Ecoregion birding<\/strong>\u00a0means\u00a0keeping bird lists by ecoregion, a human-defined area, but one that is defined on the basis of natural characteristics. Almost all birders only keep list by county, state, province, or country, which are all units without much biological meaning or interest.<\/p>\n The ecoregion pages, accessible from the broad habitat groupings in the menu, cover all 109 terrestrial ecoregions of North America. Each page\u00a0includes<\/span>\u00a0a map, very brief description, notes on the ecoregion’s avifauna, and a few resources for ecoregion birders. Note that many text elements are under construction (you are more than welcome to contribute!). A few ecoregions outside of North America can be found in a separate tab.<\/p>\n We follow here the ecoregions as defined by WWF. The WWF site<\/a>\u00a0includes detailed texts on each ecoregion (search for the name of the ecoregion or its code, that looks something like NA0806). Formerly, it was possible on the WWF site to consult maps of all the world’s ecoregions but very unfortunately, in 2018 WWF unexpectedly retired their Wildfinder site, and this is \u00a0no longer possible.<\/p>\n Maps of the world’s ecoregions can still be found at a number of sites. One good source is Data Basin<\/a>.<\/p>\n I am in the process of determining the “characteristic”\u00a0bird species\u00a0of each ecoregion in North America and will gradually add this information to the ecoregion descriptions. For an example, see the list for the Edwards Plateau Savannas<\/a>. As an ecoregion birder, with biology on the brain, the intention is to focus more on the biologically significant species of regular occurrence, and to focus less on listing extremely rare or lost birds.<\/p>\n By “characteristic”, I mean a\u00a0bird species that is to be found reliably and annually in the mix of habitats that define the ecoregion, and thus plays a biological role in its\u00a0ecoregional dynamics. These are\u00a0the species that a skilled and diligent birder could reasonably expect to find in an ecoregion, covering all of\u00a0its typical habitats and assuming good coverage in all seasons. This is an admittedly subjective exercise, and there will\u00a0be dissenting views on which species qualify\u00a0– comments welcome! For bird ranges, I have relied heavily on the maps in David Sibley’s\u00a0The Sibley Guide to Birds<\/em>, Second Edition (2014).<\/p>\n Species are classed as residents (r), summer breeders (s), migrants (m), or occurring only in winter (w). When a species has a different status in different areas of the ecoregion (perhaps wintering\u00a0in the north, resident in the south), the label is chosen that seems most representative of the species over the ecoregion as a whole.<\/p>\n Thus, for any given ecoregion, I\u00a0exclude<\/span>\u00a0from the list of characteristic species those that, in my judgment:<\/p>\n The list or characteristic and peripheral species will be considerably less than the actual list of species that have been\u00a0recorded in any ecoregion, as such a list will include\u00a0many other rare, casual, and accidental species.<\/p>\n Douglas J. Graham is a\u00a0Canadian living in Kelowna, BC (formerly residing in Maryland, from 1992 to 2019). I am originally\u00a0from Thunder Bay, ON (Western Great Lakes Forests Ecoregion), and am a biologist (formerly an Environmental Specialist at the World Bank in Washington, DC). My spouse is France Marcoux from Qu\u00e9bec City, QC (Eastern Great Lakes Lowland Forests Ecoregion), a keen photographer with a great appreciation of nature and traveling.<\/p>\n I can be reached at douglasjgraham@me.com.<\/p>\n Here are some of my most recent observations from my latest passion: iNaturalist.<\/p>\n![\"NAmerica\"](\"http:\/\/039adfd.netsolhost.com\/WordPress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/NAmerica.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0Characteristic Ecoregion Avifaunas<\/h3>\n
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About\u00a0me<\/h3>\n