Ep.08 - Adrianna Nelson - Serious Leisure ”Bird Nerd”

On this episode of Appalachian Outdoorosity, Dr. Joy James, a professor in App State's Department of Recreation Managment and Physical Education, interviews App State Biology Alumna, Adrianna Nelson about her passion for birding. 

 

Show Notes

https://today.appstate.edu/2020/06/26/nelson

http://ww.appalachianaudubon.org/

https://highcountryaudubon.org/

https://www.inaturalist.org/

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

https://www.citizenscience.gov/

The Big Year -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/

 

Transcript

 Becki Battista
Welcome to Appalachian Outdoorosity, where we encourage you to get outside and keep going outside. Here we will share Appalachian State stories that entertain, inspire and inform listeners about living an active outdoor lifestyle. Each episode features a story with the goal to get you outside and keep you going outside to improve your overall wellness. This podcast is presented by The Hope Lab, where our purpose is to investigate the role of outdoor physical activity, exercise and play on health, environment and human development.  The vision of the Hope Lab is to continue developing the foundation for promoting and supporting outdoor physical activity, exercise and play through interdisciplinary research. Feel free to check us out at hopelab.appstate.edu. Hi, my name is Becky Battista and I am a professor in Exercise Science at Appalachian State University and a self-proclaimed physical activity addict. I'm your host for the Appalachian Outdoorosity Podcast today. On today's episode, team member Dr. Joy James, a professor and recreation management, interviews App State Alumni Adriana Nelson. Adriana tells us how her curiosity of birds shaped her outdoor experiences and interests in Appalachian State University.

Joy James
We're here with Adriana Nelson, who is a biology major at App State. Adriana, what I'm going to do is have you introduce yourself. Tell where you're from, why Appalachian State University, why you're here. And then if you could tell us about your favorite outdoor activity.

Adrianna Nelson
Okay. Yeah. So, I'm Adriana and I'm from Bristol, Tennessee. So, it's just kind of on the other side of the mountains. I picked Appalachian for several reasons. One, I wanted to be a biology major and App State offered a concentration in ecology, which is really what I want to focus in. So that was nice and I really wanted to do that.
And one of the professors here also does work with birds, which is kind of my...that's my big thing. And of course, I liked all the outdoor activities right in Boone and the nearby areas. I came for the mountains like everybody else did.

Joy James
For people who might not be familiar with what your activity is, what do you call it?

Adrianna Nelson
So, I am a birder and some people say bird watcher, but the serious people say birding, they're birders.

Joy James
I wanted that clarification because sometimes I think my mom, she's a bird watcher, she has the feeders up. And so how is a birder different than my mother who watches birds?

Adrianna Nelson
I think it just depends maybe on your own definition of it, but I like to actually go out and look for different birds at different times of year that might be migrating through or breeding. And I like to look at their different behaviors. It's more of a whole inclusive activity where you look at different parts of their life cycles and you’re more serious about it instead of just casually watching what may come to your yard.

Joy James
Gotcha. As you and I were joking before the interview, we called you a bird nerd. Yeah, that's an appropriate word to use. And you would honor that. That's not an insult.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, it's not an insult.

Joy James
All right. So how did you first get interested in the outdoors?

Adrianna Nelson
Well, I think I've always been interested in the outdoors for as long as I can remember. When I was really young, I rode horses, so I wanted to be a horse trainer for a while. But I also watched a lot of, like, Animal Planet and National Geographic. So, I also wanted to be like a safari explorer. So, I've always really been interested in wildlife for as long as I can remember
So that's how I'm tied to the outdoors, at least initially, and with birds specifically...When I was nine, it was the middle of winter and I saw this bird outside that I didn't recognize and I knew a lot of the common ones in our yard, like a cardinal and a blue jay and all that. But I didn't know what this one was just a little gray and white bird.
And I also thought all birds migrated to Florida in winter, which is not true. So, I was really confused why this one was here. So, I looked it up and I found out that it was a bird called a Dark-eyed junco. And I kind of got hooked on it because when I was searching for it online, I saw all these other birds that I could find in my area and that I haven't seen before. And I thought I was some expert on wildlife. And then here are all these tons of birds I didn't know. So that kind of got me hooked.

