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best : “As anyone who has tried bird
photography can attest, it can be a
difficult proposition to capture the essen-
ce of bird life on film (or digital memory
cards), but these young birders pulled it
off.” The ABA/Leica Young Birder of the
Year contest has had over 500 young
people enter and fine-tune different
facets of their birding. The flexibility of
the contest allows participants to pursue
and expand on the areas of birding that
most fascinate them. As our young bir-
ders become adults and mentors for
others, they will carry forward these
learning experiences into their college
studies and eventual careers. The ABA
is proud to have Leica Camera Inc as the
primary sponsor for our young birder
education programs.
Lori L. Fujimoto, Education Manager and
Ted Floyd, Editor of Birding
Leica and ABA youth birding programs
Leica Camera Inc has been the
principle sponsor of the ABA Young Birder
of the Year program since its beginnings
in 1997. Leica is also a proud supporter
of the American Birding Association’s
Young Birder’s Conventions and Youth
Birding Camps. Leica supports these
programs by providing high quality optics,
by offering scholarships, and by deferring
overall costs. This allows more of these
talented young naturalists to attend
these programs, and learn about their
natural surroundings.
www.americanbirding.org/yb/yby
Supporting young birders Young birders everywhere are
often isolated from their peers, watching and studying birds all by
themselves. So how do you inspire and encourage students from across
the continent to discover birding, to get out into the field and improve
their birding proficiency and enjoyment, and at the same time connect
with other young birders ?
One of the ways that the American Birding Association (ABA) has found
to do just that was to create a contest, the ABA/Leica Young Birder
of the Year (YBY), which would spark their imaginations as well as
increase their desire to pursue and develop their own birding skills.
The YBY contest was begun in 1997
with a firm commitment from the ABA
Education Program to encourage more
young people to become interested in
birding and encourage young birders to
enhance their entire birding experience,
with an emphasis on the development
of good field skills. Leica Camera Inc
stepped up as the principal sponsor of
this exciting new event, with superior
optics prizes and a generous scholarship
to a youth birding camp for the winners.
The YBY has evolved from that first ven-
ture, and now consists of four individual
modules : field notebook, writing, photo-
graphy, and illustration. Participants can
customize the contest to reflect their own
ornithological interests and the aspects
of birding that they find the most
compelling by participating in just one
or all four of the modules. To qualify for
overall YBY, participants must complete
the field notebook module and at least
two of the others.
The Field Notebook Module is the
primary piece for the YBY. Taking good
field notes requires a commitment to
time spent in the field, careful observa-
tion, attention to detail, and dedication to
birds and birding. It is not a stretch to say
that most of today’s leading birders and
ornithologists kept field notebooks when
they were younger. The lessons learned –
discipline, organization, clarity, rigor –
are vital to so many different careers in
birding and ornithology, among them
writing, painting, tour-leading, museum
work, and conservation science.
Distinct from the Field Notebook
Module is the Writing Module. Whereas
the Field Notebook Module emphasizes
on-the-ground, on-site descriptions of
birds observed in the field, the Writing
Module presents a venue for analysis,
interpretation, and speculation. The pri-
mary genre here is the essay, but some
of our creative young birders venture into
more imaginative media such as poetry.
Being able to communicate well is the key
to success in the modern professional
world, and the Writing Module provides
our young birders with excellent, in-depth
exposure to the craft of writing.
The Illustration Module strengthens the
participants’ competence as birders as
well as their artistry and creativity. As
they distinguish the subtle colors of field
marks, correct primary extension lengths,
and overall bird proportions, they are also
bolstering their birding and field identifi-
cation skills. And as they scrutinize the
proportion challenges when the birds
change their position, they are also lear-
ning about the way birds move when they
sing, eat, and go about their daily lives.
Capturing a bird’s particular attitude and
beauty along with the successful handling
of their chosen media is a charge that
these young birders have met with
aplomb. The act of putting pencil to
paper has become an expression of these
young birders’ love and enthusiasm for
their subjects.
The newest addition to the YBY contest
was the Photography Module, introduced
in 2003. This module gives young birders
yet another avenue to explore birding
while boosting their proficiency with their
photography. Photographic equipment
used by young birders has varied from
simple point- and-shoot cameras to
sophisticated SLR’s. An impressive array
of photographs has been produced in
these first two years. One of the pho-
tography judges, Bill Schmoker, said it
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