On this episode of Appalachian Outdoorosity, Dr. Joy James, a professor in App State's Department of Recreation Managment and Physical Education, interviews App State Biology Alumna, Adrianna Nelson about her passion for birding. 

Show Notes

https://today.appstate.edu/2020/06/26/nelson

http://ww.appalachianaudubon.org/

https://highcountryaudubon.org/

https://www.inaturalist.org/

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

https://www.citizenscience.gov/

The Big Year -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/

Transcript

 Becki Battista

Welcome to Appalachian Outdoorosity, where we encourage you to get outside and keep going outside. Here we will share Appalachian State stories that entertain, inspire and inform listeners about living an active outdoor lifestyle. Each episode features a story with the goal to get you outside and keep you going outside to improve your overall wellness. This podcast is presented by The Hope Lab, where our purpose is to investigate the role of outdoor physical activity, exercise and play on health, environment and human development.  The vision of the Hope Lab is to continue developing the foundation for promoting and supporting outdoor physical activity, exercise and play through interdisciplinary research. Feel free to check us out at hopelab.appstate.edu. Hi, my name is Becky Battista and I am a professor in Exercise Science at Appalachian State University and a self-proclaimed physical activity addict. I'm your host for the Appalachian Outdoorosity Podcast today. On today's episode, team member Dr. Joy James, a professor and recreation management, interviews App State Alumni Adriana Nelson. Adriana tells us how her curiosity of birds shaped her outdoor experiences and interests in Appalachian State University.



Joy James

We're here with Adriana Nelson, who is a biology major at App State. Adriana, what I'm going to do is have you introduce yourself. Tell where you're from, why Appalachian State University, why you're here. And then if you could tell us about your favorite outdoor activity.



Adrianna Nelson

Okay. Yeah. So, I'm Adriana and I'm from Bristol, Tennessee. So, it's just kind of on the other side of the mountains. I picked Appalachian for several reasons. One, I wanted to be a biology major and App State offered a concentration in ecology, which is really what I want to focus in. So that was nice and I really wanted to do that.

And one of the professors here also does work with birds, which is kind of my...that's my big thing. And of course, I liked all the outdoor activities right in Boone and the nearby areas. I came for the mountains like everybody else did.



Joy James

For people who might not be familiar with what your activity is, what do you call it?



Adrianna Nelson

So, I am a birder and some people say bird watcher, but the serious people say birding, they're birders.



Joy James

I wanted that clarification because sometimes I think my mom, she's a bird watcher, she has the feeders up. And so how is a birder different than my mother who watches birds?



Adrianna Nelson

I think it just depends maybe on your own definition of it, but I like to actually go out and look for different birds at different times of year that might be migrating through or breeding. And I like to look at their different behaviors. It's more of a whole inclusive activity where you look at different parts of their life cycles and you’re more serious about it instead of just casually watching what may come to your yard.



Joy James

Gotcha. As you and I were joking before the interview, we called you a bird nerd. Yeah, that's an appropriate word to use. And you would honor that. That's not an insult.



Adrianna Nelson

Yeah, it's not an insult.



Joy James

All right. So how did you first get interested in the outdoors?



Adrianna Nelson

Well, I think I've always been interested in the outdoors for as long as I can remember. When I was really young, I rode horses, so I wanted to be a horse trainer for a while. But I also watched a lot of, like, Animal Planet and National Geographic. So, I also wanted to be like a safari explorer. So, I've always really been interested in wildlife for as long as I can remember

So that's how I'm tied to the outdoors, at least initially, and with birds specifically...When I was nine, it was the middle of winter and I saw this bird outside that I didn't recognize and I knew a lot of the common ones in our yard, like a cardinal and a blue jay and all that. But I didn't know what this one was just a little gray and white bird.

And I also thought all birds migrated to Florida in winter, which is not true. So, I was really confused why this one was here. So, I looked it up and I found out that it was a bird called a Dark-eyed junco. And I kind of got hooked on it because when I was searching for it online, I saw all these other birds that I could find in my area and that I haven't seen before. And I thought I was some expert on wildlife. And then here are all these tons of birds I didn't know. So that kind of got me hooked.



Joy James

Well, so you literally looked it up on the Internet. There was no book that you used or anything like that?



Adrianna Nelson

Right. Yeah.



Joy James

That's really cool. You know, I'm not a birder. I enjoy and I am probably a bird watcher, but I'll go out with birders and kind of get that experience. And what I remember when I first got into it was having to look at the book and I couldn't hear the sounds of the birds. So, now with technology, it really has advanced to the point that, like you said as a young person, you're like, ‚ “Wow! There's all this stuff out there I didn't know.”



Adrianna Nelson

Now I have tons of bird books, but that was before I got into it. And there is a lot online, so it was easy to figure it out.



Joy James

Well and I think, yeah, that's a great point. You know, the online kind of introduces you and then as you dive deeper into your interest area. You probably do go get books and magazines and other things on it as well as still look at stuff online. The big thing for me that was interesting about birders is like how do they find out when the snowy owl was out, when it wasn't supposed to be out and there's like this whole network?



Joy James

And now I think it's even more expedited because you can see online where the sighting was if you know the right people are talking.

 

Adrianna Nelson

Yeah, we definitely have a good network going. I mean, it's something where says, you know, we can send an email out. We have listservs for different areas like at home. I have one for the Bristol region and there's one here in the High Country. And you know, you can hear about rarities just like that.



Joy James

So yeah, it's just amazing how connected your birding community is. We know birding is your favorite outdoor activity. Do you have any other favorite outdoor activities that you do?



Adrianna Nelson

Yeah. So, I like to sometimes start hiking in with birding. And even if I don't see a lot of birds, I just, you know, I like to go out and hike a lot of the places around here. There are so many places to go. So that's one thing I enjoy. And I also like kayaking.



Joy James

And is it flat water or whitewater kayaking that you do?



Adrianna Nelson

I like flat water.



Joy James

There's lots of good ways to see birds that way, too.



Adrianna Nelson

Yeah, that's true.



Joy James

And this is a side question. Have you ever found birding has gotten you into an activity that you wouldn't have normally gotten into because you want to go see the bird? Has that ever happened to you? It's a side question because sometimes I find with people who are kind of animal nerds, they may not be outdoorsy, but with their passion for the animal, they'll go camping. They'll go rock climbing. Yeah, you've seen it. People who are biologists go rock climbing for lichen and they're not necessarily rock climbers, but they learn it so they can go see and collect the samples that they're looking for. So, I'm always curious to see how biologists, you know...is it the the interest that drives them or is it the recreational activity that got them interested? Usually, it's the interest that drives you guys.



Adrianna Nelson

Usually, it's literal driving that I do. I drive a lot in my car to go to all these places.



Joy James

That makes sense! What's a... when you said you combine birding with hiking, how does that combine? Are you bringing gear with you or you just hiking? What does that entail?



Adrianna Nelson

Well, whenever I go hiking, I always end up bringing my binoculars and my cameras anyway. So, it does end up usually turning more into birdwatching that it does just straight hiking. But like I went to the profile trail once to hike to the top and I really was just going to hike and see it because I hadn’t gone on it before at that point.

And of course, there's like Pine Siskins that fly over and Crossbills and all that other stuff. So, they blend together. I hike to go see birds too.



Joy James

So,