Joy James
Well, so you literally looked it up on the Internet. There was no book that you used or anything like that?

Adrianna Nelson
Right. Yeah.

Joy James
That's really cool. You know, I'm not a birder. I enjoy and I am probably a bird watcher, but I'll go out with birders and kind of get that experience. And what I remember when I first got into it was having to look at the book and I couldn't hear the sounds of the birds. So, now with technology, it really has advanced to the point that, like you said as a young person, you're like, ‚ “Wow! There's all this stuff out there I didn't know.”

Adrianna Nelson
Now I have tons of bird books, but that was before I got into it. And there is a lot online, so it was easy to figure it out.

Joy James
Well and I think, yeah, that's a great point. You know, the online kind of introduces you and then as you dive deeper into your interest area. You probably do go get books and magazines and other things on it as well as still look at stuff online. The big thing for me that was interesting about birders is like how do they find out when the snowy owl was out, when it wasn't supposed to be out and there's like this whole network?

Joy James
And now I think it's even more expedited because you can see online where the sighting was if you know the right people are talking.
 

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, we definitely have a good network going. I mean, it's something where says, you know, we can send an email out. We have listservs for different areas like at home. I have one for the Bristol region and there's one here in the High Country. And you know, you can hear about rarities just like that.

Joy James
So yeah, it's just amazing how connected your birding community is. We know birding is your favorite outdoor activity. Do you have any other favorite outdoor activities that you do?

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah. So, I like to sometimes start hiking in with birding. And even if I don't see a lot of birds, I just, you know, I like to go out and hike a lot of the places around here. There are so many places to go. So that's one thing I enjoy. And I also like kayaking.

Joy James
And is it flat water or whitewater kayaking that you do?

Adrianna Nelson
I like flat water.

Joy James
There's lots of good ways to see birds that way, too.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, that's true.

Joy James
And this is a side question. Have you ever found birding has gotten you into an activity that you wouldn't have normally gotten into because you want to go see the bird? Has that ever happened to you? It's a side question because sometimes I find with people who are kind of animal nerds, they may not be outdoorsy, but with their passion for the animal, they'll go camping. They'll go rock climbing. Yeah, you've seen it. People who are biologists go rock climbing for lichen and they're not necessarily rock climbers, but they learn it so they can go see and collect the samples that they're looking for. So, I'm always curious to see how biologists, you know...is it the the interest that drives them or is it the recreational activity that got them interested? Usually, it's the interest that drives you guys.

Adrianna Nelson
Usually, it's literal driving that I do. I drive a lot in my car to go to all these places.

Joy James
That makes sense! What's a... when you said you combine birding with hiking, how does that combine? Are you bringing gear with you or you just hiking? What does that entail?

Adrianna Nelson
Well, whenever I go hiking, I always end up bringing my binoculars and my cameras anyway. So, it does end up usually turning more into birdwatching that it does just straight hiking. But like I went to the profile trail once to hike to the top and I really was just going to hike and see it because I hadn’t gone on it before at that point.
And of course, there's like Pine Siskins that fly over and Crossbills and all that other stuff. So, they blend together. I hike to go see birds too.

Joy James
So, this is the other thing I suspect is the difference between a bird watcher and a birder, what time you go hiking to specifically see birds?

Adrianna Nelson
Early! Yeah, actually the cool thing about birds is you could probably literally go any time of the day, depending on what you're looking for. And like with waterfowl, they're not picky about what time they're out because they're just going to be on the water. So, you can pretty much see him any time. But then there's owls and nocturnal flight calls or NFC‚ and you literally have to be out there before the sun comes up. So, it depends. It's a big scale.

