This Kit is for the Birds!

An idea that just took off!

A few years ago, Karen Devitt from Bird Studies Canada had a brilliant idea! Create a Birdwatching Kit that people could borrow to go birdwatching and learn about birds. She got funding from MEC, the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Vancouver and Vortex Optics to buy the supplies for these kits.

Each kit, pictured below, contains:

• A pair of Vortex Crossfire high-quality binoculars with soft case
• The National Geographic Pocket Guide to the Birds of North America
• British Columbia Birds: A Folding Pocket Guide to Familiar Species
• A laminated birding guide with helpful tips and a backpack parts list
• A customer survey for your feedback

There was only enough funding for a few kits. Bird Studies Canada could lend them to people participating in their guided walks and for the annual Christmas Bird Counts that happen all across North America.

An interesting side story, the Christmas count was started in 1900 by Frank M Chapman, ornithologist and officer of the newly formed Audubon Society.

He developed it in response to a tradition prior to 1900 known as the Christmas “Side Hunt”. Hunters would choose sides and then go out and kill as…