ABA-AREA BIRDING

Sometime long ago when I started birding, when I was 7, I read that the ultimate lifetime goal for birders in the United States was to see 700 species in North America. For birders, “North America” was defined by the American Birding Association (ABA), and it meant North America north of Mexico. About 650 species occur regularly here, but others stop by occasionally. The official ABA tally for the region, including all the rare vagrants ever documented, is about 1,000 species.

But 700 is the standard lifetime goal. When I was a kid, very few had achieved it. Now, thanks to the widespread popularity of birding, cheap air travel, and Internet rare-bird alerts, the ABA reports 410 people in the “700 club,” and there may be thousands more. Amazingly, 56 people are over 800, and three have seen more than 900. In first place is Macklin Smith, an English professor at the University of Michigan, with 928. If you’re thinking that he must be one frenetic individual, I can assure you he is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Even beginning birders, with enough time and money, can get to 700 in a few years.