5 MR birding

[drbeel]

There is a craze sweeping the nation's birding community wherein one takes a year to count birds within a 5 mile radius

of home.  It encourages us to explore our local "patch", perhaps areas that are seldom reported from.

My circle includes Cedar Lake, but favorite areas like Squaw Creek Park, Wickiup Hill, and Palisades Kepler lie just outside my territory.  VanVecten Park, Faulkes Woods and Seminole Valley are in my area, yet I seldom visit them.  Now I will.

In this era of global warming ( it's -28° ),

the 5 MR concept can help reduce our carbon footprint on our fragile and imperiled planet.  I would encourage others to join this movement if you can.

Bill Scheible 

Cedar Rapids 

                         "Land is the best art."

                         .....Andy Warhol

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[Eric Ollie]

There is a Facebook group dedicated to this: "5MR Birding."

Eric Ollie 

Ames 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "IA-BIRD" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ia-bird+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to ia-...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/ia-bird.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ia-bird/66c498056ce0ec66a4458a985ce6ad19%40njtocomv01.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Ken Wiggers]

I agree regarding the "carbon footprint," I am pretty "tight" with my driving and cannot imagine driving several hours and several 100 miles to see a rare bird or for just "birding." The money spent and time spent could be used locally, nationally, or internationally for better purposes, i.e., greater benefit to the wildlife we love and the earth we depend on for our existence. We do a lot of things and are allowed to do many things simply because we can, i.e., we have discretionary money to spend.

It is hard to achieve a balance of what our needs are and what we want to do. We should probably more time helping educate people not only about birds and joy of birds, but about our changing environment and our part in such. The "5MR" idea sounds good for the additional reason that one spends more time birding and less time (wasted, i.e., not enjoying the outdoors) driving.

 Ken

"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we have been taught"  ---Baba Dioum    

--

[Brandon Caswell]

Faulkes Heritage Woods is a hidden treasure! I did three years of summer bird surveys there. Some super closed canopy areas. In the Spring it should be good!  It has some varied habitats as well. Luckily within my 5MR too.

Brandon Caswell

Marion

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ia-bird/CABD_q6we0khaK326GFTG7oXHrN0PmCXnTKpXoCLFMEg8gSuExg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Clayton Will]

Sounds like a ploy to get people to not bird at all. Just quit birding or only watch out the window will be next. I can tell you with the excellent birding spots of Brenton Slough,

Saylorville Dam, Chichaqua Bottoms and many field wetlands within 15 miles I won't be joining this group. If you were to stick to this you wouldn't travel to attend IOU meetings, 

go on a birding bus trip and would miss out on the bird of a lifetime. And I might add, as a birder you will get real bored. I live just a mile from the high trestle/Des Moines River and bird close to home plenty but it's not going to be 

because someone came up with a fad.  Good birding! 

[Paul Roisen]

Good morning all,

  Great to hear such a varied discussion on the 5mile topic.   I thought I might weigh in before we get all hot and bothered about what is the best way to bird.

  Several years I have done a Big Iowa Year, this year I did a Woodbury County Big year, one year I did a 25mile radius circle around a selected point in Sioux City.  Another year I worked on having seen as many species as the number of days into the year I was  (needed by 1st of Jan, 2 by 2nd of January, 31 by end of January etc (you are done once your species numbers fall fall under the number of days so far in the year--i.e. if it is June15 you need to have 31+28+31+30+31+15 or 146 species).  I made it to some time in September that year).  Of course, I also do county birding, have chased birds, birded other states, and visited a number of countries.

  Of course, carbon footprint should be part of the equation as well.  However, that is kind of up to each individual.  Birding with more than one person would be great (as we STRONGLY suggest for IOU field trips), driving to a location and walking around, etc are all ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

  As to the IOU, there is no plan to limit field trips to 5 miles.   I think Bill was suggesting an alternative to the mad driving the I, and others, sometimes do.  I do not believe he was suggesting that all birding be done within a 5 mile radius>

  There are many ways to bird.   Feeder watching, a city, a county, camping and exploring a new area. etc etc.

I discovered many of the hidden treasures of Iowa when I began county birding.

Bird on and enjoy yourselves.

God Bless,

  

Paul O. Roisen

Woodbury County, IA

Mobile 712-301-2817

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ia-bird/CABD_q6we0khaK326GFTG7oXHrN0PmCXnTKpXoCLFMEg8gSuExg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Tim Gedler]

Does the 5Mr program actually encourage participants/ birders to stop birding outside their 5MR area?

I would hope that is not the "thrust" of the MR5 incentive.  

 

On Wed, Jan 30, 2019, 8:54 AM drbeel <drb...@mchsi.com wrote:

--

[drbeel]

Absolutely not, Tim et al.  The goal of the    5 MR project is simply to document the species in your own neighborhood.  It promotes exploration of potentially over-looked locations.  To suggest that it purposely restricts your birding endeavors is silly.

Bill Scheible 

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ia-bird/CAJGJmgA_cmN9eLkb5ZwQQh7ew7JN1FbNRS7-P-pOScAMEf02xA%40mail.gmail.com.

[newtja84]

Well this simply wouldn't work for me.  Whilst yes I've had some neat stuff in town; it would ostensibly require me to 'grid search' agricultural fields.  Plus all that riparian territory is technically private property.  I wouldn't even be able to go to the Potholes....or Bradgate WMA...or anywhere but the barest of a sliver of the Humboldt CBC.  And people who live in counties like mine; where conversion rates are nearly 99% really have no choice but to do road birding and honey-hole hunting.    

Jacob Newton

Ottosen IA

[Chris Edwards]

This sounds like a fun idea, I think I’ll give it a try.  I’m lucky to have a lot of great birding areas in my circle – the lower Coralville Reservoir and dam area, Squire Point, Waterworks Prairie Park, Sugar Bottom Recreation Area, Big Grove Preserve, Turkey Creek Preserve, and parts of Hickory Hill Park, Lake Macbride State Park, and Macbride Nature-Recreation Area – which leads me to ask, why am I not birding some of these areas more??

 

I’m not a Facebook user, but I found the website of the person who came up with the 5MR Challenge:  http://www.iusedtohatebirds.com/.

 

There’s a useful tool for mapping your circle here:  https://www.mapdevelopers.com/draw-circle-tool.php.

 

And there’s a smartphone app called Count Circle which will tell you whether you’re in or out of your circle at any time, which will be useful when I’m wandering around Hickory Hill Park.

 

Chris Edwards

Solon, IA

--