Joy James
Do you have trouble getting people to go hiking with you that early in the morning, or is it usually other birders?

Adrianna Nelson
It's usually other birders. I didn't have taken friends a couple of times and they usually don't mind getting up early to go on a nice hike.

Joy James
So good. I'm glad to hear that. I, I had an experience once with an avid birder and I didn't realize what birding was. I was at Point Pelee you know where that is in the Great Lakes. And it was during the migration. The birds were coming back up north and so they were crossing over. One of the great I guess I can't remember what the Great Lake is.

Joy James
I should know this. They were crossing over and Point Pelee is one of the first landings they could make, and the poor little birds are just exhausted. And I had never seen so many binoculars or spotting scopes and the sizes, and it was like 100 people in the forest and it was quiet.

Adrianna Nelson
Oh, wow!

Joy James
You know, and, you know, you're hiking. And I just I'm a chatter. I'm like, oh, look, there's a flower. Oh, look, there's this. And like, "Shhhhhh!" So, it's definitely a place you should go see some time. I didn't realize what a treat it was for me to see all of what I saw. But I did realize after getting up at 4:00 in the morning and birding until 12:00, how crazy you guys are.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah.

Joy James
I mean, we went to a bunch of different places, but this is all about you and not about me. I use that story to illustrate kind of when you get into some sort of hobby that you so enjoy and are thrilled by there’s travel opportunities. There are recreational opportunities and sometimes it seems crazy at first to get up that early and then when you're out there with someone who's doing it and excited about it, it can be a lot of fun and you learn a lot. How do you think you became comfortable being an outdoor setting? Was there anybody who influenced you at a young age or is influencing you now? How are you building your skill set to be comfortable hiking or driving to a place you don't know and getting out in the woods and looking at stuff as a woman in particular?

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah. So, I guess when I was young, just my parents would go with me and so it wasn't a big deal and they were always really concerned about me going by myself at home. They still don't really like me going by myself, but I kind of go by myself here a lot, which a couple of times probably was not a good idea. So, I definitely like going with other birders if I can and there are some students here who really like birding, and there's a group called the High-Country Audubon Society, and they go on walks all the time. So going with other outdoor enthusiasts just in the area has really helped make me more comfortable going to all these different places, especially since sometimes they're really hard to find, like sometimes the directions online don't really go to the place then. So, it's kind of hard to figure out where some of these spots are, especially ones that are really tucked away. So, it's just other birders and my family and other people who like hiking and that kind of stuff.

Joy James
Cool. Do you have a birder person that's kind of a mentor or someone you admire or who's really been helpful to your skill set?

Adrianna Nelson
Well, I taught myself a lot of bird identification when I was younger. I didn't start going to club meetings or anything until I was, I think, a junior in high school. And so, I didn't have anybody at home who really was like a mentor to me. But there are a couple of birders at home. They invite me to go in different places and they've given me tips about where to find things and quick identification pointers. And so there are a couple at home at the local club, but for a big-time frame, there, I was just teaching myself.

Joy James
It was really cool that you were able to teach yourself. I bet it helped your biology in high school too.

Adrianna Nelson
It really did. Yeah. Birding ties a lot into bigger biological concepts, so it helped me a lot to grasp the concepts more. And sometimes I already knew them before I went to my classes. So, it's definitely been more than just me enjoying birds. It's helped me in other places.

Joy James
Can you tell us a story about an outdoor experience or a birding experience that has influenced you? So, it could be a funny story. It could be a lesson you learned story.

Adrianna Nelson
Oh, man. Well, I do have this one story that was it was funny, but it has nothing to do with birds at all. One of my grandfathers lives in Wisconsin. And so, whenever he comes down, my grandparents come down to visit. He always takes us fishing because there's this little lake in our neighborhood. It's more just a really big pond, but we call it a lake.
We go fishing there every time they come down and this is when I was really little and I was having trouble setting the hook, you know, hooking the fish to reel it in. And he said, pull as hard as you can on that rod whenever you get a bite. So, it's like all my strength, I pulled on the right and I pulled the fish clean out of the water.

