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Birding is a hearing based activity, not binoculars based. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Highway Dog
- Start date
Kammerdiner
Well-known member
Birdsong can be ear candy, Ed. Think Wood Thrush. Red-breasted Grosbeak. And for me, Winter Wren. OK, some of those are eastern only, but you've got your own as well.
Here's how song helps me see more. I'd say 50 birds on my year list were heard first, sighted after. In many cases sighted because heard. Every spring I like to hear the first Chimney Swift, the first Black-Throated Green Warbler, the first Catbird, the first Blackpoll Warbler, the first Common Nighthawk, the first...well you get the idea. They often return like clockwork and the song gives them away.
I used to live in Indiana beneath the flyway of the Great Lakes Sandhills. I heard them overhead sometime in February, on the right kind of day, and I'd grab the binos and run out of the house to greet them. Again, heard first. They were up so high you might miss them if you weren't listening. And you got to admit, Sandhills are ear candy.
Mark
PS: Goodness, I meant "Rose-breasted Grosbeak." Ah well, it's past my bedtime.
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A2GG
Beth
Me too... I have such a difficult time trying to locate the bird from sound.
I don't have the best hearing which doesn't help. Sometimes I just stop looking
and listen.
Kammerdiner
Well-known member
Me three. I have a tough time locating by ear, in the trees anyway. It's like trying to aim a scope at 60x. But with practice it gets better. My ears aim low, so I have learned to follow my ears, then look up. My wife is better at it than I am. Her ears are more "accurate."
elkcub
Silicon Valley, California
You've made quite an excellent point, Mark, and I accept it!! By any standard I'm not a skilled birder; but I do get quite a lot of pleasure visually (primarily shore birding), and that's satisfying for me. I've met folks who can identify birds by song, and even whistle minor distinctions, only to fall on my deaf ears. I also had a deaf friend who could identify birds that were essentially invisible to me.
Am I going to try to be one of them? No.
Ed
Alexis Powell
Natural history enthusiast
I don't know if this applies to you, but I learned a long time ago that my locating ability is thrown off considerably when wearing a wide-brimmed hat, which I do nearly all the time while birding. When I really need to locate a bird accurately by ear, the hat comes off.
--AP
Chosun Juan
Given to Fly
I'm no "birder" either, though I may have some "birdo" tendencies ..... 3
I recently started "birding" (my form which is just enjoying being out in nature and identifying things if that's my want at that particular time, and watching /hearing /feeling /knowing behaviours, antics, or just beautiful things, etc) with an older gent in his late 70's that is one of those real official "birder" nutjobs - lists, and reporting and all. I must admit I enjoy this different form of company (largely because of the personalities, rather than the definitions) and experience from my usual 'lone wolf' escapades. I met him out on a trail - he said I was only the 3rd person he had seen there in 44 years of his regular circuits! "Birding" with him I pick up a lot more species to tick off lists, but I usually recognise more things first, and put him onto more of the rarities, largely just through a "knowing". Being in his late 70's, his hearing is a bit shot, so I hear many more things first, and often, at all, particularly if conditions are less than ideal (wind etc), but he's a really good "birder".
There are many cases in indigenous culture where the first "hearing" of a particular species heralds the start of a season, weather pattern, or breeding event etc. --- quite important when you can't just nip down to your local supermarket for some tucker, but have to go out and hunt it instead .....
Just the other day I heard the first Channel-billed Cuckoo, and it's only just clicked over to Spring -- it's going to be a long hot summer.
I too like watching birds (and other stuff too - I will often just check out a tree!
