Lifer Birds

What Is a Lifer Bird?

The term lifer refers to a bird species when it is first seen and positively identified by Lise or I. A bird can only be a lifer the very first time it is seen by either of us. We have chosen to only count birds we see (and not by ear; we're not really  proficient at identifying bird species by song).

Getting New Lifers

Like many birders, we sometimes travel to birding festivals, take birding tours, or go to locations where rare or vagrant species have been seen and reported in an attempt to add lifers to our list. This is also possible by staying aware of local vagrant sightings , using messaging apps such as Discord or Signal, or eBIrd, and taking steps to see those new or rare birds whenever possible.