Duluth teacher quit his job and changed birding in the state

Birding in Minnesota changed forever when Kim Eckert quit teaching, put his dog in his car, and moved to Duluth.

There, he created two tools that have defined the sport of birding for almost 40 years: statewide tours and an extremely detailed book.

Eckert, 70, came from Illinois to attend St. John's University in St. Joseph, Minn. He got his degree, became a teacher and grew bored. He quit to move to Duluth, known then — and now — as the best place to bird in the state.

"I was broke for a couple of years," he said, "living off savings and part-time jobs like substitute teaching and bird surveys."

Things changed in 1979, when he began what has become a popular touring business, Minnesota Birding Weekends (MBW). Since then, he's led more than 400 weekend tours in all 87 Minnesota counties, as well as 100 weeklong trips in other states. (Eckert also has guided birding trips throughout North America for a national tour company.) This year, MBW (mbw birds.com) will sponsor 15 birding trips to the North Shore and more than 20 counties.

For his early Minnesota trips, birders traveled in car caravans held together with the latest technology — CB radios.

But his trips were — and continue to be — popular for the simple reason that he finds birds. If you had been on all of his Minnesota trips, you could have seen 362 different species.

"In all my 42 years of birding," said Laura Erickson, "I've never met a birder who is more consistently helpful in making sure as many people as possible get to see the birds they're looking for."

And Erickson, a Duluth birder and author whose books are nationally known, is no slouch herself.

The amazing low price of Eckert's trips is another reason for their popularity. Participants pay for lodging and meals, nothing fancy in either regard. Birders can enjoy a two-day trip for $40 and expenses.

Another plus: No matter the route, every birding trip is unique.

I went birding with Eckert several times in the '80s, both in-state and out.

On one trip, a variety of gulls loafed on a breakwater in the Grand Marais harbor. There they were, 50 varying shades of gray, and Eckert could name them all. He could even tell about how old each was. No simple task.

On a trip in Texas he heard a snippet of a bird song while he was driving. He identified the sound, turned the van around and showed the bird we had whizzed past. At night, he drove along country roads that ran between farm fields. He was steering with his right hand, holding a spotlight with a lens as large as a saucer out of the window with his left hand. The spotlight would catch barn owls hunting over the fields. For many of us, a barn owl was a "life bird," a bird we hadn't seen before.

Mild of manner, he keeps order on his tours, just as he likely had in the classroom. And he has rules. No one is allowed to hog the best seat in the van. He insists upon a rotation. Everyone also gets a chance to see a bird he's located with his spotting scope. If you've never seen the bird before, you get to go first.

Eventually, Eckert started writing. "The Birder's Guide to Minnesota" was born of the detailed notes Eckert made on his trips. There are other sources of birding information today, but nothing comes close to the depth and accuracy of Eckert's guide.

The first edition appeared in the 1970s, the fourth in 2002. The book has everything you need to know about birding here. The maps are detailed down to the township level. The text is stylish and witty. Unfortunately, it's also out of print and can be hard to find. (Try a used book site, such as abebooks.com, alibris.com or betterworldbooks.com.) I recommend the fourth edition, if you can find it.

Is he thinking about a fifth edition of what he often calls "the damn book"?

"I'm thinking about it," Eckert said.

He's also written a collection of essays published as "Birding by Hindsight." The book, which he subtitled "A Second Look at Bird Identification," contains 70 updates on the what, where and why of birding.

Eckert holds the record for seeing the most bird species in Minnesota — 411. Without leaving the state, he has seen more than 40 percent of all bird species recorded in North America.

He has worked at Hawk Ridge, the Duluth hawk-watching site, and has been active for years in the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

After seeing North America from top to bottom and coast to coast, guess what's his favorite place to bird?

"Anything on the prairie," he said. "Probably, Blue Mounds State Park will always be my favorite."

Read Jim Williams' birding blog at startribune.com/wingnut.