A few lessons I have learned (1 Viewer)

Terry O'Nolley · Sep 6, 2005

I am a newbie birder, but I have learned some lessons that I think should be shared - maybe they will be helpful to you.

1) When you enter a new area (like entering a woodline, or emerging from woods into a meadow) or cross any sort of terrain type boundary, look for birds very close to you first. I know it sounds obvious, but I used to assume that any birds nearby saw me and flew away and so I would begin scanning at trees 100 feet away or look at branches on the far side of the clearing, etc. Many times this assumption would cause me to flush birds that were less than 15 feet away from me. Had I just slowly entered, emerged, crossed, etc. and waited for several minutes I would have had great looks at many of those.

2) When you get close to a bird in a tree that you have been stalking and you see it apparently fly away because you see it leave the branch and pass behind the tree and then never see it again, don't assume the bird has flown away! Many times I have made that mistake only to flush the bird as I walked past the tree.

3) Train yourself so that you are always aware of where the sun is and learn to instantly tell whether a birds flight that you see out of the corner of your eye is an actual bird or a shadow and then look towards where the bird actually is based on where the sun is rather than following the shadow along the ground. Even 1 second of following the shadow can cause you to miss the bird if it perches and remains motionless and silent.

edit:
For #3, I have gotten to the point where I no longer get fooled by shadows in the corner of my eye and start to follow them - I automatically begin looking for the bird in the sky. BUT I am still terrible at knowing exactly where that would be and this is what is going on in my head for a split second:

FLASH - movement - its a shadow - don't fall for it! Look for what made the shadow! OK, I know it must be up.... LOOK UP!!! NO, your other up! The sun is behind me to the right and I saw the shadow to my left so that means the..... nevermind, it's gone....

MSA · Sep 6, 2005

It's the "green cross code" - stop, look, listen! (this may only make sense to UK birders of a certain age).
Terry certainly makes a few good points above.
Standing still at habitat boundaries will always pay dividends. Have a good look around and wait. Birds will know you're there and will either be flushed (so you'll see them) or stay motionless for a while. If you stay still the latter will eventually forget why they're frozen to the spot and start moving about normally.
If you're after a particular target species and think you've seen one fly off 'cos you've flushed it, it may be worthwhile simply waiting for a while. There was a good reason why it was where you flushed it from, and more often than not it will be back.

Stuart Watson · Sep 6, 2005

Handy tips Terry - Thanks

buckskin hawk · Sep 7, 2005

When walking through the woods on a path, I always forget to look at the ground along the edge of the path and actually on the path. I miss so many birds that are standing right out in the open on the path or at the edge because I am fixed on the trees and bushes.

I usually hear them before I see them. Learning to listen to what exact direction and distance the song is coming from is a real skill. I wish I was better at estimating the distance.

lvn600 · Sep 7, 2005

I especially like tip 1 and 2 because I came upon those precise situations you described when I was out in a local meadow yesterday.

Mickymouse · Sep 7, 2005

Good tips those, one I learned this year is don't go out single minded, for example early this year I heard there where Ring Ouzels seen on one of my patches so I went off to find them, while I was mooching along like you do, I spotted a bird in a tree had a quick look saw the red front and thought, Robin and carried on, then it dawned on me, that can't have been a Robin the head was wrong so I went back but it had gone, moral is, I missed a probable Redstart which would have been a lifer and didn't find the Ring Ouzels anyway.

Mick

Terry O'Nolley · Sep 8, 2005

Mickymouse said:
Good tips those, one I learned this year is don't go out single minded, for example early this year I heard there where Ring Ouzels seen on one of my patches so I went off to find them, while I was mooching along like you do, I spotted a bird in a tree had a quick look saw the red front and thought, Robin and carried on, then it dawned on me, that can't have been a Robin the head was wrong so I went back but it had gone, moral is, I missed a probable Redstart which would have been a lifer and didn't find the Ring Ouzels anyway.

