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Birding Clothing (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter GaryS
- Start date
samuel walker
It's OK to be a little blue........
I've read several references that birds don't tolerate white clothing well.Out of habit I have stopped wearing it on field days.The idea that white is bothersome has caused me to wonder why small birds are tolerant of large white cousins like egrets.swans and gulls.Normally I wear earthtone shirts.
Sam
Sam
digi-birder
Well-known member
GaryS said:
Perhaps your acquaintance was making excuses 'cos he/she can't afford clothing with logos on!!
Edward woodwood
Member
as Rasmus says
dull colours etc
by far the best is to be quiet though.
wearing the 'right' gear only works if you behave in the right way.
Tim
dull colours etc
by far the best is to be quiet though.
wearing the 'right' gear only works if you behave in the right way.
Tim
Hanno
Ho Ho Ho
We (me friend and I i) had the clothing debate on a recent trip in Da Lat. We met a young American birder, who was wearing a white T-shirt. That seemed not to stop him to connect with a lot of good birds. Personally, I have always felt that it is more important not to make sudden movements, than to be camouflaged. I have, on occassion, worn brightly colored shirts, as long as I moved slowly, and tried to keep as unobstrusive as possible, that did not seem to matter. Anyway, I have a bad feeling that a Gillie suit would be a big no-no with the local authorities here in Vietnam.
Pinewood
New York correspondent
Today, I went to Central Park, where I saw cormorants, mallards, Canada geese, swallows, American robins, etc. I was wearing brown trousers, plaid sports jacket, a blue shirt, with a foulard bow tie and a brown fedora hat. Oh yes, my Leica 8x32 BN is in a fetching orange red armour. Do you think the birds appreciate my dress?
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
Grousemore
Senior Member
Pinewood said:
Well they should do; sounds very dapper to me.
Rasmus Boegh
BF member
Sure, you can certainly connect with good birds even if you wear very bright clothes. You can connect with good birds if go birding without binoculars, too. However, your chances certainly are better if you bring along your bins... and your clothes isn't fluorescent. So, it's not impossible to go birding in bright clothes, rather, it is one of the few places in birding where you actually have a chance of improving your chances by something as simple as wearing clothes in more subdued colours. No need to take it to an extreme, we're just talking about avoiding the most obvious colours. Remember, birds in general have a better colour vision than we do - from what distance can you see a man standing in a field with a white or a pink t-shirt?
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Rasmus Boegh said:
There was an army-type camouflage outfit for birding on show at the British Birdwatching Fair last year, finished off with a tripod hung round the dummy on a strap at an angle that made it look very like some sort of sub-machine gun. I thought at the time that in some parts of the world you could probably trigger off a minor war by going birding like that.
Woody
Well-known member
I wear camo gear most of the time when out and about. Two reasons- 1. Army surplus is cheap, practical outdoor clothing and 2. It can't hurt to be camo'ed, if it works then great, if it doesn't make any difference then I've lost nothing by trying.
However the best camo is not neccesarily army surplus DPM or expensive 'realtree' etc. When on reserves I reckon the birds are probably less wary of people dressed as 'birders' -fleece and floppy hat maybe? Or on a farm perhaps jeans and a t-shirt, it depends what the birds are used to seeing as they have already done 'risk assesments' and will tolerate the usual.
That's just how I feel though, I reckon it's up to the individual to make the choices that suit them, wear whatever you like and feel comfy with.
Woody
However the best camo is not neccesarily army surplus DPM or expensive 'realtree' etc. When on reserves I reckon the birds are probably less wary of people dressed as 'birders' -fleece and floppy hat maybe? Or on a farm perhaps jeans and a t-shirt, it depends what the birds are used to seeing as they have already done 'risk assesments' and will tolerate the usual.
That's just how I feel though, I reckon it's up to the individual to make the choices that suit them, wear whatever you like and feel comfy with.
Woody
led_snapper
Well-known member
Rhion said:
Well in some places in the world you could probably get yourself shot looking like that (for heavens sake don't go to Iraq and do it! Even TV cameramen seem to get 'mistaken' for insurgents with rocket propelled grenades(Hmm really?) by trigger happy rednecks in the US Army - or is it an unspoken policy, certainly before war started there were warnings coming out to journos, anyway I digress).
I must admit I did think about not looking like an army or insurgent combattant when I was going to go to a part of NE India last year, but that wasn't to bird.... At the very least in some places it could open yourself up to awkward questioning...
