Musing on birding as a hobby but... (1 Viewer)

[PaulCountyDurham]

Birds are active all day long. Yes, they're more active in the morning, but I regularly get late starts or go birding all day. Sometimes my best birds are in the middle of the day.

Aye, active doesn't necessarily mean more accessible. I can think of certain birds that are very active in the morning but they're so far up in the tree tops the best you're gonna get are numerous fleeting glimpses.

 

[Peregrine Took]

The term 'build it and they will come' came to mind this morning, when my wife alerted me to half a dozen goldfinches on her un-dead-headed rudbeckia, after the seeds. Same might apply to you Paul, put some food out, and plant some bird-friendly plants and you'll attract plenty of interesting birds.
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[Tired]

My advice for birding around other people is to either get yourself a T-shirt that mentions some sort of birdwatching association (so that you've now labeled yourself with what you're doing), or to try not to care about it. You're allowed to do MUCH stranger things in public than look at birds, and, speaking from experience, someone idly wondering what you're doing isn't really a big deal. In my opinion, an ideal life includes a decent bit of people wondering what you're doing. Plus, if someone asks, it's fun to point out a bird to them that they hadn't noticed at all.

 

[pyrrhula]

Hey, I'm also fairly new to birding and have struggled (or sometimes still do) with the same points you mentioned. I will briefly share what I learned and think about them.

• In order to see birds of interest you might need to be up and doing early dawn or dusk and not the middle of the day

This is very true in summer. But right now in winter time of day doesn't make such a big difference - at leastin my experience so far (note: I live in central europe). Anyways it still feels amazing to be out at sunrise, so why not?

Similarly, best off driving a couple of hours away to find a location where get most bang for buck

Not everybody is lucky enough to live near a nice birding area, but with a bit of effort you will find some good spots near you. Make the best of what nature has to offer in your proximity. I also thought I was super unlucky with my location at first but then I discovered beautiful birding spots nearby.

Feeling a tad uncomfortable, in local places where nobody stands about, standing about while loads of dogwalkers etc go past

I can relate to this a lot. I live in a major city which features a few nice water bodies and woods for birding. Ofcourse there are always a lot of people and dogwalkers, even in the early morning. People stare at me a lot or even approach me and ask me what I'm doing. It is kind of awkward but I've gotten used to it. Once I find some cool birds and reach a certain "flow state" I stop thinking about the people around me entirely.

I hope this kind of helps. Best regards!