If you don’t know your robins from your sparrows and couldn’t tell the
difference between a bird of prey and a seed-eater then this guide on
how to learn the basics of birdwatching is for you. When you
learn the basics of birdwatching you don’t only need a pair of
binoculars that you will use to spot birds in amongst trees and tall
grass - It is also especially helpful and rewarding to be able to
identify the families and species to which the birds you are studying
belong.
Knowing the name of your bird, and the family or group to which it
belongs, can tell you so much about its habits, food preferences, mating
behavior and nest building practices. This kind of information can be
helpful in understanding observed behavior like feeding or roosting,
pinpointing where you might find it at any given time as well as
understanding its behavior at different times of the year.
There are many techniques that may be used to make identifying bird
families and species a lot easier for the novice birdwatcher.
Before we get started it is important to remember that birdwatching is
supposed to be fun so if you are learning the basics of birdwatching
keep this in mind and don’t get too frustrated if it takes some time
getting to know the hundreds of birds in your area.
Two rules of thumb will help you in your task and they are:
1) Try to eliminate as many species as you can before you try to
determine what a particular bird is and;
2) Remember that the bird you are seeing is probably a common species in
the area and not likely to be the rarest available choice.
If you keep these two factors in mind your bird identification practice
will be more rewarding because choices are limited. Don’t make things
harder than they need to be. You may want it to be an exotic find but
chances are it won’t be. If you do get lucky it certainly is an occasion
to celebrate, however!
Using Your Birdwatching Field Guide
You will need to invest in a thorough field guide for your area or the
area in which you will be doing your birdwatching. Take a few
pencils along and an eraser too as well as a notepad in case you plan to
jot down any pertinent information such as where you saw the bird, what
it was eating or what is sounded like.
This can be especially helpful if you can’t find the bird in your field
guide and need to consult other books for identification. You can also
just make notes directly in your field guide as most birders do.
Keeping accurate notes is part of the basics of birdwatching.
Presuming you spot a bird whose name and family you don’t know - start
by marking all those that are rare in that range and therefore not
likely to be the mystery bird. This exercise will eliminate several
hundred species of birds making it easier to find the right one from
those that are left. The basics of birdwatching don’t require you
to be an expert first time out so you need a little helping hand from
time to time.
A second way in which to eliminate unlikely suspects is to consider the
season in which you have seen the bird. Field guides that include range
maps are an ideal tool for this purpose since they will tell you when a
particular bird might occur in your area.
If it is early winter for example and you know there are several birds
that are absent during this time mark them with colored dots and do the
same for year round residents and migrating birds. This will help you to
eliminate even more birds i.e. ones that are not likely to be in the
area at specific times of the year.
Clues for Identification
Birds can be pretty cagey customers and it may appear to you that they
are purposely avoiding being seen just to make your life difficult. The
truth is that birds are cautious and this is so that they can avoid
predators that may attack from the ground or air. They need to keep
pretty alert at all times.
You may only see the glimpse of a bill or the flash of a tail so how do
you set about identifying a bird you have only seen for a few seconds?
There are five tricks to bird identification that are going to
make your life a whole lot easier once you have learned and practiced
them. These tricks are based on the physical characteristics of the
bird.
1) The bird’s silhouette
2) The plumage and coloration
3) The bird’s behavior
4) Its choice of habitat or environment
5) Its call or ‘voice’
It may be possible to identify a bird using only one or two of
these features but other birds may prove to be more difficult. As you
learn the basics of birdwatching you will learn to focus on a particular
feature quickly and absorb it before the bird disappears.
1) Bird Silhouette
The size and shape of birds are important clues that can help in their
identification and it does become easier with time to pick out the right
shape or dimensions quickly. One of the ways in which bird families are
grouped is by their size and shape so it is a good tool to use early on
as you learn the basics of birdwatching.
Once you have done this your choice is easily narrowed down from
hundreds of possibilities to maybe 20 or 30 in the family you have
identified. You can then set about eliminating choices using the season
and rare species tools we discussed earlier.
