When COVID-19 hit, I also spent a lot more time in my apartment. Living in New York during a pandemic offered fewer opportunities to get out into nature safely – an unfortunate struggle for myself and many other foreign city dwellers.
However, when I started to bird, I paid more attention to nature which was actually all around me. I noticed the European starlings sitting in the holes of the London planet tree, red-tailed falcons circling above the park, and a persistent impala with a predilection for the wooden post in my backyard. Searching for birds was a way to appreciate and acknowledge nature, wherever I was; I could be excited to spot birds everywhere – even outside my Brooklyn apartment, when I had to slow down and look around.
Spring is a great time to get serious about bird watching. Although many common birds we spot are ‘permanent residents’ – such as starlings, spotted birds, juncos, house sparrows and black-billed gulls – spring may face some new feathered friends as the population travels north again for the season. There are different types of migration, but birds usually travel north-south in North America (northward in spring, southward in fall), mainly in search of breeding grounds or food.
A Coeligena helianthea hummingbird is taken during a bird watching trail at Monserrate Hill in Bogota on November 11, 2020. Colombia is the country with the largest bird diversity in the world, with about 1,934 different bird species, a fifth of the total there. JUAN BARRETO / AFP / Getty Images
About 40% of the birds migrate, so regardless of the airport in which you live, there will be many new species to look out for. The Atlantic airway alone (which covers much of the east coast) has 500 migratory species annually. Unless you live very far north, from February to mid-April, you should see migratory birds coming through while on their way to their breeding grounds.
Bird watching is unique in its accessibility and universality; no matter where you live – whether it’s a busy city, a rural city or the South Pole – there will always be birds to learn about and to search for. If you have never felt this way before, there are a few things to keep in mind when starting out.
1. Choosing the right binoculars
A pair of binoculars is a relatively indispensable tool for most bird watchers – but for those just getting started, it may not be worth investing a few hundred dollars. If you can not find the attics of friends or borrow a few from a fellow bird watcher, some local bird watching and physics groups have a binocular program for members, which allows you to plan ahead for a day ( or week) bird watching.
If you are ready to hike, you need to carefully consider choosing a pair or binoculars based on your needs and preferences; some important considerations may include size, ease of use, enlargement and price. While professional binoculars can easily run north of $ 1,000, there are many perfect binoculars at entry level below $ 200. You may not get the perfect precision and clarity of more elite models, but a cheaper pair enables you to hone your bird art skills strengthen while deciding whether you are interested in investing in a premium pair.
For a budget-friendly option, look at resale options on eBay, Facebook market or nearby sales: you might find a nicer pair whose selling price is not within your budget.
2. Know what birds are in your area
As I paid more attention to the birds just outside my apartment building, I began to learn what species had always been around me: European starlings, house sparrows, blue jugs, black capers, and the occasional impala. They have always been there, but I have never taken the time to identify them. Once you have learned to recognize common birds in your area, you can identify the typical species right outside your window and in your community. Of course, permanent resident birds in your area will vary by region, as will those that migrate through them.
3. Go out and explore
If you venture elsewhere, you may spot different types besides those that come in your backyard. Everywhere with water or green you offer a place for bird watching; as an urbanite, I myself have found that even small and medium-sized parks in New York allow me to find more elusive birds (although Central Park takes the crown for an afternoon urban bird watching).
If you can travel a little further from home, national nature resorts and state / national parks are great places to explore bird habitats and perhaps record some less common sightings. The American Bird Watching Association also lists bird-watching trails by state, and Audubon and BirdLife International identify key bird areas (IBAs) across the country – important bird habitats and iconic places activists fight to protect – where bird watchers can spot significant birds.
4. Find a bird: stop, watch, listen, repeat
The National Audubon Society recommends the “stop, watch, listen, repeat” mantra when searching and identifying birds.
In the first place, you need to locate birds. Stopping – getting out of the car, on the sidewalk, trail or stopping in the backyard to look up – is the most important step.
If you are looking for birds, you should avoid looking around wildly; rather scan your surroundings, focus on strange shapes or shadows, try to think about where a bird can sit (power lines, fence posts, branches), or watch the air for eagles and falcons. In open areas such as fields and beaches you may have a more panoramic view and you can take in different parts of the landscape at the same time. Look around with the naked eye before reaching for binoculars.
Although it can be difficult to sift through the noise, listening to birds is perhaps an even more important element of bird watching than watching. Once you spend more time in the field, you can analyze the rocket and identify specific species, especially through Audubon’s Bird Guide app or by learning from their Birding by Ear range.
Repeat this pattern as you go along, stopping to watch and listen to birds as you go, rather than waiting for them to come to you.