Joy James
Oh, my gosh. How did your grandfather respond to that?

Adrianna Nelson
He loves telling that story every time. Every time I see him or talk on the phone, he says, I'll never forget that time you pulled that fish out of the water and the same day my brother was with us, he always manages to fall in when we are at the lake. So, he fell in in his PJs. And it was just fun.

Joy James
That's so cool. Well, it sounds like you had good family members taking you out into the outdoor experiences. I do want to kind of probe a little bit more on birding for some of our listeners that might be interested on how to get into it. Well, I don't know if you realize this, but birding is the number one outdoor recreation activity.

Adrianna Nelson
Really? I did not know that.

Joy James
I teach in recreation management. I tell this to my students and all the students are like, unbelievable, because we're all about, you know, backpacking, kayaking, leading trips, birding??? How can that be the number one activity? ‚And what's happening is, as you probably know, as a young person, many older people are really involved in this.
And a lot of money is being spent on binoculars, spotting scopes, travel to and fro. And I think they also categorize birdwatchers as birders, too. So, when the people answer the questions, even birdwatchers might click it. So that might be one of the statistical anomalies that's happening. However, I think it's fascinating because I do think it's an activity that people grow into. Maybe not as soon as you did, you're kind of an anomaly. So, if I'm a student here at State, what should I do if I'm like a come on, like this idea of birding, how should I get involved in it?

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah. So, there are a couple ways that you can get involved with birding groups that are local. So, on campus we have the ASU chapter of the Audubon Society, and if you haven't heard of the Audubon Society before, they're there. Everything, birds and conservation. So, they're a big deal. So, we're a chapter of the National Audubon Society.
And so, you can find us online and we do occasional walks. And if you want to get involved with the local high country, Audubon Society, they are also a chapter of the National Audubon Society. You can get involved with them, too, and they do regular walks. And a lot of the people there are the full range of experience. So, you have one end of really experienced people and one in who are just kind of casual. So, you can kind of fit in anywhere in that spectrum. And a lot of them will give tons of helpful pointers and they're really friendly people, kind of fun to be around. So, if you want to learn how to get into birding and find local places and get some tips from people who have already figured out what works and what doesn't, you can join either those groups, then they'll help you out.

Joy James
Or is it very expensive to do?

Adrianna Nelson
No. So the on-campus chapter doesn't cost anything. And you can be a member of the high country Audubon Society. I don't think it's very much money, but you don't have to be a member to do walks. So, anybody is welcome to go on walks.

Joy James
And what equipment might I need?

Adrianna Nelson
Well, you probably want binoculars. They might have extra pairs of binoculars. I think sometimes the people who need the walks will bring into your prayers. If not, you could probably email. There should be an email address online and you can email somebody and they'll bring you an extra pair. Cool. If you really like photography too. A camera would be nice, but a lot of the walks they do are pretty casual.

Adrianna Nelson
So maybe a snack or a water bottle. That's about it.

Becki Battista
When listening to Adriana, the term Serious Leisure comes to mind. This construct made its debut in social science circles in the 1980s. Serious leisure is a systematic pursuit of an amateur hobbyist or volunteer activity that participants find so substantial and interesting that in the typical case, they launch themselves on a path centered on acquiring and expressing its special skills, knowledge and experience. Many outdoor activities like snow skiing, rock climbing, hiking, camping, mountain biking and more can all become serious leisure for a person. We all find activities where our curiosity to learn more, to gain more knowledge and skills, fuels our desire to advance in the recreation activity which can lead us to teaching others and enjoying the outdoors. Today's episode is brought to you by the Hope Lab. One of the goals of the Hope Lab is to find ways to get people outside birding as one example of an activity that may inspire you to do more things outdoors. Visit App State Dot Hope Lab dot e-d-u to learn more about the benefits of being outside, let's get back to the interview with Adriana and Joy to gain some more ideas about how to use birding to get outdoors.

