There’s just about no more popular outdoors hobby than watching birds. There are so many of us who have watched the birds in our gardens or at the city parks, raise and support their families. But every once in a while we have the urge to escape beyond these limited confines and go out into the wild to watch birds in their native habitats.
If you haven’t been on a bird watching outing before, the following tips will give you a good basic foundation of necessities you will need in order to best enjoy your time in the outdoors.
1) Many times, in the wild, before you see a bird, you’ll hear it. If you want to improve your skills as a bird watcher, a good way to begin is to learn the sounds that the birds you are interested in make. The more time you spend in the field watching birds, the better you will become at learning to recognize the different mating calls and vocalizations made by your favorite birds. To hone up on your skills you can actually purchase CD recordings of the bird calls of literally thousands of birds. Use these to practice identifying different species by their songs and sounds.
2) Next, you’ll have to become an expert at identifying the kinds of shelter and trees that your bird species gravitates towards. This is key to being able to locate their nests and to set up your stakeout. Some prefer to build their nests close to the ground, while others will find the topmost branches of a tree to build their home.
3) What time of the day do your favorite birds like to eat? If you want the best chance of spotting your bird species, you have to know this. The majority of species choose to start looking for food just before sunrise and will continue up to noon. Some, however, are late risers and prefer to start later in the day. These you’ll find just beginning to be active before sunset.
4) Probably, one of the most essential pieces of apparatus that will come in handy for you is a spotting scope with a tripod. A regular telescope won’t do as you’ll become frustrated very quickly with it. You need a scope with the proper level of magnification. As birding as become more and more popular, it’s become easier to find many brands of birding binoculars made specifically for bird watchers.
Begin your outing with these tips and you’ll have built a good foundation for the rest of your birdwatching career.
Ken Lawless writes articles concerning blue bird houses / boxes, wooden bird houses, and bird house plans which you can find on his website.
Tags: bird watching, birding, birds, birdwatching