For 28 years Cameron Cox, the owner and instructor for Avocet Birding Courses, has been passionate about learning about birds and bird identification. Throughout his twenties he traversed the United States doing bird research fieldwork that allowed him to immerse himself in the study of the birds of North America. It was during this period that he began to question the standard narrative around bird identification
that centers on the “Field Mark” as the be-all-end-all of bird identification. Years of searching for answers of how birders identify birds rapidly and accurately eventually led to a new approach in birding, borrowed from seemingly unrelated disciplines, which uses using the techniques that top performers like professional athletes and world-class chefs use to excel. Even more answers were found in the research of scientists studying the human mind, particularly in the fields of cognitive psychology and decision-making. Out of this study, Cameron has sculpted a different way of approaching and teaching bird identification that forms the underpinning of all the Avocet Birding Courses workshops and tours.