Birds of the Appalachian Trail

A new logbook

I am pleased to be working on a new project – I should arrange to take a month to do my own artwork more often! My plans for my at-home self-led residency will go ahead, but just with the reassurance of some fun work to do in the background.

The last bespoke birdwatching logbook project I did was for The Rewilding Institute and their Mogollon Wildway project in New Mexico and Arizona. I learned a lot from doing that, and I feel confident about taking on this new one on the other side of the United States. Needless to say, all the birds are different but I can utilise the same sort of resources (field guides, YouTube, blogs) to get to know the birds of the east and north-east as opposed to the south and south-west of the country.

The Appalachian Trail – I’m pronouncing it Appal-ay-shun as my contact at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is from Boston and that’s how she says it! – is over 2000 miles long, and is the longest hiking-only trail in the world. Birding is a very popular pastime, whether undertaking a day hike, or tackling the whole trail. My logbooks will contain birds that can be seen in all 14 states, so will be suitable for anyone to use, from Maine at the top, to Georgia at the bottom, and everywhere in between. Birdwatching is apparently one of the most popular activities along the AT, particularly among seniors.

I’m really looking forward to learning about the birds. I have said before that these projects are a bit like a post-graduate qualification for me, and having the chance to become familiar with a whole load of species and habitats that I otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to explore is a big part of why I love the logbooks so much.

I have put together a rough list of what species I think might be included, and am waiting to hear back from the AT bird expert as to what they think. In the meantime I will carry on with the design of the logbook, and paint some scenery to go on the cover, the centre page spread, and the internal pages too. Here’s what I have done so far: