On the lookout: New Brunswick bird watcher finds his 400th species of bird

Wherever there are birds, there’s a good chance you’ll also find Jim Wilson.

Armed with a keen eye and curiosity, he lugs his binoculars and spotting scope to marshes, beaches and nature reserves across New Brunswick, as he has for decades. Wilson is always on the lookout for a bird, especially if it’s one not yet added to list: of the approximately 442 bird species noted to exist in New Brunswick, Wilson has seen 400 of them.

That’s a record for the province. 

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“I was lucky enough to hit that milestone just recently. It was a Wilson’s plover. No relation,” he joked.

Wilson explained it’s extremely rare for the Wilson’s plover to be found in Canada. The medium-sized shorebird with a large, heavy beak is usually found along coastlines between the mid-Atlantic and South America.

Early bird catches the worm

When he first heard a Wilson’s plover had been spotted near Shediac, N.B. he knew it was the first time for the province. The next morning, he and his wife and another birding friend were the road at 4:45 a.m. on a mission to drive nearly two hours to find that plover.

Within minutes of arriving at the beach, the plover was seen. Mission accomplished. The group was back home by 10 a.m.

“That sounds bizarre, because why would somebody do that? And burn the gas?” he said. “But it's one of those things where you try to do it as efficiently as you can.”

Tracking the birds 

Whenever a new bird is seen in New Brunswick, it has to become official via a bird records committee, which Wilson chairs.

Observers submit a report—hopefully backed up with video, audio or photographic evidence—of the bird they’ve seen.

Five committee members vote. If there’s more than one vote against it, it doesn’t count. It’s voted on again. If that doesn’t pass, it’s not added.

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“It's a very serious thing to try and make sure that we get all the evidence and then all that evidence is archived for that first occasion of sighting for the species at the Natural History department of the New Brunswick Museum,” he said.

When the committee was first set up in the early 1990s, there was only about 330 species documented in New Brunswick. Now there are 442.

Wilson believes he saw his 300th bird in 1985. A curlew sandpiper on Grand Manan.

“It took me 39 years to see the extra 100 species,” he said, noting there are a lot of birders whose lists are in the 350 to high 390 range.

“I guess if you live long enough, you'll eventually get somewhere with this stuff.”

A Wilson's plover spotted in New Brunswick by bird watcher Jim Wilson — no relation. (Courtesy of Marbeth Wilson)

Despite holding the birding record for New Brunswick, Wilson said that wasn’t his goal, it just happened.

His father first got him interested in birds as a boy. Soon to be 77, he’s still at it and plans to keep adding to his list. He’s aiming for 500.

“It's been a wonderful hobby for me all the way through my life. It's enriched it,” he said.

“Every time you see something new, you learn more.”

Tips and tricks for the trade

Wilson encourages anyone interested in birds to give birding a try — whether it be from their window, or an adventure into nature.

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He thinks a person can aim to enjoy the view from their bird feeder or set out to see all the birds in their county, area or province. He notes some people even travel the world to grow their lists.

“I think there's something in the order of 10,500 species of birds in the world and some people who are well over 8,000, if you can imagine,” Wilson said. “Some of those birds in the world are in such remote places and are so hard to find that no one will ever get to see them all.”