Like others here i very much enjoyed this interview with Chris Rutkowski. The following is part of a personal e-mail i sent to Micah Hanks regarding Mr. Rutkowski's remarks on birding.
Birdwatchers constitute and create valuable resources which apply directly to the study of many paranormal and especially cryptozoological events. This topic has been on my mind for quite a while now and Chris R's intelligent take on this topic got me motivated to start writing.
"Just beginning to listen to the paracast and very happy to hear Chris Rutkowski's comments on birding. I bird, during my 30's i was bird-obsessed (fantastic times), and i've been thinking about how this discipline applies to study of the strange for a couple of years now. First, addressing Schaeffer's crack about 'there's no trained observer school'. I've not heard of one, but all science related to observation of animal behaviour involves a fair amount of training. People who make observations at
raptor migration observatories and
migratory bird observatories all get training, some very intensive. That training is what allows them to identify birds by species, sex, and age (for starters). I volunteered for a a
bird breeding atlas one year and we received plenty of training on bird identification, various behaviours to look for, how to document these breeding-related behaviours to insure consistency in the database, etc.
The same applies to all animal behaviour sciences, not to mention the training involved in observation in astronomy, oh! and the medical sciences. When you have an MRI or ultrasound the techs do not just give you the films and send you on your way, since anyone can read them and know exactly what they are looking at
/snark. No, they have a trained observer examine them and produce a report.
I asked one ultrasound tech about this while i was being examined, the screen always looks just random to me. She let me know that a few months into her training she despaired of every being able to get the hang of it! But she stuck with it and soon things clicked.
It took training and experience to be able to make accurate observations.
Which brings us back to birders. There's around 3 million active birders in the USA. All of these people have some degree of knowledge about the local flora and fauna - which critters hang out, in what environment, what time of year. There is a dedicated core of birders who spend at least 4-6 hours every week birding at a minimum. Many keep detailed notes. Some bird the same area every week for years. I've always thought that these dedicated observers would be incredibly valuable to any investigator of paranormal or especially cryptid events. The key would be to find the obsessive birder in the area of the occurrence. Which seems daunting as hell!
But cryptologists are not the only persons interested in these Obsessive Birders. Other birders also want to know about them, their doings, and most fascinatingly what they observe. This is where two important resources come in. The first is
the newsletter of your local Audubon Society. Every issue has a section reporting rare and interesting observations, along with the initials of the observer for each incident as well as location.
In this issue, it's "Observations" on page three. The initials are keyed with the person's name at the end of the report. Taking a look through back issues will give an investigator a good overview of who would be likely to know about unusual animals in the area of investigation.
The other resource is the rare bird alert. And Micah, we have a synch! i just searched 'rare bird alert' and found out that Steve Martin, noted banjo-player mentioned by Chris O'Brien when last you were on the paracast,
made an album called 'Rare Bird Alert'! i had no idea he was a birder (or is close to one).
*** Anyways,
the rare bird alert system is used by birders to notify each other of rare/unusual birds showing up in unexpected places, so that Obsessive Birders can go see those birds and get them on their life lists. In order not to waste people's time, the locations are pretty flippin' specific (as many hosts to small, rare birds have found to their dismay - who wants their quiet home invaded by a bunch of binocular-wielding, safari-dressed hobbyists 'psshing' incessantly, especially at dawn and dusk when birds are most active).
I am sure i do not need to point out the usefulness of this resource to anyone interested in investigating cryptids. I remember Elliot of Mysterious Universe 'explaining' a large, black winged critter sighting in the Eastern US by looking into a bird guide and seeing Andean Condors had been reported in the US....well, he reasoned, they can fly - bingo, that's what those people saw!
Of course, to be seen in that location that very unusual and rare (and incredibly easy to spot, being black, big and flying in clear daytime skies) bird would have had to cross the entire continental US. Every birder worth their salt would have been on high alert, burning up the lines (phone and net!) documenting its location, duration in each spot, etc. i order to get the less than once in a lifetime chance to see this bird flying wild. Now if all of that happened, that mysterious critter case would have been solved. If it didn't....that mysterious critter remains so. Interested parties now know to pore through the relevant Audubon Society Newsletters and rare bird alert records in order to find out.
I would be more than happy to discuss any of this with anyone interested in pursuing these resources as part of their investigations. Of course, as these 'repeat birders' spend lots of time in various wild areas they are also invaluable fonts of wisdom on other creatures in the area, as well as geology, weather, history - you name it! Being people, some are friendlier than others, but so many are very passionate about birds that they love any opportunity to discuss it."
*** i like to keep track of synchronicities as a matter of principle. After i sent this note to Micah, i pulled out a box of fabric i'd just received via online order - sitting in this box was a length of fabric from the Marcy Tilton website which she'd dubbed '
Steve Martin' stripe. And i'm listening now to the Ben Radford interview at 17 minutes in - more banjo talk!
Hope you find this of interest, steph
. It was also interesting to hear C.R. talk about abductions. He was able to maintain his reserved approach while at the same time imparting the point that there is something truly strange going on, and that it doesn't deserve to be entirely dismissed. Chris Rutkowski is a credit to the ufology community, his support for other serious ufologists was a classy move, and I hope that he stays active in the field for many years to come. Great show 
!
. Anyway, I hope you have a very rewarding time on the forum. There are some really good folks here 