Joy James
Okay, so something else that I know that's unusual and again typical of birders, but is unusual for someone who might not have been around a birder. Sometimes you can identify a bird by their sound.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, sometimes it's actually easier to identify birds by their sounds, especially whenever the trees are full of leaves. Like in spring and summer. And they're really vocal. And some species like warblers like to kind of hanging out in the treetops. So, it's kind of hard to see them. And we have a saying called Warbler Neck and that's from like looking way up in the treetops for a long time. It kind of makes your neck hurt. So, and there's actually a lot of resources for learning birds sounds and going back to getting into birds in general. There are field guides that you can get and there are backyard bird guides, so they kind of limit the species that are in those books. So, you can get a little tiny bit and figure out the basics, the ones that are really common. And then you can go from there. And there's a lot of apps too, like Merlin, which is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, has an app and there's tons of different apps online. And they have bird sounds usually, and pictures of them, the males and females and the juveniles and they’re from different times of year, so it's really everything you could need in one app to figure out any bird.

Joy James
I'm glad you mentioned that. I was going to ask. I use the Merlin bird ID and what I love about it, when I used to use a book, I was confused by keying out birds or or even keying out leaves, you know, as a kind of a non biologist person, you know, not knowing the family or the phylum or the genus or whatever that was. And the Merlin Bird idea is great. You just plug in. Here's what color it is. I see it swimming or it's flying and it takes where you are into the, in the area and then it gives you a list of birds to choose from. And then I could go and, you know, put in the picture that I think this is my bird and I can listen to it. So, it's really, like you said, so incredible and its citizen science. So, I highly recommend it to anyone and it's even just fun if you're not necessarily wanting to be an avid birder. It's fun to know when you're walking outside, what you're listening to, and you can identify it and collect it.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, yeah. Another note on Citizen Science eBird is a really big database that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology runs, and you can enter in all your bird sightings you just put in your location, time, the date, what species you saw and how long you were looking for them. And that automatically gets uploaded onto eBird. And so that gets factored into things like population trends and scientists looking at rare threatened species and where the ranges are and how ranges are changing.
And it is real science that this stuff is using. So, if you want to contribute to science, I submit stuff every day.

Joy James
I've discovered another app called I Naturalist. Have you heard of that one?

Adrianna Nelson
Oh, yeah.

Joy James
I figured as a biologist and like I say, you can tell I'm a biologist, wannabe! I need to go back to school and try it. And I just want to also reiterate what you're saying. Citizen science, for some of the listeners that may not know what's going on is literally citizens volunteering their time. Or, like you said, here's a sighting I saw and I plugged it in. And then it's used for making decisions to protect our populations and to maintain our natural resources. And flora and fauna. It really is an incredible tool for scientists to have access to. And it doesn't have to be someone who's like Adriana, who's an avid birder. It could be someone who's just really picking it up and put it in there. And you're contributing to science. That is a cool experience. I do want you to tell me one more story. What has been like either your top birding experience or what's like the most amazing bird you ever saw? Like, because I don't think people realize the passion and excitement that occur because they're like birding, you know, they're looking at birds.
How could it be so exciting? And so, I think if you could share a story that might help them start to see, oh, there is some excitement. It's like a treasure hunt.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, yeah. I can think of a lot of ones that maybe I haven't experienced yet, you know, like a peregrine falcon swooping down and knocking a duck out of the air. I don't know.

Joy James
That's a really great point, that sometimes it's the anticipation of what you're looking forward to. Isn't there a life list or something that birders have? You check off your life list. And so then at a certain point, you know what birds you're missing. And so, you go looking for those?