Mick

Ouch! That is an excellent tip - and I have had variations on that theme several times. Just a few days ago, I saw a raptor perched at the top of a large, dead tree about a half-mile down the road. I moved to the side of the road where the brush that grew along the road would hide me from the raptor and began moving towards it. Of course I was flushing other birds seemingly every other step and the raptor was gone when I finally tried to peek through the bushes.

postie · Sep 26, 2005

buckskin hawk said:
When walking through the woods on a path, I always forget to look at the ground along the edge of the path and actually on the path. I miss so many birds that are standing right out in the open on the path or at the edge because I am fixed on the trees and bushes.

i had to smile reading this tip as a newbie i have done this quite a few times and have been so anoyed with myself because i have made the mistake more than once you would think i would learn.i may get it right one day.
roy

redshift · Sep 26, 2005

My newbie birder tip is to never ever ever stop looking: identify every bird you see. Nice last minute lifers for me (the birding equivalent of the dying seconds of Man Utd winning the European Cup v Bayern Munich):

The merlin flying across the little harbour in Barra just as I was putting my bins and scope into the car after looking at the waders on the beach

The corncrake seen out of the kitchen window whilst doing the washing up, also on Barra

jomo · Oct 1, 2005

Agreed! I was a casual birder back in high school, and after finishing university and getting back into birding I discovered that many of the birds flitting by on my walks that I would have 'written off' in years past as just another song sparrow were in fact white crowns, or white throats, or savannahs. My first kinglets came from focusing in on a group of juncos, my first yellow-rumped warblers from following goldfinches. Too often I've turned my attention away because I considered a group of birds 'identified' only to see a flash of less commonly spied towhees or thrashers within the same scrub.

luvmybirds · Dec 18, 2005

LOL - That's awesome

Terry O'Nolley said:
I am a newbie birder, but I have learned some lessons that I think should be shared - maybe they will be helpful to you.

1) When you enter a new area (like entering a woodline, or emerging from woods into a meadow) or cross any sort of terrain type boundary, look for birds very close to you first. I know it sounds obvious, but I used to assume that any birds nearby saw me and flew away and so I would begin scanning at trees 100 feet away or look at branches on the far side of the clearing, etc. Many times this assumption would cause me to flush birds that were less than 15 feet away from me. Had I just slowly entered, emerged, crossed, etc. and waited for several minutes I would have had great looks at many of those.

2) When you get close to a bird in a tree that you have been stalking and you see it apparently fly away because you see it leave the branch and pass behind the tree and then never see it again, don't assume the bird has flown away! Many times I have made that mistake only to flush the bird as I walked past the tree.

3) Train yourself so that you are always aware of where the sun is and learn to instantly tell whether a birds flight that you see out of the corner of your eye is an actual bird or a shadow and then look towards where the bird actually is based on where the sun is rather than following the shadow along the ground. Even 1 second of following the shadow can cause you to miss the bird if it perches and remains motionless and silent.

edit:
For #3, I have gotten to the point where I no longer get fooled by shadows in the corner of my eye and start to follow them - I automatically begin looking for the bird in the sky. BUT I am still terrible at knowing exactly where that would be and this is what is going on in my head for a split second:

FLASH - movement - its a shadow - don't fall for it! Look for what made the shadow! OK, I know it must be up.... LOOK UP!!! NO, your other up! The sun is behind me to the right and I saw the shadow to my left so that means the..... nevermind, it's gone....

Great info and even better you got me LOL. Thanks

A few lessons I have learned (1 Viewer)

More options

Terry O'Nolley

Cow-headed Jaybird

MSA

I may be relaxed but I'm not drunk....

Stuart Watson

Well-known member

buckskin hawk

Oklahoma Birder

lvn600

Well-known member

Mickymouse

Ubuntu Linux user

Terry O'Nolley

Cow-headed Jaybird

postie

Member

redshift

Toad Popper

jomo

Well-known member

luvmybirds

Member

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread