MikeMules
Well-known member
After reading Angela's thread asking for help with starting in birdwatching, I thought I'd post a short guide I wrote for year 7 students last year. I hope it is of some use to people.
Birdwatching Tips
Birdwatching can be a very rewarding and also a very frustrating pastime. Birds have their own lives to lead and can be difficult to find, hard to see, and are often uncooperative with giving birdwatchers good views.
These are some basic hints and guidelines to help you get the best out of your birdwatching experience.
THE 5 BEHAVIOUR BASICS OF BIRDWATCHING
1) Be quiet. Birds have very good hearing, and are startled by loud or sudden noises. Try and keep any talking to a low murmur, but don’t whisper. Birds hear high-pitched noises like whispers better than they hear our normal voice.
2) Wear dull-coloured clothes. As you can tell from looking at the bright colours of many species, birds have excellent colour vision. Bright colours, such as reds and yellows, can alarm birds and make them harder to see. Wear dark blues, browns or greens instead.
3) Move slowly. Like people, birds’ eyes are attracted to sudden movement. If you move slowly and steadily, you are more likely to have good views of birds.
4) Use your eyes AND your ears. You will see a lot more if you listen for bird calls, or for birds moving in the bushes.
5) Don’t destroy the environment. This means: don’t bush-bash, break branches, litter, or otherwise damage the surrounding bush while birdwatching. You are just visiting, but it’s the birds’ home.
HOT HINTS TO HELP YOU SEE MORE
• Look for movement. Our eyes are attracted to moving objects. A moving bird is easier to find than one sitting still
• Look up. Scan the sky and the treetops for birds.
• Look across. Look in the undergrowth at your height. Different species of birds use different levels in the undergrowth.
• Look down. Look at the woodland floor. Many species of bird live or feed on the ground and in the small plants and leaf litter found there.
• Look around. Don’t always stare at the one spot. Scan different levels and different distances. Use your peripheral vision to pick up movement.
WHAT BIRD IS THAT?
When you start birdwatching, every bird will be new to you. It takes time and practice to easily identify what species you are seeing.
Here are some things to look for, to help you identify what bird it is you are seeing:
• How big is it? Compare the bird you see to the size of a common bird you already know. Is it as big as a blackbird? A seagull? A magpie?
• What are its main colours? Note which colours stand out to you. Is it mostly green, or mostly brown? Is there a patch of bright colour in a particular spot on its body?
• What is its overall shape? Is it a dumpy, round bird? Does it have a long neck or legs? Are its wings short or long? Does it have a long tail?
• What does its beak look like? Is the beak long or short (compared to the rest of the bird)? Is it pointed or rounded at the tip? Is it curved or straight? What colour is it?
These are the basic features you should try and look for. Once you have noted all these (HINT: It is a good idea to write down a list of what you see, or even draw a quick sketch, for every bird you can’t identify – at first, anyway), you can use a field guide to identify what it is you saw.
If you can’t work out what species of bird you were looking at, don’t get discouraged. Everyone sees birds they can’t identify when they start. Even experienced birdwatchers see birds they can’t identify all the time. It is a normal part of birdwatching.
The important thing is to keep on trying. After seeing and trying to identify the more common species several times, you will gradually build up a picture in your mind of how to identify them. Once you can do this, new species will become easier and easier to recognise.
HOW TO USE FIELD GUIDES
There are four good-quality field guides available, and all work in the same way. They have every Australian species of bird, with a map to show where it is found, a picture of the bird, and identification notes to help in separating each bird from similar species.
Inside the field guides, birds are grouped together with other species they are related to (For example, parrots are all in the same part of the book). This is useful if you know what sort of bird you are looking at, and where to find it in the book. If you don’t know what sort of bird it is, field guides are much harder to use.
When using a field guide to identify a bird, some tips that will make it easier are:
• Learn what order different groups are placed in. Look through any field guide. Ducks, eagles and seabirds are early in the book; pigeons, parrots and kingfishers are in the middle; songbirds take up the last half of the guide.
• Look at the map. If you are looking at a picture of a bird you think you saw in Victoria, and its map shows it only in West Australia, chances are it wasn’t that bird.
• Place little Flag-notes in your field guide.