, and like ronh, have a deep fascination with the "magnified view".Having said that, if I'm just using my ordinary senses, it's usually hearing first or at least in concert with MarkI eyeball looking. My hearing is not super-dooper, but I am young enough that it still works and I get a real chuckle out of things like the "Lauda" cartoon (that Definitely! belongs in the "Ruffled Feathers" section !! :eek!:
). So invariably I listen - turn to the rough direction that the sound is coming from - and then just look for movement, anything out of the ordinary really, as some of these gee-whizzits are leaf sized or less! When I pick out a somewhat blurry movement, then I lift the bins to pinpoint and observe, or id - whatever. If it's a slow day on the sound and movement front, then I will try scanning with the bins - often from some sixth sense knowing -- or just completely randomly looking at stuff.Often, unless you've worked on the sixth sense a bit, putting all the other ones together can give you a picture of where a bird is likely to be, but one of the best ways of finding raptors etc (apart from turning around and looking up!! - always a good tip
is by "listening" to the alarm calls, and "feeling" the antics and panic of the "lookout" birds - over here the gregarious, territorial, and gang forming Noisy Miners fill that role - no doubt there is something similar in everyone's little part of the world too. Not only will they tell you that 'something' is there or thereabouts loooooong before you realise it, but if you listen carefully they will tell you 'what' is there. Eagles, Kites and Harriers will cause a hub-bub, Goshawks will amp that up considerably, but if you are hearing sheer panic and terror you can bet that there is a Falcon about ....... Falcon L !! :eek!: :-OSometimes, "hearing" is the only practical way to id something - many times I will hear a Powerful Owl down in the gorge - but with home territories of sometimes ~50 square km - good luck seeing one!
"Hearing" also brings its own joy ...... once I was up at Kanangra, when I "heard" some birds on the other side of a bush where I had sat down ...... first there was the Crimson Rosellas, then the Peewees, then the Willie Wagtails, then the Wattlebirds, then the Spotted Pardalotes, then the Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, then the Grey Shrike-Thrush, then the Butcherbirds and Magpies .... st*ff me - I've hit the motherload! Then came the Butcherbirds imitating the Magpies!, and the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos and the realisation that there was no way this smallish bush could contain all of those species and more ..... What I had was a Superb Lyrebird singing it's head off. For half an hour I listened to renditions of nearly 50 species - not just an individual species, but different behaviours too - not just Rainbow Lorikeet renditions, but several Rainbow Lorikeets squabbling over the same perch; or a pair of them loved up and cooing sweet nothings to each other - on and on it went. I didn't want to get up and have a look for fear of startling him and scaring him away - so I just sat there on the other side of the bush enjoying the moment until he moved on - never did get even a glimpse of him ...... and that didn't matter one little jot !
So while I love bins, and looking at birds, I love listening to them as well, or just "feeling" their prescence, and nature, using all 5 senses, and the sixth too - heck, if ever I get a Zeiss SF, then according to the w*nkers in the Marketing Department, I'll be able to use my 7th Sense too! |^|
No matter how I come to know 'em - bottom line is that "I like Birds" (couldn't miss an opportunity to post that happy song again!
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuhZOqz8MD4Chosun :gh:
perterra
Well-known member
I'm no "birder" either, though I may have some "birdo" tendencies ..... 3
I recently started "birding" (my form which is just enjoying being out in nature and identifying things if that's my want at that particular time, and watching /hearing /feeling /knowing behaviours, antics, or just beautiful things, etc) with an older gent in his late 70's that is one of those real official "birder" nutjobs - lists, and reporting and all. I must admit I enjoy this different form of company (largely because of the personalities, rather than the definitions) and experience from my usual 'lone wolf' escapades. I met him out on a trail - he said I was only the 3rd person he had seen there in 44 years of his regular circuits! "Birding" with him I pick up a lot more species to tick off lists, but I usually recognise more things first, and put him onto more of the rarities, largely just through a "knowing". Being in his late 70's, his hearing is a bit shot, so I hear many more things first, and often, at all, particularly if conditions are less than ideal (wind etc), but he's a really good "birder".
There are many cases in indigenous culture where the first "hearing" of a particular species heralds the start of a season, weather pattern, or breeding event etc. --- quite important when you can't just nip down to your local supermarket for some tucker, but have to go out and hunt it instead .....
Just the other day I heard the first Channel-billed Cuckoo, and it's only just clicked over to Spring -- it's going to be a long hot summer.
I too like watching birds (and other stuff too - I will often just check out a tree!
