Starting Your Bird Watching Hobby
So you think you’d like to try bird watching? Before you go out and try to spot some birds, here are some useful tips to make it much more enjoyable before you take on this hobby.
Where do we find birds? It’s more challenging than you would think, really. If you don’t choose the right spots, you could end up not seeing any birds, while other locations could have many interesting species. To begin with, you need to get in touch with your local bird group (look on the internet first), and get into a bird watching club.
Experienced bird watchers have much to offer, but if you are not available to go with an organized group, why not go by yourself to the areas they tell you about? Get in touch with the Audubon Society if there is no bird watching organizations right around you, and you’ll find out the best locations to spot birds no matter where you are.
So you want to know when the best time is to go out and start bird watching now that you know where the birds are located. Generally birders like to go out when the weather is good, but birds have a tendency to come inland before a storm hits. You could try going to a beach near your house if you are close to the coast when a storm is about to come, and you’ll get some excellent bird watching opportunities.
You’ll discover that birds have different times of the day that they can be seen, so look into the particular habits of the bird you’re interested in and go out when it’s more likely to be visible. You may not be the only animal looking for the birds when you do go bird watching. Birds are not typically bothered much by humans very much unless there are loud noises.
Try to be quiet; don’t make sudden moves or any fast motions. You really want to see birds as they are in their natural state, so try to be as much like a cat as you can. A bird will freeze in response to loud sounds, so you might want to check out the area to see if there are other animals around if you see this happen.
Even though you may think what you wear won’t matter much to birds, some materials should definitely be avoided. Any reflective or crinkly material will scare the birds; stay away from bright colors; stay with neutral colors; wear protective clothing; and always have comfortable foot wear. You don’t have to be brilliant to engage in bird watching, but you have to know what you’re doing. If you follow some of these suggestions, you’ll be bird watching with the best of them.
