by Louise Flenner

      It was early Sunday morning with very little traffic and clear skies. Louise Flenner, Lottie Bushmann, and Vickie Park met at Perry Phillips Lake Parking lot to set out on a route that Louise frequently traveled on her ebike.

All three CAS members had ebikes which have some advantages over regular bikes for birding. The body is positioned more upright and binoculars are kept strapped to the chest with no annoying swinging. Large packs allow space to carry a good size camera, field guide, snacks and extra water. The bikes are equipped with kickstands to keep them upright when off the bike. They allow you to stop anywhere on a hill and resume your ride with ease using the electric power. They even encourage exploring down a large hill and turning around and coming back up. They allow you to cover more terrain than walking and to hear more birds than driving a car. They easily transition from paved road surface to gravel or dirt roads.  They combine the joy of bicycling with the joy of birding.

Disadvantages of ebikes are they are heavy to load onto their bike racks for transporting to the start of a ride. Flat tires are difficult to change and not everyone even knows how to do this, so a rescue by car may be needed. On the plus side flat tires are extremely rare. The battery has a limited life, but a fully charged battery would easily last the length of a bike ride designated for birding. Birding with a regular bike has all the same advantages over a car or walking and they work very well on flatter terrain like the Katy Trail.

We were really pumped to see what birds we would see as the terrain we were riding through included South Pond, open meadows, woods, fields, stream crossings, a power station and power lines, a few houses and a beef farm. Right away the ride did not disappoint.  Soon after crossing over Hwy 63 on Discovery Parkway, Lottie called us over to stop as she thought she heard a Bell’s Vireo. We parked the bikes off the side of the road and started peering into the shrubs. Sure enough a tiny bird popped up and then a second one. Lottie related the call as: ”What the hell’s the matter with you?”

That got us very psyched and we continued onward. Louise kept track on ebird. Each time we stopped she entered the birds seen since the last stop. Vickie had Merlin going all the time. She had a very handy phone holder on her handlebars that allowed her to keep track and helped confirm some of our sightings. By the end of the ride, we had traveled 11 miles in 6 hours. Saw 41 birds, including Western Kingbirds and a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, a bald eagle and its nest, juvenile and adult Red-tailed Hawks. We were hoping to see a Grasshopper Sparrow, but it eluded us, even though it registered on Merlin.

I am really looking forward to doing more birding by bicycle. It lends itself to small groups with 3 to 6 being optimal. More than 6 would be too many bikes on the road to feel safe and to have everyone have a good experience. If more than 6 riders wanted to go, I can imagine splitting into smaller groups and comparing notes at the end or even fanning out in different directions. The creative options for Bicycle Birding are open for pursuing. A good place to start is to ride your own bike to a favorite birding trail or check out a birding hotspot near home and record it on ebird. Ride regularly. It can be your own special route. I encourage other birders who like to bicycle bird to lead a ride and invite CAS members.