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, definitely. There's lifeless and then there's like your list and then county lists and month lists and you can I've really gotten into listing lately and that's kind of a fun thing too, because it kind of motivates you to go look for all these different species and it's kind of addicting. And you can also kind of compete with your friends and all.

Joy James
And you're right, it's competitive, it's noncompetitive. It's something it's like checking off a list. And I know there's one other thing I think is Audubon Society, don't they, in their bird count, they like in one day we count as many birds as possible.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah. So, there's I know Cornell does a of what's it called great backyard bird count. I think that might be over a couple of days actually. And then I think they have a big day. I know Audubon has a bunch of Christmas bird counts that you can do. Yeah.

Joy James
And through your birding, have you made some really close friends? You said they're very friendly people. What kind of friendships have you developed due to your interest in birding?

Adrianna Nelson
A lot of the birders at home are older and so they're kind of more like a grandparent kind of relationship, you know, they'll kind of take care of you and take you and your pointers and sometimes bake your stuff. And I've had lots of muffins and cookies and stuff on birding trips.

Joy James
Because you are probably the youngest person with them.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, I am. So, there's there's that. And we're they're kind of like family. And then there's the younger birders. I am good friends with them. I've got a couple at home and a couple here that are my age and they're really fun to go with. And the really young people. I have a friend here who's 12, I believe, and he's like really into birds as well.
And he's so energetic and he's just full of life and he's so happy all the time and wants to go and run around all these different places and find birds. Just these really close friend relationships all the way across the spectrum. And that's really nice.

Joy James
That's really cool. I'd never thought about that. As a birder, you get to experience people of all ages, and I suspect too, when you go to a new place and meet another birder, you're already talking to each other. It's not like you ignore each other.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, yeah, that's it. Exactly. And it's kind of cool because you can just show up. Like whenever I go on vacation, I always try to look for they're called hotspots. You can go on eBird and actually find different locations where people are reporting birds and it shows who reports them and what day it was and what they saw. And so, I'll go to these different places when I'm on vacation and try to get some news species. And if I run into somebody there, they might be a total stranger. But we can, you know, pick up a conversation like that about birds and that's really cool. It's an interesting dynamic. It really.

Joy James
It is. And I don't go hiking with binoculars like birders do, but whenever I'm out hiking and I see someone with binoculars, I'm always like, what did you see? I'm already guessing that's kind of like their logo. I'm a birder. Even though that's not what they're advertising, it's just one of the tools of your trade. I'm going to wrap it up and just say fascinating and still, I'm always interested in people who are birders and bird watchers. Our next segment is called The Dirt on Getting Outside, and it's trying to help students and faculty and staff be able to find or figure out things as they navigate getting into the outdoors. So, number one, what is your biggest fear about being in the outdoors?

 

Adrianna Nelson
Spiders. Yeah, that always really shocks people because I'm usually I like to think of myself as a naturalist anyway. And I'm always like flipping over rocks and logs, looking at salamanders. And I don't mind, you know, running through creeks and streams and picking up random things here and there. And then there's spiders and I just I'm so scared of them. I can't I can't help it. It's really weird.

Joy James
I don't want to tell our listeners to take a flash...I don't know if you've ever done this trick where you take a flashlight and put it on your forehead. You know what I'm talking about. Okay, so this is an old environmental education trick. I'm deviating from this from this segment. But you put your flashlight on your forehead, this won't work with a phone. So, you got to get a real flashlight. And you want to be about kind of in the woods and you want to be maybe about ten feet away. And you start looking and you're at the right position to see that. And I'm not going to use the right biology term. I apologize. But there's like it's like fluorescent...bioluminescence. It's not bioluminescence, but it's a reflection. And you see these tiny little pinpricks and you start to realize how many spiders are out there. So, you may not want to do it if you want to spend the night, but I'll put it up in the show notes, you know, the directions for how to do it, because it really is fascinating and kind of fun because it takes a while and then once you spot it, you're like, Oh, there are a lot out here.
Yeah, I'm glad for spiders because they eat the other bugs.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, spiders are good. And whenever they're at our house, I always try to get my family to take them outside instead of squishing them, because I'm like, they're ecologically important! Don't squish them! Yeah, yeah.

