The treasure map to Alberta birds
“A lot of it is just the treasure hunt aspect of it. It’s like Pokémon - gotta catch them all!”
David Scott has spent the last 20 years trying to catch birds – on camera, that is. His origin story begins as a teen in northern Ontario. A love of animals transitioned into observing winged creatures. He wondered exactly what birds he was seeing, but early attempts proved challenging.
“I’d have a look at it, then go look in the field guide,” recalls David. “Then I would try to remember, did it have wing bars? Did it have a forked tail? I couldn’t remember!”
Everything changed with a new piece of technology.
“I got a digital camera and I realized, ‘Oh, I can take pictures of the birds at my parents' feeders and figure out what they are!’”
David’s hobby quickly turned into a mini obsession.
“Walks turned to bike rides, turned to drives, turned to flights. And here I am!”
Fast forward two decades, David (now a southern Albertan) is the co-author of the new ‘A Field Guide to the Birds of Alberta’. It is the definitive guide for anyone wanting to find, observe, identify and better understand birds across the province. It includes 306 full-page species accounts, and 29 abbreviated accounts for more rarely occurring birds.
David’s educational offerings extend beyond print. He leads birding activities and workshops through the Helen Schuler Nature Centre and Nature Lethbridge. The Nature Centre will host an interactive talk, presentation and book launch on June 27.
The last Alberta bird guide was published in 1998. David and his co-author, Gavin McKinnon, figured it was time for an update.
“Guides inevitably become outdated,” says David. “Birds’ status and distribution can change - like how common they are, where they're found in the province. My co-author and I thought it's about time Alberta had a new field guide. And that conversation went from, ‘someone needs to author a new guide’ to, ‘well, we don't know of anyone who is’ to, ‘well, maybe we should!’”
The two-year passion project involved a lot of collaboration, including 140 contributing photographers. With David in Lethbridge and Gavin in Calgary, the duo leaned on the wider birding community for information in other parts of Alberta. And he admits there are still areas where birding activity is under-reported.
“We're well-connected with birders across the province,” says David. “So, if we had questions, we could reach out and ask, ‘does this species occur here, or does it not?’ There are some parts of the province where we have very little data, so we can never have complete data.”
The new guide was released on May 12. It quickly became a number‑one Amazon bestseller and sold out its entire first print run. So far, David says it seems to be a hit… although he can also be his own worst critic.
“Any field guide is going to have its strengths and drawbacks, that there's only so much space for photos and information,” David says. “There are some things you'd like to include that you can't. But the feedback I've heard is very positive. Folks have said it’s helpful and beautiful, and that's been great to hear.”
If you join one of his adventures, you might be lucky enough to relive a rare David discovery!
“A few years ago, I was in Peenaquim Park when I found Alberta’s first Tundra Bean-Goose. It’s a bird typically found in Eurasia. So, in terms of my ‘favourite’ bird, just for the rarity of seeing it, I would go with the Tundra Bean-Goose.”
As he looks ahead to the book launch, David is less focused on accolades and more on what the guide might spark in others.
“There's an important social aspect of birding,” he says. “Sharing the love of birds with others and doing it together. That’s one thing that brought me to birding and keeps me birding!”