I've recently been thinking more about the 5-Mile Radius (5MR), an initiative encouraging birders to explore habitats within 5 miles of their homes. 5MR birding seeks to minimize driving and to disperse birders into highly individualized and usually under-explored spaces. Twenty individual birders driving long distances to the same hotspot produce significant carbon emissions, and they generate mostly redundant eBird data since they're mostly looking at the same birds. Birding closer to home will lead to less driving and it will help diversify the data set by increasing coverage outside of those most popular hotspots. I don't expect everyone to give up driving or avoid productive hotspots, but it might be fun to try 5MR birding one weekend a month.
A 'rare' Rock Wren from my 5MR (Foster City)
Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO II + 1.4x III on EOS 5D Mark IV
1/2000 at f/5.6, ISO 800
Had the camera on the bike this day!
I've largely ignored the 5MR because I usually like to bike longer distances than the 5MR suggests. Coyote Point Park, for example, is a great birding spot just a mile from my apartment, but I rarely bird it because riding there and back won't burn significant donuts or ice cream. However, I've decided to make more dedicated forays within my 5MR when I don't have the time for longer rides. It will be fun to try to explore new areas and see how many species I can find close to home.
Below are two views of my 5MR, wide (left) and zoomed (right). My home is indicated by the blue dot on the right hand view. Because my 'Actual 5MR' is 50% open water, I've taken some liberty and shifted it slightly southwest to include more birdable land. The shift captures a bonus sliver of higher elevation habitat on the bayside of the coastal mountains (i.e. Skylawn Cemetery off Highway 92), but I don't think I've altered it so egregiously to distort the meaning or spirit of the 5MR game. From here forward, 5MR will refer to the Shifted permutation.
Cross-referencing my eBird data and my memory, I realize I've seen 201 species in my 5MR, 199 of which have been observed using my bike (I've never driven to bird in my 5MR, extra 2 were observed when I drove to photograph). I'm exceptionally lucky my 5MR contains a lot of different habitats - open water, shorelines, marshes, neighborhoods, chaparral, oak woodlands, and even a bit of coniferous forest - and I imagine I've far from exhausted the birds I can find within its bounds. Hell, 253 species have been eBirded from Coyote Point, so I should be able to find a bunch of additional species in my 5MR given enough time.
Incidently, I've found a couple really good 5MR birds - Horned Lark, Lapland Longspur, and Yellow-headed Blackbird - while walking my dog along the bay. In each instance, I ran home, grabbed my bike and camera, rode back, and relocated the county rarity for photos. The best bird I have in my 5MR is the Old World Dusky Warbler. I didn't find that great bird; I poached it from Logan Kahle and Bob Tolino.
Horned Lark, Lapland Longspur, Yellow-headed Blackbird
I'm curious to hear if any of you play around with the 5MR, so please feel free to leave me a comment with your experiences and exploits I'd be very curious to know how high species totals in the 5MR can be pushed. I'm sure many - and particularly those with ocean - will crush my number!
Lastly, I want to mention the Green Big Year my friend Gregg Severson is currently undertaking in Minnesota. He'll travel exclusively by bicycle - a particularly impressive feat considering Minneapolis temperatures will top out at 34 degrees this week - and he'll be blogging about his adventures as he progresses. He's home-based, so he'll use will the same hub-and-spoke (i.e. out-and-back) model I use for my Bay Area bike-birding. I'll be keeping tabs on him, and I'm sure he be stoked if you did as well! Best of luck, Gregg!
Thanks for the mention, Dorian!
ReplyDeleteCheers! Best of luck! Stay safe!
DeleteHey Dorian, Thanks for posting this. I just created a 5 mile radius from my home on Google Earth. It includes some really good areas here on the coast. Though the radius goes east, all the way to the west shore of Crystal Springs Reservoir, I will never bike Hwy 92. But if they ever open the trails at Burleigh Murray all the way to Skyline, we'll have a shot at getting to the ridge. And if I tweek the radius only just a teeny bit north we can capture Fitzgerald. I'm going to do this. See how many 5MR birds I can get on my bike this year. I'm sure Chris will be into it to. - Malia
ReplyDeleteYea, you guys on the coast are gonna kill us on the bay! I really think the bike is the way to go for the 5MR, everything is so close it'll really facilitate it!