Joy James
I'm still afraid of them, but I don't want to kill them either. And so, I kind of I live with them.

Adrianna Nelson
And if I'm ever with anybody and we're hiking, or birding I always make them walk first in fear of the spider webs.

Joy James
Yeah. So, for those of you who may not have hiked very much for particularly in the fall in the high country, you literally need a stick in front of you because you can walk into the spider web. And I'm with you. I always make someone hike in front of me and they're like, Wow, there’s a lot of spider webs. I'm like, I don't know what I'm talking about. All right. Second question, what is your most embarrassing outdoor moment?

Adrianna Nelson
Oh, man. Oh, probably the time I scraped up the front of my car. That was not fun. So, if anybody has ever been to Carver's Gap at Roan Mountain, I love Carver's Gap. And I was up there to hike and bird and the parking lot was totally full because we didn't get there early enough and it was packed. And I tried to go in the parking lot and people were trying to leave, but there were cars along the side so we couldn't pass at the same time. So, I like tried to squeeze onto the side and there's a rock there and I just like scrapped the front of my car and it's not fun.

Joy James
I take it you weren't alone if you were embarrassed?

Adrianna Nelson
No, I had. There were plenty of other people there watching me scrape my car.

Joy James
That's the only embarrassment. That's money. I'm sorry to hear about that. All right. Next question is, what is your must have piece of outdoor gear or equipment?

Adrianna Nelson
I always have my binoculars, always, always, always, always. And I also usually have a camera. And it was my family's. It's just a canon point and shoot. But I kind of adopted it as my own. So, it's mine now. But I usually have that too. And I take pictures of plants and bugs and fungus and mosses and birds and everything. So, see, those are like my two things.

Joy James
And if you were, say, a must have for binoculars, is there a certain size or is it magnification.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah. So I have two pairs and one is an eight by 42 and one is a ten by 42 and usually an eight times or ten times is a pretty good magnification and times 32 or 42 is usually a good range. You can get less or more than that, but that's usually the typical ones.

Joy James
Something else too, I would share with the listeners is binoculars sometimes are a little hard to figure out and then once you figure it out, they're pretty good. So, I might even look for a resource to share how to how to use your binoculars. Because I know it took me a while to figure that out. I'd be like, where? I can't see it. Yeah. And birders actually help me figure out how to use my binoculars. All right. So last question. What is your favorite local spot here in the high country?

Adrianna Nelson
Oh, man.

Joy James
I know. There's a lot of them.

Adrianna Nelson
There is. Yeah. So, I really like Trout Lake at Moses Cone. I think that's probably my favorite just because it's a really great spot for Warblers and I've been there several times and I've gotten 11 species of warblers in one day and I think four species of thrushes and on. Wow, that flushed a nice barred owl out of a tree. And I found this family of it's a type of woodpecker called a yellow bellied sap sucker. I know that's a weird name for anybody who's not familiar with bird names, but so it was really cool.

Joy James
I'm going to have to show you this picture. I think it's a yellow belly sucker. And I found this log. It had all this little hole, the woodpecker holes and. Yeah, here, I'll see if you'll be able to see this.

Adrianna Nelson
Oh, yeah? Yeah.

Joy James
Is that yellow belly?

Adrianna Nelson
It is, yeah.

Joy James
And how do you know it's a yellow belly sap sucker?

Adrianna Nelson
Well, it looks like it to me on the picture, but they actually drill sap wells instead of just drilling normal holes. And so, this film was SAP and they drink the sap out of it and sometimes bugs come and get stuck in it too, and they'll eat the bugs out of that.

