Founding the Utah County Birders

Utah County, where Provo is located, had a functioning Audubon chapter that depended on the efforts of one individual, who had a difficult time sharing the club responsibilities. When he was laid-off and moved in 1991, there was no one willing to pick up the pieces, so Utah County was without a birding club for several years, during which time I became interested in birding. During a period of high stress and long overtime hours, I sought relief by forming the Utah County Birders, starting with a small group of people interested in watching birds with other like-minded individuals. After 3 years, I was able to stop leading the club, and the club was able to get a normal President. Please see the Utah County Birders web page. I wrote a monthly column for 5 years for the UCB Newsletter, named Robin"s View, of which a copy is maintained on this site. I write additional articles every now and then which I publish here in the Journals section.

I built the Utah County Birders on one over-arching concept, which is 'If I want to do something, chances are that others will want to do it too.' With this in mind, I hired instructors, held classes and sponsored field trips. One of the things I did that was quite successful was to hold a Birding Contest. This first contest, held in 1996 was a hit among the bird club members and gave reason for many of us to better our birding skills. In fact, the contest proved so successful that I sponsored three more; in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

Utah County Breeding Bird Atlas Experiment

As is documented elsewhere on this web page, I conducted an experimental Breeding Bird Atlas project involving the Utah County Birders. I set up a statistical sampling of survey squares for Utah, then asked for volunteers to survey them in 2003, following guidelines I copied from other state BBA projects. The project was a partial success, and I am continuing the experiment in 2004, opening the remainder of the state to interested birders in all parts of the state.