• Read the notes on habitat and distribution. A lot of similar-looking species live in different habitats, or migrate in-and-out of areas at different times of year.
Birdwatching Tips
Birdwatching can be a very rewarding and also a very frustrating pastime. Birds have their own lives to lead and can be difficult to find, hard to see, and are often uncooperative with giving birdwatchers good views.
These are some basic hints and guidelines to help you get the best out of your birdwatching experience.
THE 5 BEHAVIOUR BASICS OF BIRDWATCHING
1) Be quiet. Birds have very good hearing, and are startled by loud or sudden noises. Try and keep any talking to a low murmur, but don’t whisper. Birds hear high-pitched noises like whispers better than they hear our normal voice.
2) Wear dull-coloured clothes. As you can tell from looking at the bright colours of many species, birds have excellent colour vision. Bright colours, such as reds and yellows, can alarm birds and make them harder to see. Wear dark blues, browns or greens instead.
3) Move slowly. Like people, birds’ eyes are attracted to sudden movement. If you move slowly and steadily, you are more likely to have good views of birds.
4) Use your eyes AND your ears. You will see a lot more if you listen for bird calls, or for birds moving in the bushes.
5) Don’t destroy the environment. This means: don’t bush-bash, break branches, litter, or otherwise damage the surrounding bush while birdwatching. You are just visiting, but it’s the birds’ home.
HOT HINTS TO HELP YOU SEE MORE
• Look for movement. Our eyes are attracted to moving objects. A moving bird is easier to find than one sitting still
• Look up. Scan the sky and the treetops for birds.
• Look across. Look in the undergrowth at your height. Different species of birds use different levels in the undergrowth.
• Look down. Look at the woodland floor. Many species of bird live or feed on the ground and in the small plants and leaf litter found there.
• Look around. Don’t always stare at the one spot. Scan different levels and different distances. Use your peripheral vision to pick up movement.
WHAT BIRD IS THAT?
When you start birdwatching, every bird will be new to you. It takes time and practice to easily identify what species you are seeing.
Here are some things to look for, to help you identify what bird it is you are seeing:
• How big is it? Compare the bird you see to the size of a common bird you already know. Is it as big as a blackbird? A seagull? A magpie?
• What are its main colours? Note which colours stand out to you. Is it mostly green, or mostly brown? Is there a patch of bright colour in a particular spot on its body?
• What is its overall shape? Is it a dumpy, round bird? Does it have a long neck or legs? Are its wings short or long? Does it have a long tail?
• What does its beak look like? Is the beak long or short (compared to the rest of the bird)? Is it pointed or rounded at the tip? Is it curved or straight? What colour is it?
These are the basic features you should try and look for. Once you have noted all these (HINT: It is a good idea to write down a list of what you see, or even draw a quick sketch, for every bird you can’t identify – at first, anyway), you can use a field guide to identify what it is you saw.
If you can’t work out what species of bird you were looking at, don’t get discouraged. Everyone sees birds they can’t identify when they start. Even experienced birdwatchers see birds they can’t identify all the time. It is a normal part of birdwatching.
The important thing is to keep on trying. After seeing and trying to identify the more common species several times, you will gradually build up a picture in your mind of how to identify them. Once you can do this, new species will become easier and easier to recognise.
HOW TO USE FIELD GUIDES
There are four good-quality field guides available, and all work in the same way. They have every Australian species of bird, with a map to show where it is found, a picture of the bird, and identification notes to help in separating each bird from similar species.
Inside the field guides, birds are grouped together with other species they are related to (For example, parrots are all in the same part of the book). This is useful if you know what sort of bird you are looking at, and where to find it in the book. If you don’t know what sort of bird it is, field guides are much harder to use.
When using a field guide to identify a bird, some tips that will make it easier are:
• Learn what order different groups are placed in. Look through any field guide. Ducks, eagles and seabirds are early in the book; pigeons, parrots and kingfishers are in the middle; songbirds take up the last half of the guide.
• Look at the map. If you are looking at a picture of a bird you think you saw in Victoria, and its map shows it only in West Australia, chances are it wasn’t that bird.
• Place little Flag-notes in your field guide.
• Read the notes on habitat and distribution. A lot of similar-looking species live in different habitats, or migrate in-and-out of areas at different times of year.