Birdwatching
From LoveToKnow Seniors
Birdwatching combines a nature hike, a social event, a picnic, and other fun activities all in one. With the mental stimulation that birding provides from the beauty and wonder of these creatures, you will enjoy a hobby that fulfills the mind, body, and spirit.
Birder vs. Birdwatcher
What’s the difference? Dedication. A birdwatcher is considered a casual hobbyist by a birder, who delves into the science on many levels. Birders will take big trips specifically designed to catalog birds or help with conservation efforts. Birdwatchers often enjoy scouting for birds while hiking, or setting up desired habitats in their garden or backyard.
Don’t worry about the labels and do what comes naturally.
Tools You Need for Birdwatching
Unlike many other hobbies, you can pick up birdwatching right away. It’s a skill that you develop as you go, becoming more adept at spotting creatures in their environment, deciphering body structure, wing cuts, songs, the difference in beaks, molting, migration patterns, and other key elements.
Here are some tools to get started.
Binoculars
Pick a pair with a magnification to enhance, not strain, your eyesight, and with comfortable lenses that rest easily against the eyes or glasses. Also note that most birdwatchers want a focus option of 10 feet or less. It might be helpful to stop by a local camera shop or sporting goods store first to examine a few pairs. Then, if you like, you can shop online through websites like Binoculars.com or buy your set in-store.
An average pair costs $100, but price will vary depending on features. Aficionados also use telescopes and digital cameras to capture their sightings.
Birding book
These run the gamut. There are state- or region-specific guides, country-based, good portable field books, and bird-specific varieties.
If you’re exploring fields and trails near home, contact your state’s department of natural resources to request birding materials and find out when they host free lectures on indigenous wildlife. Many beginners also rely on the Golden Field Guides’ Birds of North America, which has helpful maps, song recognition phonetics, gender and generational plumage guides, and, best of all, fits into a coat pocket.
As your intention grows, you might want to spend a few winter nights curled up with National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. At nearly 500 pages, it’s not the best book to tuck into a backpack, but you can do research to take into the field later.
Notebook
Your personal preference will dictate the type of notebook you need for recording birdwatching information. Pick up one for 89-cents at the drugstore, or splurge on a multi-pocketed version to store pictures, plant samples, and other tidbits.
Outdoor prep gear
Don’t go wandering without a good sunscreen, hat, and environmentally-friendly bug spray. It’s better to wear light khaki pants rather than shorts to traipse over the fields and through the woods, but let personal comfort direct you on this. Pick a walking shoe that fits and breathes well.
Birding Travel
Many of the large birdwatching organizations organize great travel trips all over the United States and the world.
Field Guides specializes in exotic tours to locales such as Thailand, Trinidad, and Brazil. There are a few prime locations in America as well.
Wings is another birding-specific travel guide service. Their tour operations span the globe. This site also features stunning bird pictures.
Whether hiking in a local woods or canvassing Argentina, birding is best done following migration patterns and within natural habitats, so your options for birding travel are extensive.
Read About a Great Birder
Many consider Phoebe Snetsinger the world’s premier birder. She classified more than 8,000 species and possibly thousands more subspecies. Researchers still use her notes and photographs to gain a better understanding of wildlife.
The book Birding on Borrowed Time tells of her desire to continue birding while battling melanoma in the early 1980s. She died on a birdwatching expedition in Madagascar in 1999 at the age of 68.
Learn More
Check out the American Birding Association, Bird Life International, Surfbirds, and The Nature Conservancy to understand the passion of birding.
Also, identify birds by listening to their songs and calls with help from Naturesongs.com.
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