Joy James
That's exactly what they look like in a little well up. This was on the Trout Lake Trail. Go on up towards Rich Mountain.

Adrianna Nelson
Okay. That's where I saw the little family of them. Yeah.

Joy James
The tree is down by that little pond and that's where I saw this. So, I wonder if. Anyway, we're such nerds. Let's see.

Adrianna Nelson
I just wanted to say a couple of, like, cool things about birds, because some people, I don't think, understand how cool they are. Yeah, a lot of birds migrate over the Gulf of Mexico, so they fly nonstop over the ocean. And so, hummingbirds are one of those birds. They're called trans gulf migrants. And they fuel up. They get like really fat while they're in Mexico, in the Yucatan Peninsula, and then they fly nonstop over the ocean. And whenever they get to the United States, they weigh, I believe, a 10th of an ounce. They weigh like less than a penny, which is incredible.

Joy James
How long does it take them to fly across the ocean?

Adrianna Nelson
I can't remember. Over the Gulf. I think it's a couple of days maybe.

Joy James
That's incredible. No rest. They're just flying constantly.

Adrianna Nelson
Right? Right. Yeah. And hummingbirds actually have the biggest pectoral muscles relative to their body size out of any animal. So, they're really, really tiny birds. But their muscles are so big for their bodies.

Joy James
They seem to eat a lot, too. Yeah.

Adrianna Nelson
And they actually go into torpor at night sometimes when the temperatures drop really low. So, it's kind of like a hibernation. So that's something cool too, that I don't think people realize the hummingbirds kind of do mini hibernation, but it gets really cold, which is really.

Joy James
Neat as cool.

Adrianna Nelson
But some birds migrate pretty much constantly, like arctic terns that go 26,000 miles pole to pole. They're constantly keeping up with spring, so they're always flying basically to where it's springtime and where the insects are emerging. And they can eat bugs pretty much year round. And I believe, was that a god? What maybe the type of shorebird it flies from Alaska to New Zealand nonstop over the ocean. There are some pretty interesting migrants out there.

Joy James
What's so fascinating to me, because I when I first heard about the life list for a birder, it takes a lifetime.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah. Really? Just to.

Joy James
See. And then, like you said, you just you're constantly honing your skill set and you're meeting other people and you're pursuing it. And it sounds like to me, too, the birds never cease to amaze you.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, there's always something new to see. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah.

Joy James
All right. Anything else you want to share?

Adrianna Nelson
I keep talking all day.

Joy James
I know. Adrianna, thank you so much for being willing to talk to us on Outdoorosity. And we just really appreciate your time.

Adrianna Nelson
Yeah, thank you.

Becki Battista
As we wrap up the interview, we want to share some resources for you. Check out various Audubon Society chapters like the Appalachian Audubon Society or locally in Boone, the High Country Audubon Club. You can join online groups to learn more about birds and meet like minded birders. Another great option to help you get into birding are apps on your phone like I, naturalist Merlin, Bird ID or Citizen Science. Citizen Science is an official government Web site designed to accelerate the use of crowdsourcing and citizen science across the U.S. and allows you to report different species of birds in your area. And on a more lighthearted side, you could watch the movie The Big Year 2011, a comedy which features Owen Wilson, Jack Black and Steve Martin, where the plot includes three bird enthusiasts who are attempting to gain the record and spotting and identifying the most number of birds.
And here, I appreciate how Adrianna makes someone else hike first on the trail so she doesn't have to clear out spiders, which, if you have not experienced, is like having superglue on your face and you cannot get it off. Fun fact birding is the number one outdoor recreation activity because we all have access to watch birds. We want to thank Adriana and Joy for sharing their stories. And as we sign off, we want to end with a quote by Marty Rubin. Every bird, every tree, every flower reminds me what a blessing and a privilege it is to be alive.