Just like with many other communities birding has certain terms or slang that is used to describe various things here are some of the most commonly used ones that I have heard our that I use

• Bins: Short for Binoculars

• Birding : Used by people in the community, usually used interchangeably with “ Birdwatching” thought often used for people more invested in it

• Birdwatching : Often used interchangeably with “birding” and often used by people not in the community

• Chasing : To chase after a rare bird, this involves driving to see the bird

• County List : The list of every bird species that someone has seen in a certain county

• Dipping : To “dip” is to miss seeing a rare bird

• EBird: A online database that allows birders to keep lists of birds they have seen, allows scientists, researchers, and regular birders access to a large amount of date (ie. keep track of their life list, show range maps, etc) is is global

• Mega: A very rare bird for a particular region

• Nemesis Bird: A bird species that a birder has missed multiple times in areas it should be

• Patch: An area often close to a birders home or work that they often bird (ie. a park)

• Lifer: The first time a birder has ever seen a certain species of bird

• Life List: The list of every bird species a birder has seen in there life often kept either automatically in eBird or in a journal

• Rare Bird Alert (RBA): Often used through various messaging apps or groups to let , birders in a particular area known of a rare bird, this is done on a county, state, and even national level

• State List: A list of all the birds a birder has seen in a particular state

• Stringing : When a birder makes up sightings of rare birds, if they get caught there reputation in the community is severely tarnished

• Pishing : A sound birders make that can help draw songbirds closer to them

• Tick : When you get species of bird for a list (ie. life, state, etc) you can ‘tick’ it of your list to say you have seen it in that area

• Twitching: A birder whose main focus is getting there various lists as high as possible often chasing as many species as they can as frequently as they can

• Vagrant : A bird that has been thrown of from its usual migrating, breeding, or wintering area

• Year List: A list of all the birds a birder has seen in a year