DSU Professor co-authors book on Birds of South Dakota

Jeff Palmer shares his love of birds in a book

Dakota State University professor of Natural Sciences, Jeffrey Palmer recently co-authored a book, “Birds of South Dakota.” The book covers over 400 species of birds that have been seen in the state and is published by the South Dakota Ornithologist Union.

Palmer says he’s been a bird watcher for 30 years and has been working on the book for the past three. The book is a collaboration of research between Palmer, Dan Tallman and David Swanson.

Palmer got the idea to work on the book when he was the season reports compiler of South Dakota Bird Notes, a quarterly publication.

“The group of birders in the state got very active,” Palmer said. “There was new information collected through the seasonal reports so we decided to revise the second edition of the book. It just grew from there.”

Palmer has been involved with the South Dakota Ornithologist Union since moving to the state in 1991. He has served as President and Vice President of the organization and has served time on the Board of Directors and currently serves on the Rare Bird Records committee. He knows where to search to find birds.

“I’ve been in every nook and cranny in South Dakota,” Palmer said with a grin. “There are lots of fascinating places.”

Palmer says the best place to go bird watching in South Dakota is the Black Hills and his favorite local spot is Lake Herman State Park. He also enjoys Newton Hills Park, located south of Canton, the area around Lake Thompson and the Pierre area. Palmer goes bird watching all day long every Saturday.

The best experience Palmer has had in the field came in the late 1980’s in the Salmo-Priest Wilderness area of Washington State, located in the extreme Northeast corner next to the Canada and Idaho borders.

“A group of us were looking at Boreal Chickadees in Spruce trees one day in late May or early June,” recalled Palmer. “When off in the distance a Boreal Owl started to call. It has a really cool call. They don’t usually call in the day and it took us two hours to figure out which tree the call was coming from, then another half hour to find the owl in the tree. It’s my all-time favorite bird to see.”

Palmer’s best bird watching experience in South Dakota came in the summer of 1996.

“It was August 19, 1996 in Red Bird Canyon on the extreme western edge of Custer County next to the Wyoming border,” Palmer recalled. “It was there I saw a Virginia’s Warbler. It’s one thing to find a rare bird, but we found a whole nesting population.”

The Virginia’s Warbler was an unknown species in South Dakota until Palmer’s discovery. Because of the sighting, Palmer and his colleagues were awarded a grant to document the population.

Palmer has had five first sightings in South Dakota. In order, he was the first to document the state sightings of a Pacific Loon, a Harlequin Duck, the Virginia’s Warbler, an Arctic Tern and a Purple Gallinule.

“Bird watching has a competitive nature to it,” said Palmer. “It’s a friendly competition with other bird watchers, comparing your life list, state list, year list and Big Day list.”

The Big Day list refers to a competition Palmer participates in every May after graduation. The competition lasts for 24 hours and participants can go anywhere in the state to see as many species of birds as possible.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do,” said Palmer about the annual Big Day. “It takes place from midnight to midnight.”

Palmer teams up with Robb Schenck to form the team “Extreme Birders.” The two of them currently hold the Big Day state record of 170 species sighted. Their route takes them from Newton Hills to Madison to De Smet to Pierre all in one day.

“It’s a blast,” added Palmer. “We do a lot of driving, walking and hiking that day.”

Palmer’s fascination with birds began after a stint with frogs and toads in Central City, IA when he was 10-12 years of age.

“I was sitting on the couch all afternoon and evening determined to think of something to do outdoors,” recalled Palmer. “Then the idea came to me, ‘I’ll keep a bird list.’ From then on whenever I went fishing I would take binoculars. I put a feeder in my back yard. I would walk up and down the railroad tracks looking for birds.”

Palmer said when he first started bird watching it was a long tedious process.

“It was kind of frustrating at first,” Palmer said. “I would look up things in my field guide, but I wasn’t sure if I saw this or that.”

Now, after spending nearly every Saturday for the last 30 years watching birds, Palmer has learned the art of patience. He knows what he sees and doesn’t need his field guide to tell him. He cherishes the experiences he’s had and has realized the importance of life.

“Watching birds for the past thirty years has taught me that there are more important things in life than work,” Palmer said.

Palmer resides in Madison with his wife Deanna of 18 years and his two sons, Joshua (12) and Caleb (9).

A book signing will take place Thursday, December 5 in the DSU Karl Mundt Library from 4-6pm.