Some useful clues to look at are whether the bird is large, small, short
or long legged, crested or not and plump or slim. Note in particular the
tail - is it short or long?
Bill shape can also be a valuable clue that you can observe from a
bird’s silhouette. Short, conical bills are found in cardinals, finches
and sparrows while woodpeckers sport chisel-shaped beaks. Hawks, eagles
and falcons have hooked bills that are sharp and strong for cutting
meaty prey.
Birds found along the shore have slender bills of all lengths to help
them dig in the sand.
The bird’s size can help you to identify it using the notes in your
field guides. A good rule of thumb is to keep the sizes of three kinds
of birds in mind: sparrows, mockingbirds and crows. If you know how
large these birds are you can then use them as a yardstick to compare
unidentified birds with.
2) Bird Plumage and Coloration
Birds have an array of beautiful feathers in some pretty magnificent
colors and these characteristics can help you identify them. Often it is
these pretty markings that get people interested to learn the basics
of birdwatching.
These distinctive colors and patterns are known in birding circles as
‘field marks’ and can be anything from breast spots, wing bars or lines
along the wings, eye rings, eyebrow lines or eyes lines (lines through
the eyes).
It is often best to observe these features while a bird is in the air,
but they may also be viewed while feeding or preening.
There are families of birds that can be sub-divided based on one or two
simple field marks such as warblers which have wingbars and those that
do not. Other birds like sparrows may be separated based on whether or
not the breast is streaked.
3) Bird Behavior
A study of the behavior of a bird is important as you learn the basics
of birdwatching and is also one of its more rewarding aspects. The way
in which a particular bird flies, eats or moves from branch to branch or
in flight is often a dead giveaway to its family or species.
Birds may be serious such as hawks and eagles or outgoing like crows and
jays. Some birds are unique in their behavior for example woodpeckers
who climb up tree trunks on the hunt for grubs and flycatchers like to
sit on an exposed branch waiting for flies to come within range of their
quick beaks, leaping off to have a snack and then returning to the same
spot. Clues like these can make identifying a mysterious bird easier and
are an essential part of the basics of birdwatching.
The way in which a bird holds and moves its tail can provide clues to
its identity. Wrens will hold their tails in a cocked position and
bounce from side to side. Spotted sandpipers and Louisiana waterthrushes
bounce their tails and rumps up and down while thrushes and flycatchers
move their tails often but in slow-motion.
Birds of prey like buteos or soaring hawks, circle the sky and suspend
themselves with outstretched wings and falcons fly with strong wingbeats
and hardly ever hover in the air.
4) Bird Habitat
Birds are fussy as far as their choice of home goes so they may not
always comply with your range map 100%. They tend to congregate
depending on habitat type. Ducks like to mingle in watery habitats and
not upland areas which tend to be drier. Pine warblers and brown-headed
nuthatches are generally in pinewoods and not often seen in association
with oaks, hickories, and other deciduous trees.
As you learn the basics of birdwatching you will need to spend an
increasing number of hours understanding these differences. Remember to
make notes pertaining to where you have encountered certain bird
species before using a simple key. Use abbreviations to distinguish
the different habitats like FW for freshwater vs. SW for salty marshes.
A Bird's Call or Voice
Each and every bird species has a unique series of calls and song
depending on if they are communication pleasure, contact or alarm. It is
quite difficult to learn how to identify birds using their voice
alone and I don’t recommend you start here as you learn the basics of
birdwatching. If you like you could listen to recording of different
birds to become familiar with each species unique sounds.
Try to organize a birding trip with an experienced birdwatcher or
ornithologist as this can be a great way to get some help with
the basics of birdwatching as well as the more technical details. The
basics of birdwatching may not be easy to learn right off the bat but in
time it will become an extremely satisfying pastime that you are sure to
want to share with others. Each time you venture afield you will see,
hear and learn something new that brings the world of nature sharply
into focus and enriches the mind and heart.
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