Lifers - Building a Birding Life List
In birding, a lifer is a bird that can be added to your birding life list. This is a master list of every single bird you have ever seen during your lifetime.
Many birding tours are touted as special "lifer" tours, giving people glimpses of elusive birds not found anywhere else in the world. Birders will literally fly around the world to track down one more bird to add to their list.
Many new birders are thrilled when they get their life list up to 50 or 100 birds. The higher you go, the harder it gets, because the birds that are left are often only found far away or in very remote locations. The work per lifer goes up exponentially.
Enthusiastic birders often get 500 birds on their life list after years of work. There are around 850 types of birds in North America, and around 9,000 around the world. There's a special club for birders who have spotted 600 birds or more.
If you're really hard core, there are competitions to see how many birds a person could see in a single year. In 2003, the top winner was the director of an eco-tourism company, who managed to see 2,714 species of birds in the single year!
If you're new to bird listing, it's good to start with your own state list. Be sure to check up on the list every year or two - bird populations do indeed move in and out of states!
State Bird Checklists
Birding Basics
Birding Tips and Photos
Birding Help Hints Tips and Information