DeleteI think you should really play the 5MR game like everybody else. The center is your residence and you take with what comes along with that.
ReplyDeleteI can hear that, for sure. But there's no competition or prize, so it's not like my shift affects anyone else, right? I mostly shifted it for riding purposes; climbing the 900 feet up to the ridge is a great workout. Plus, the shift will mean more eBird data since I can't eBird from the middle of the bay. So, if my shift means people don't think my 5MR isn't legit, that's totally cool. Since I'm rarely mentioned alongside 'real' Big Year birders, I've grown accustomed to being marginalized anyway!
DeleteHi Dorian, it's awesome that you're trying out a 5MR, but I have to agree with Rob here. There are hundreds of new 5MR birders out there this year (and there actually is a bit of a competition going...) so I think if you're going to call it a 5MR you should play by the same guidelines of everyone else with a 5MR Patch List. Otherwise, just call it something else to avoid confusion. Cheers!
DeleteYeah I get what you're saying, but I could care less about the competition aspect. Honestly, competition seems silly since there's no two 5MRs are comparable. It's not a level playing field to begin with.
DeleteI use birding as motivation for biking, so having half my territory in the drink doesn't help me. As one of the few - only? - who never birds by car in his/her 5MR, I'm only really 'competing' against myself anyway.
For the record, there is only a 2 species difference between my true 5MR and my shifted 5MR, at least at this time.
Fun idea that would really challenge me to search for habitat within the metro. I generally commit to leading walks during the spring (some leaving directly from my neighborhood allowing me to not even hop in the car) migration, but find myself avoiding the concrete jungle whenever possible. Thanks for the shout out to Gregg, it will be awesome to follow along on his blog this year for a region I am somewhat familiar with.
ReplyDeleteThanks Malcolm! I hear avoiding the most developed areas. Even around here that's what I do. I pass through them on my bike but generally don't both to beat the suburban bushes due to low probability of finding something interesting.
DeleteI agree with Rob Fowler. You could buy/rent a kayak/row boat and find possibly awesome birds out in the bay. It's not like it's completely inaccessible. Would also be fantastic cross-training since it would use upper body muscle to complement your biking muscles :-). I now live in the Canadian Rockies (used to live in Palo Alto), and have left my 8KR centred on my house. My house is on the side of a mountain in Canmore, so the 8KR circle includes mostly completely inaccessible terrain, and even the accessible terrain is challenging (last week I hiked up my mountain, 3300' in 2.5 miles, looking for ptarmigan and grouse, and came up empty). If I shifted the 8KR to downtown Canmore, it would include a pond to the south that has some really good birds in the summer. But, I'm sticking to the spirit of the challenge and leaving the 8KR circle centred on my house.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you could potentially have ptarmigan and grouse so close to your house! Sounds like you like in a great but very rugged area!
DeleteAs for the kayak, I own one, but I use it strictly for photography in areas that aren't included in my 5MR (i.e. the ocean!). As I told Jen, birding is my motivation for biking, so I have no interest in having half of my circle in the water. I'm not going to get competitive about this, so my shift isn't going to affect anyone else. There is only 2 species difference between the true and shifted anyway (<1% of total).
Such a wonderful post, will read through the other posts as well soon! Happy birding Dorian
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Aseem, I will spend some time on your blog these next few days since it'll be pouring rain here!
DeleteJust the obvious-listing is sport = fun. E birding may have some scientific relevance so documenting what you see, even introduced species and just introduced species could have scientific value. I'm both but try to remember when listing that it's my list, I try to follow some rules but it is still mostly fun.
ReplyDeleteExaclty. The only times standardized rules really matter are for Big Days, Big Years, and other sorts of formal competitions. Who cares who has the highest list under 99% of circumstances?
DeleteIf you're going to reference 5MR and refer to your eBird patch as such, you really should play by the rules and not cherry pick, regardless of the 2 species difference you claim. Ocean, elevation, private property, asphalt, we all have hurdles to overcome. Choosing the path of least resistance is weak.
ReplyDeleteI do not have an eBird patch for exactly that reason. Why has birding devolved into some eBird-based competition?
DeleteAlso, I'd be careful suggesting my choices 'weak' unless you also do all of your birding without the convenience of the automobile.....