Birding Close to Home: FOY and Other Funny Acronyms

April 13, 2021 Examiner Media

By Brian Kluepfel

I work in a profession dominated by acronyms. And to be honest, I don’t know WTF people around me are talking about half the time. I don’t know whether to cry or LOL, frankly. I get some sort of electronic message and just SMH.

A recently introduced acronym in my world is FOY: First of the Year. It’s usually reserved for the first sighting of a species that has returned to its local breeding ground. It’s kind of exciting to see the reports: FOY osprey, FOY kestrel. (There was some controversy over who actually saw the first osprey; however, I’ll let them sort that out.)

Things get more exciting when people use nicknames of which you’re uncertain. Like this one: “FOY Louie Waterthrush singing…” What’s a “Louie Waterthrush?”

It took me a minute to puzzle out that the reported bird was a Louisiana Waterthrush. Anyhow, the “Louies” are an early neotropical arrival, after wintering in Central America or the West Indies. They also return to the tropics early, heading south as soon as July. I imagine they sing “Louie Louie, me gotta go now,” as they stretch their flight feathers and head for southern climes. (Please submit to Worst Pun of the Year Contest.)

What I’d like to emphasize in these times of diminished long-range travel opportunities is that there is plenty to do and see right here in the lower Hudson Valley, including birding. There have been more than 250 avian species recorded in Westchester County, and there are a variety of habitats, including Saw Mill River Audubon’s eight sanctuaries, which comprise 300 acres alone.

Perhaps you’ll be able to report the FOY Baltimore oriole, one of our more colorful songbirds. As George Bird Grinnell, founder of the original Audubon Society, wrote of this black and orange wonder: “it comes to us from the South in early Spring. It passes the winter in Mexico, Central America, and Cuba…the journey northward is performed rather slowly, and usually it is the 9^th or 10^th of May before Orioles are seen in southern New York or Connecticut.”

Mark your calendars, folks, keeping in mind Mr. Bird Grinnell wrote that in 1887, before global warming kicked in. Your oriole’s mileage may vary.

In addition to scouring our forests and wetlands for FOYs, you can join the Saw Mill River Audubon (SMRA) on one of its regular birding strolls or upcoming family nature walks. Just remember that you have to pre-register and that some COVID restrictions may still be in place.

But one of the best ways to learn about birding, in my experience, is being out in the field with enthusiastic and knowledgeable spotters and listeners, and SMRA is chock-full of them – and they’re darned nice people, too.

Some other things you can do to support local organizations and wildlife:

Stock up your feeders at SMRA’s Apr. 17 seed sale at Pruyn Sanctuary.
Learn how to use the eBird app, start up a life list, and contribute to citizen science at SMRA’s Zoom class on Apr. 20.
Plant bird-friendly native species in your garden this spring. We’ve got info on our website about that – and you can see an example of a great native plant garden when you visit Pruyn Sanctuary.
Celebrate the conclusion of Earth Day celebrations on Apr. 28 with Scott Craven, Ossining town historian, and his Zoom talk on the natural history of the Hudson River Valley. (Visit ossininglibrary.org for details.)

We are inundated with challenging, often infuriating news on a daily, even hourly basis. There’s a way to shut it off, though. An hour of birding, or just quiet walking in the forest, is absolutely, positively restorative. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “In the woods we return to reason and faith.” I’ll see you there.

Brian Kluepfel is a writer for the Lonely Planet guidebook series and has seen the world’s biggest bird – the Andean condor – as well as the smallest (Cuba’s bee hummingbird). He lives in Ossining and loves the Hudson Valley’s natural, and human, wonder. Read more of him at www.birdmanwalking.com or visit IG @briankluepfel.