5. Identification
If you are bird watching one day, especially when you want to see new species, you want to be armed with the tools to identify what you are seeing. Important considerations when identifying birds are their group (such as owls, falcons or sparrow-like birds), size and shape, behavior, voice, field marks, season and habitat.
The Sibley Guide to Birds and the Peterson Field Guide are generally regarded as the best books for identifying birds in North America, although many specialized guides also focus on specific species or regions.
Numerous bird identification apps have popped up over the past few years – including National Geographic Birds, Sibley eGuide to Birds, iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID and Birdsnap – which are basically a field guide in your pocket. I’m partly in the Audubon Bird Guide, which allows users to filter by common identifiers, including a bird’s habitat, color, activity, tail shape and general type, and add it all to a personal map to track your observation. see.
6. Record your observations
If you deepen your commitment to bird watching, you can join the community of bird watchers who monitor and quantify their observation, life list.
While a standard notebook with the date, species name, habitat, vocalization, or any other data you want to include will suffice, some bird watchers opt for a more structured bird journal with predefined fields to record your encounters, take notes, sketches to draw. , etc.
Many birdwatchers also choose to record their observations online and in shared databases (which include many of the field guide applications), and often show them on a map for others to see. Launched by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon, EBird is one of the largest databases and civic science projects around bird watching, where hundreds of thousands of birdwatchers see their faces, and users can explore birds in regions and hotspots around the world. Users can also record their observations in the eBird app.
7. Attracting birds to your own garden
Bird feeding is a common phenomenon: more than 40% of Americans maintain a bird feeder to lure birds and watch them feast.
Not all bird feeds are the same. Many commercial varieties are mostly made with ‘fillers’ (oats, red millet, etc.) that will leave birds largely untouched. After researching which birds you can expect in your area – and which ones you want to attract – you can create your own bird feed with seeds that will appeal to them.
In addition to filling a bird feeder, turning your garden into an eco-friendly oasis is by far the best way to attract birds. If you decide to mow your lawn, plant native flowers and grasses and drop pesticides, it will bring back the bugs that feed birds and provide a safe haven in which birds can live and eat happily.
Although it is generally considered acceptable – and even beneficial – to feed birds with appropriate seeds, common bird feeders often promote unlikely interactions between different species, which can then transmit harmful diseases and parasites to each other. Maintaining different bird feeders with different types of seeds can prevent different types of contact, and feeders can be cleaned to prevent the spread of infection.
8. Inclusivity and anti-racism in the Birding community
Like all outdoor activities and scientific study areas, bird watching communities are subject to racist and discriminatory ideologies. Black birdwatchers have long experienced discrimination and under-representation in outdoor spaces. The work of organizations such as the Black & Latinx Birders Fund, Birdability and Feminist Bird Club emphasizes the contributions and importance of toddlers, toddlers with disabilities and women and LGBTQ + birds to the bird watching community, as well as activists and physicists such as Corina Newsome and Tykee James. The work of Christian Cooper, Camille Dungy (read her poem Frequently Asked Questions: 10), and J. Drew Lanham – including his essay “Birding While Black” – is a great place to start.
Getting involved in bird watching means educating ourselves on these issues and acting meaningfully; the work of Christian Cooper and J. Drew Lanham – including his essay “Birding While Black” – is an excellent place to start. Just as birdwatchers are activists for the protection of habitats and natural areas, we must also be active and aware of inclusivity in these spaces.
9. Get involved
To learn and enjoy with other bird watchers, check out local bird watching groups in your area to join. Many Audubon chapters offer members, meetings, and bird walks. The American Birding Association even maintains a guide to bird watching festivals across the country.
Volunteering for birds is also a great way to meet other bird watchers and act for birds in your community; local organizations may have opportunities to assist with restoration of habitats or to assist at bird watching centers.
Like all wildlife, climate change and habitat destruction threaten the livelihoods of birds, eliminating their breeding grounds and food sources. A 2019 report released by the National Audubon Society found that two-thirds of North American birds could become extinct if world temperatures rose by 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. Keeping abreast of and taking action for legislation designed to protect birds and our climate – such as the recent Migratory Bird Protection Act – is important to ensure a viable future for wildlife and humans.
Linnea graduated from Skidmore College in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in English and environmental studies, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Linnea recently worked at Hunger Free America and was interned at WHYY in Philadelphia, Saratoga Living Magazine and the Sierra Club in Washington, DC. Linnea enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, reading, practicing her German and volunteering on farms and gardens, and doing environmental justice in her community. Along with journalism, she is also an essayist and author of creative non-fiction.
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