Harold Eyster stands behind his house in Lima Township with his field notebook and binoculars. The 16-year-old was recently named the American Birding Association's Young Birder of the Year.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Most people may not notice the birds in their own yards. But Harold Eyster says they're just not looking very closely.

“Most people think, ‘There are no birds in my yard, I have to go somewhere else.’ But I constantly see eagles and cardinals and robins, and bright blue indigo buntings,” said the 16-year-old Lima Township resident.

The indigo bunting is one bird that most people say they have never seen, Eyster said, but he has and knows they are around.“If you really look, it’s amazing what you see,” he said, adding that a couple of weeks ago, he saw a Marsh Wren, an unusual sighting for his neighborhood.

Eyster’s eye for birding recently earned him the distinction of the American Birding Association’s Young Birder of the Year. The contest is open to residents in Canada and all 50 states.

To enter, he submitted writings about birding, illustrations of different birds, photos of birds and sketches and notes in a fieldbook journal. His illustrations included drawings of a sandhill crane and a red-shouldered hawk being mobbed by northern mockingbirds.

“I like to sit in one spot while watching the birds. When I get to draw it the whole time (while watching the birds) I really enjoy it,” he said, adding if he feels that the bird might leave before he is done drawing it, he takes notes about where the colors are, so he can fill it in later.

“I’ve won individual parts of the contest before, but this time, I was the overall birder of the year,” he said. His prizes included birding books, and a pair of binoculars.

Eyster has also entered other contests, including the Big Half-Day Birding Contest in northwest Ohio’s Magee Marsh, which recently won him a 10-day trip to look at birds in Ecuador.

Sponsored by the Tropical Birding Tours and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, the contest ran from 6 a.m. to noon and challenged its contestants to see as many types of birds as possible during that time.

“Me and another person saw 99 birds,” said Eyster, who added he plans to take the voyage to Ecuador in February, when it is still the rainy season there, which will allow him to see the birds still nesting. During the breeding season, the birds are more likely to sing, making them easier to find.

“I expect to see brightly colored and not-so-brightly colored birds that I haven’t seen before,” said Eyster. “Ecuador has a very large diversity of birds, though it’s a small country.”

Eyster didn’t seriously consider himself a birder until one day in the winter of 2002, when he looked out at his birdfeeder and saw a bird that he didn’t recognize.

“I looked at the bird (markings) and finally identified it as an American tree sparrow,”. “They breed farther north, but they winter down here.”

Eyster is homeschooled, though he takes math and science from Chelsea High School this year. His parents are Jason Eyster and Diana Newman. He is one of four siblings.

“They are not as much into birding as I am,” Eyster said.

He said that when he grows up he wants to have a job that will incorporate the study and drawing of birds.

“Hopefully something outside,” he said. “I don’t know what that will be … Maybe an illustrator.”

His talent for birding has taken him to China, Costa Rica and Colorado to look at birds, but said he has seen about 160 species of birds on his family’s 10-acre property.

One of his most memorable birding experiences occurred on a day when he was refilling the birdfeeder one winter.

“The birdfeeder was getting covered with snow. I heard a strange sound, and saw bright red birds sitting on top of the spruce tree. I grabbed the binoculars. They were white-winged crossbills,” said Eyster, adding that this species usually breeds far north in Canada.

“But this was an eruption year - a lot of crossbills were born the previous year, so they moved south, looking for food,” he said. He reported the rare birds to other birders, and many came to his house to see them.

He goes to see birds all over, and recently visited Point Mouillee on the Huron River Delta, where he spotted 21 species of shorebirds, including some considered rare in the area, including the buff-breasted sandpiper.

Eyster estimates he has seen around 550 species in his life.

“I don’t really know,” he added. “I don’t keep a running total, I like to just enjoy seeing them. I keep track but I don’t just look for a bird so I can check it off my checklist.”

Birding “gives you the chance to enjoy nature, to be outside. It gives you a challenge to put a name on the birds you see. You never know what you are going to see,”.

Alana West is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at 734-623-2530 or at news@annarbor.com.