Having said that, if I'm just using my ordinary senses, it's usually hearing first or at least in concert with MarkI eyeball looking. My hearing is not super-dooper, but I am young enough that it still works and I get a real chuckle out of things like the "Lauda" cartoon (that Definitely! belongs in the "Ruffled Feathers" section !! :eek!:
Often, unless you've worked on the sixth sense a bit, putting all the other ones together can give you a picture of where a bird is likely to be, but one of the best ways of finding raptors etc (apart from turning around and looking up!! - always a good tip
Sometimes, "hearing" is the only practical way to id something - many times I will hear a Powerful Owl down in the gorge - but with home territories of sometimes ~50 square km - good luck seeing one!
"Hearing" also brings its own joy ...... once I was up at Kanangra, when I "heard" some birds on the other side of a bush where I had sat down ...... first there was the Crimson Rosellas, then the Peewees, then the Willie Wagtails, then the Wattlebirds, then the Spotted Pardalotes, then the Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, then the Grey Shrike-Thrush, then the Butcherbirds and Magpies .... st*ff me - I've hit the motherload! Then came the Butcherbirds imitating the Magpies!, and the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos and the realisation that there was no way this smallish bush could contain all of those species and more ..... What I had was a Superb Lyrebird singing it's head off. For half an hour I listened to renditions of nearly 50 species - not just an individual species, but different behaviours too - not just Rainbow Lorikeet renditions, but several Rainbow Lorikeets squabbling over the same perch; or a pair of them loved up and cooing sweet nothings to each other - on and on it went. I didn't want to get up and have a look for fear of startling him and scaring him away - so I just sat there on the other side of the bush enjoying the moment until he moved on - never did get even a glimpse of him ...... and that didn't matter one little jot !
So while I love bins, and looking at birds, I love listening to them as well, or just "feeling" their prescence, and nature, using all 5 senses, and the sixth too - heck, if ever I get a Zeiss SF, then according to the w*nkers in the Marketing Department, I'll be able to use my 7th Sense too! |^|
No matter how I come to know 'em - bottom line is that "I like Birds" (couldn't miss an opportunity to post that happy song again!
Chosun :gh:
I enjoyed that, thank you.
brocknroller
porromaniac
I've told this story before, but perhaps you missed it or perhaps others did. Every year, the local birding club holds a "Big Sit" in the fall. Apparently, this is a world-wide event associated with Birdwatching Digest.
You draw a circle and you sit for 12 grueling hours in that circle and count all the species you can identify. They do this in a spot that's near woods, near the shore of a lake and opposite a mountain ridge. So you get woodsy birds, shore birds and birds of prey riding the thermals.
Most of the members have fairly expensive binoculars including Swaro ELs and SLCs (none are the SVs and HDs, respectively, but older models). The best birder in the bunch, whose name is Bob (he looks like Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston), owns a lowly $200 Pentax 8x36 NV roof, which he bought on sale for $149.
He can mimic birds calls and coax them out of the woods, he can recognize many bird songs, and in most cases those birds were later correctly IDed with binoculars (the ones that weren't never came out of the woods).
They started at 5 a.m. and went to 5 a.m. I forgot how many species they were able to ID, a surprisingly large number, considering they couldn't move from the spot, close to 40 as I recall, and more than half those IDs were made by Bob, and most of those were made by ear before they were spotted.
That experience taught me how important sound is in IDing birds. I listen to their songs or calls, and I can ID some species by the sounds they make. I do a pretty mean Mourning Dove impression, close enough to get a response every time, but other than a few backyard birds, I couldn't tell one bird from another on song or call alone unless it was quite distinctive. I would imagine if I studied bird songs and calls, I would get better at it since I have a penchant for picking up tunes quickly on the guitar so I have a "good ear" for melody, but my primary focus has always been on spotting birds visually. After seeing Bob ID all those birds by sound and also lure them into the open with his mimicry, I realize I've looking at birds with my ears plugged.
