

[Birding Is Fun!]

I was watching the robins (there were many) swooping at a tree across the trail from me, making an awful racket. I eventually spotted the reason for their angst - a Great Horned Owl. It was worth not getting the cache for that!

That's what is so cool about birding and caching...getting out and exploring places you otherwise would not have and seeing awesome things like Great Horned Owls. Glad to see that you appreciate the birds you see and hear while out caching. That is the spirit I am hoping to promote.

[Birding Is Fun!]

In the first video, it looks like it was a type of Heron that was scared off. Most likely a Great Blue Heron, but it could have been a couple of others depending on where you shot the video. Very cool! Love the sounds of geese at sunset. Spectacular!

Edited June 27, 2012 by Birding Is Fun!

[+Trekkin' and birdin']

As you might guess from our caching name, one of us is also an avid birder. Of course, that means I'm always listening and watching. I just this past week had wonderful close encounters with a Black and White Warbler, and later a family of American Redstarts, while doing EarthCaches in Michigan.

 

I do find that while geocaching, even when I have the binoculars along, my birding is more incidental than primary, because of course I'm looking for a cache. Still, reading through our logs will show I'm often mentioning what birds I saw or heard. The other half of our team, while not a birder, has learned a fair amount as we've shared this activity together. I'll be interested to see your blog combining the two. I do avoid some caches during nesting season when I discover a nesting bird too close to the search area, which I think is good practice. I know there are those who will still search when they encounter this, because they're there and they want to make the find. I understand that feeling, especially when on the road, but still feel that no find is worth upsetting the birds during an already stressful time for them.

[Birding Is Fun!]

Very cool! Glad to see another BirdCacher out there.

[Luckless]

I had a cache where I mentioned it was a favorite birding spot of mine. I asked people to list what they saw. Nobody did.

As a side note I was out on the trail earlier today watching two bald eagles flying around together in the sky. Although they were once an endangered species, they are nothing special around here and fly up and down the river all the time.

[Birding Is Fun!]

I had a cache where I mentioned it was a favorite birding spot of mine. I asked people to list what they saw. Nobody did.

Birding is not for everyone, but I'm glad to see you make the effort to spread the joy of birding. Part of my goal is to get more birders out there caching.

 

As a side note I was out on the trail earlier today watching two bald eagles flying around together in the sky. Although they were once an endangered species, they are nothing special around here and fly up and down the river all the time.

The Bald Eagle recovery has been great, along with many other birds of prey that have rebounded since the days of DDT. Enjoying the birds while out caching is part of the fun!

[+Trekkin' and birdin']

Many of the caches I've placed are bird themed in some way. Our first ones actually were a series of lessons on how to see birds, in nice birding areas. The one I've had the most fun creating was a "birding serial," three puzzles in the same forest that came out over several weeks time. I contacted two birding friends for permission to use one of their photos and personas to build the storyline. The FTFers from the previous week's cache were built into the next "installment." (I'm also a professional storyteller). I had great fun creating these and the few people who've gone for them have had fun, too.

 

They don't get a lot of hits because puzzles are not favored around here. But it's the kind of thing I'd enjoy finding, so that's what I put out.

 

Here's the first week's "installment." Searching nearby will get the other two.

 

http://coord.info/GC2RM2V

 

I also get a charge out of some facebook interactions with a couple other area birders, who will post photos from one of their favored birding spots. I'll recognize it as near a cache we've found, make that comment and they'll invariably say...."Yeah, we know where it is!"

 

I'm still waiting for the day when my main abiding interests all collide at once....storytelling, birding, playing dulcimer and caching. I've had two collide, but never that whole grouping.

[+ArmyFanGeo]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e342c703-baac-478f-a9a6-40d22946f6d0

 

Doesn't mention birds too much but it is the first in a series of caches named after Birds in the Adirondacks (NY).

 

Hope the whole BirdCaching thing is working out well!

[Birding Is Fun!]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e342c703-baac-478f-a9a6-40d22946f6d0

 

Doesn't mention birds too much but it is the first in a series of caches named after Birds in the Adirondacks (NY).

 

Hope the whole BirdCaching thing is working out well!

 

Thanks for tip! I've added that caching series to the BirdCaching! webpage. Happy birding and caching!

[Birding Is Fun!]

I also get a charge out of some facebook interactions with a couple other area birders, who will post photos from one of their favored birding spots. I'll recognize it as near a cache we've found, make that comment and they'll invariably say...."Yeah, we know where it is!"

I've actually found a few caches while out birding, but not caching...just found the clever hiding spot while looking for birds. There was a really cool one in North Carolina on a little peninsula out in a marsh, hidden in a hollow tree. I can't find it on geocaching.com so I fear it was an unregistered cached.

 

Happy Birding and Caching! - Robert

[+ArmyFanGeo]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=e342c703-baac-478f-a9a6-40d22946f6d0

 

Doesn't mention birds too much but it is the first in a series of caches named after Birds in the Adirondacks (NY).

 

Hope the whole BirdCaching thing is working out well!

 

Thanks for tip! I've added that caching series to the BirdCaching! webpage. Happy birding and caching!

 

or happy BirdCaching

 

Will continue to let you know of more as I think of them