To start birding, you’ll only need two things: a good pair
of binoculars and a good field guide. The binoculars will let you get good,
detailed views of the birds, and the field guide will give you a reference you
need to identify the bird based on size, shape, color, behavior, and time of
year. Now comes the hard part: which binoculars and which field guide?
For that, we’ll keep it simple and provide some tips and useful
reviews from outside sources. The best advice we can give is to get what you
are comfortable with. This goes for everything: price, size, magnification,
weight, etc. Binoculars can be a long term investment (and quite an expense),
so getting ones that you are comfortable with is important.
A few guides for binocular selection:
If you have a chance, stop by a birding festival (High
Island, TX in the spring, FeatherFest
in Galveston, HummerBird
Celebration in Rockport for instance) – they often will have optics
companies on hand with demos to try out. As well as expert advice from the
reps. If you can’t make it to a birding festival, check out the local sporting
goods store to get a feel for what’s out there. You can also ask around- find a
member of RBAS at one of our events and ask them what they use and how they
like it. That's what we're here for!
For the field guides, there are plenty of choices, but
several seem to be reliable standards:
Sibley’s :
New 2nd Edition has gotten some very good reviews (and some
criticisms); Uses drawings
National
Geographic : Gives good overviews and information about each bird; Uses
drawings
Crossley’s
: Lots of information packed into tight text; Uses photos
Peterson’s : The original field guide for birds in the U.S.; Uses drawings
Kauffman’s
: Very fine series of field guides, bird guide widely praised; Uses drawings
All of these books are available at your usual online Amazon
type places, as well as the American Birding Association partner Buteo Books and other independent book
stores (and RBAS occasionally will raffle one off as a door prize at one of our
events!).
OK, I got my binoculars and my field guide. Now what?!
One word: PRACTICE!
Practice using your binoculars. Look at the wall in the
living room. Look out the window. Practice adjusting the focus. Get used to
finding a fixed spot in the distance with your eyes and getting your binoculars
up and on that spot. It’s not as natural as you might expect it and takes some
time for your brain and eyes to get used to the change in optics. Get familiar
with your equipment and how to use it- if you wear glasses outside, make sure
you practice with them on. There are different focal length adjustments on the
binoculars you can make to accommodate eye wear.
Practice looking at your field guide. That is to say, look
through it casually, or read it for content. Look at the pictures and notice
the differences between similar birds. This can include color patterns,
habitat, ranges or times of year. A lot of birds look similar, but can be distinguished
by the time of year you see them, or the place you habitat you saw them in. Get
used to what’s in your area and when. Here’s a couple of resources that have
the lists:
Once you get used to your binoculars and your field guide,
start checking out the birds around your house, especially if you have a
feeder. Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmouses, Carolina Chickadees, House
Finches are some of the reliable birds you’ll see. Since they’re eating, they
tend to stay around a little longer and let you get some good looks. Start
practicing on noticing the details of the bird:
How big is it? Chickadee size?
Cardinal size? Robin? Crow? Start by comparing the birds you know and use them
as reference.
What’s the over all color, color on it’s back, color on it’s
chest, color on it’s face? Is the beak shaped like cone, like on a cardinal? Or
is it longer and thin like on a Pine Warbler.
And finally, COME BIRD WITH US! RBAS has a Birding101 class
the first Saturday of every month at Lick Creek Park starting at 8:30am (7:30am
in July and August). We also have other opportunities to bird with experienced
people on our monthly field trips. Nothing helps improve your skills like
learning from each other. Keep an eye on our Activities and Events section at
our website (http://www.riobrazosaudubon.org/).
If you have any further questions and can’t meet up with us,
just send us an email at riobrazosaudubon@gmail.com. Hope to see you out there!
No comments:
Post a Comment