How To Be A Birder

There are no hard and fast rules for being a birder, it's all about the birds.

Bird lexicography has changed over time. What used to be called bird watching is now commonly called birding. Birders are people who fit somewhere on a spectrum that measures mild bird interest to major bird obsession. The stereotypical portrait of the birder with binoculars pointed to the treetops or sky still has validity. However, many people find non-binocular birding just as pleasant a hobby.

Typically birding is an early morning activity. Most birds are diurnal, awake during the day and asleep during the night. When dawn breaks, many species are out and about, looking for food and exercise. Daybreak is prime birding time. If the idea of birding at the crack of dawn does not strike your fancy, don't fret. Many species of birds are active throughout the day. While the number of bird species and total number of birds, might decline throughout the day, you will still see some almost any time you are out.

If you consistently avoid early morning birding, maybe your circadian rhythm leans more to butterflying. Most butterflies need some sun and an average temperature of 60^o Fahrenheit to fly. Late morning and early afternoon spring and summer days are perfect for watching butterflies.

The issue of where to bird is both the easiest and most difficult question to address. Birds are found on every continent in the world. It's almost a certainty that your own back yard serves as home to as least a few species. Being able to identify the species that visit your yard throughout the year is, in itself, a significant accomplishment.

The internet is a great tool for learning how to extend your birding activities. For example, finding birding hot spots in your area can often be as simple as searching on the terms, "birding - your area". Often you will find birding lists and forums where interested individuals share information about recent bird sightings in your area. Avid birders have been know to travel great distances at the drop of a hat to see a rare bird in their general vicinity.

Specific birding techniques span the range of social and individual activity oriented to bird identification. Ornithology marks the far end of the scientific birding spectrum, with Ornithologists studying all aspects of bird life. Organizations such as the National Audubon Society promote citizen science activities such as the Christmas Bird Count (CBC), where volunteers from all areas of the United States go out one specific day between December 14th and January 5th, to document winter counts for the species and total number of birds in their area. The CBC has been an ongoing project for over a century, and its results show general patterns of species health and movement over time.

A new project called eBird is a collaborative data collection project, sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. It provides a centralized place for birders to record their sightings throughout the year. The database builds on six pieces of information:

• Who recorded the bird?
• Where was the bird observed?
• When was bird observed?
• What effort went into locating the bird?
• What species of bird was it?
• How many individuals of each species were recorded?

Professional birding is not everyone's cup of tea. Naturally there are many people who enjoy walking a particular area simply looking for birds, rather than creating extensive lists of the birds they've seen. If your birding tastes lean to visual identification only, don't feel intimidated by the professional birders. They are a knowledgeable and friendly crowd, normally happy to answer any of your questions.

If you are more interested in learning on your own, a good bird guide book might be all the help you need. Remember, it's all about the birds, not the birders.

Finally, many birders adopt photography as their means of connecting with the bird world. If your birding activities consist primarily of bird photography, and your goal is getting as close as possible to birds in order to capture that "perfect picture", be warned. Bird photographers have been known to annoy some of their Audubon birding friends because they (the photographers) inevitably spook some birds on approach. If you happen to get a picture of an Ivory-billed woodpecker prior to spooking it, you'll probably be forgiven by even the most avid birders in your party. Otherwise, bird photography, as a general birding technique, is often less stressful as a solitary or very small group practice.

© 2006. Patricia A. Michaels