What's appealing to me about birds is not just their feathers, colors and shapes but also their songs or calls. Well, except maybe the blood curdling screech of a red-tail hawk. That gives me the creeps. I'm particularly amazed with the variety of calls that blue jays have and their talent for mimicry. There's one blue jay in the park who can imitate the screech of a red-tailed hawk. Freaks me out when I'm in the park because I think it's our winter resident hawk, but then I see the blue jay, and it's calling me to feed her peanuts.
I'm getting better at distinguishing her imitation screech from the real thing. She doesn't quite have the whistle part of the screech down.
As an experiment, the next time you go birding take a pair of earplugs with you and stick them in your ears and see if it gets harder to find birds. I've done that, and it does for me, and I can't even ID that many species, but the sounds point me in the right direction and give me a hint of what I'm looking for.
Birding is definitely more than just about using binoculars to spot birds, it's a combination of hearing and seeing birds.
Brock
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I believe you just summarized the attitude(s) of the vast majority of birders. Furthermore, I often wonder how many people got "hooked" on observing the moment they looked through a stellar binocular.
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Ah...that makes a lot of sense.
There is a primary sound and a lot of little echoes. The brim would
cut down the primary wave and actually amplify the reflections that
skip off the ground.
Looks like sound direction-finding is a common problem.
Maybe I can wear some imitation of my cat's ears. Very precise with
direction. Lots of sound damping.
Beth & Mark
Same for me. My hearing is not good these days but its enough to tell me there is a Loon flying overhead, to tell me that here is the first Willow Warbler of the year, to tell me that somewhere nearby there is a Greenshank etc.
So for me its a gig that requires ears, eyes and bins.
Lee
Same for me. My hearing is not good these days but its enough to tell me there is a Loon flying overhead, to tell me that here is the first Willow Warbler of the year, to tell me that somewhere nearby there is a Greenshank etc.
So for me its a gig that requires ears, eyes and bins.
Lee
elkcub
Silicon Valley, California
Well, in my case the binoculars got me hooked first, and not birds. One might say I took Ingraham's "better view desired" way too seriously. But it led me into optics, which I really enjoy, and kindled interests in applied perception. In the end, I love to watch birds and study their behaviors, but I'm not particularly interested in life lists or bird counting.
Arthur Pinewood nicely summarized why I spend so much time discussing binoculars.
Regards,
Ed
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To answer your question just send your now unused binoculars to me. I'll put them to good use.
I think you need to go on a few more expeditions possibly with another group. Like everyone else on this thread I've found both senses can be useful for spotting and then identifying flying critters.
I see maybe about 20% of the birds I identify on a standard survey/tour/whatever. For waterfowl and shorebirds, my knowledge of calls is horrendous and their visibility is often much greater, so that number may spike closer to 60%.
While seeing is nice, I've gotten a bit annoyed with some tour guests who wouldn't just take the song and be OK with it; I had to refuse several people attempting to coax singing birds out into sight. While it is good to keep tabs on what's around and the relative abundance, it is not, in my opinion, worth potentially stressing the bird to satisfy some birder's desire... rant complete.
Justin
While seeing is nice, I've gotten a bit annoyed with some tour guests who wouldn't just take the song and be OK with it; I had to refuse several people attempting to coax singing birds out into sight. While it is good to keep tabs on what's around and the relative abundance, it is not, in my opinion, worth potentially stressing the bird to satisfy some birder's desire... rant complete.
Justin
Switch to 'bird watching' as apposed to 'birding'. You can enjoy looking at birds and observing their behavior, learning about their lives. Plus, you get to still use your binoculars. o
Agreed. Watching birds, as opposed to just ticking off rarities, means that one can enjoy coming into contact with the most common of birds
Kammerdiner
Well-known member
Of course you can do both.
Watching a Blue Jay gettin' crazy in the birdbath is about as good as a mega-rarity. Most days I'm too lazy to chase the rara avis.
Mark
Kammerdiner
Well-known member
So Justin, to pish or not to pish, that is the question. I sometimes think the birds get a kick out of checking me out when I do that. They come out, realize it's just me, a dull human (if they even get that far), and go on about their business. I'm not too sure there's much stress involved. They have owls, crows, snakes, hawks, raccoons, whiny kids, and each other for real stressors. Yes? No?
Mark
