Birding for Bruce

By Doug Hitchcox Fellow birders, I am asking you to participate in a very specialevent this week. As many of you mayalready know, Bruce Barker has beenfighting a tough battle against a rare and very aggressive cancer.Sadly, treatmentshave been unsuccessful and he is currently in home hospice and not able to havevisitors. However, a plan has been hatched for the Maine birding community to letBruce know we areall thinking of him and show our appreciation for all he hasdone by taking him birding vicariouslywith us over the next week. With theblessing of Bruces family, we have set up an eBird account namedBirding ForBruce (username: BirdingForBruce) that we hope you will all share any birdingyou dofrom 10-15 July. Our goal is to collectively make a big contribution ofchecklists and breeding recordsduring this time period, and at the end of the weeksummarize our observations in a final write up toshare with Bruce so he cansee the places, species, and breeding codes we were able to document in hishonor. Bruce has been a tremendously helpful member of our community.From birding with him onMonhegan, co-leading walks for the Acadia BirdingFestival, or chasing rare birds in Penobscot County,Ill absolutely miss hiscompany. He has always been the kind of birder to go beyond his own pursuitsinhelping others see their targets I can vividly remember him assistingunstable festival participantsaboard the Friendship V trying to spot theirlifer Common Murres among the hundred-plus Razorbillson Petit Manan. Brucewouldnt give up on pointing out those birds until everyone was happy and Ihope we can raise his spirits a bit by helping him bird this week. Ive been amazed to learn his reach beyond the birding communityand what an impact he had as apioneer of Karate in Maine. Those peers starteda Facebook page where his students, friends andcolleagues have shared thoughtsand images(facebook.com/groups/174990016481077/) and also a GoFundMepage set up to raisemoney to help Bruce and his family with medical expensesand support:gofundme.com/bruce-barkersfight-against-cancer Bruce has also been an avid eBirder, having submitted over 2000checklists in the last few years, andwas planning on being a big part of theMaine Bird Atlas. He had volunteered to be a regionalcoordinator but had tostep back when his health began deteriorating. Again, please consider sharingany eBird and Maine Bird Atlas checklists from now until July 15th with the username: BirdingForBruce. Here are instructions on sharing lists if this is new to you:https://help.ebird.org/customer/portal/articles/1010555-understanding-the-ebird-checklist-sharing-process Thank you and may your positive thoughts be with Bruce, his wifeSharon, and his family. -Doug Hitchcox