Birdwatching Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Secrets

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How to Find, Feed and Identify Beautiful Birds

Birdwatching is a hobby that can be practised at many levels, from armchair enthusiast to hard-core twitcher; one thing that unites all of these types is their love of birds.

What is also true for all types of bird-lovers is that the more one watches birds, the more fascinated one becomes and the more one wants to see birds, wants to see new birds, more birds and to get better views of birds. Birdwatching is a hobby that can really grow into an obsession.

This lens contains information on how to find, feed and identify more birds.

For those interested in bird behaviour and ecology, the BBC series "The Life of Birds" is highly recommended.

How to be a Good Birdwatcher 

This lens gives some very specific tips on how to improve your birdwatching skills and how to contribute to ornithology and conservation.

Birdwatching Products 

If you are looking for a one-stop online store to buy binoculars, telescopes, bird toys, feeders, clothing, bird books and other birdwatching paraphernalia then this Online Nature Mall is worth a look.

The Basic Tools for Birdwatching 

1. Binoculars: Whilst birds can be seen and enjoyed with the naked eye, particularly in backgardens, a pair of binoculars is the least one will require for birdwatching.

2. Bird Identification Guide: Less essential than binoculars, but at a very early stage most people want to know what it is that they are looking at.

Binoculars 

An essential tool for birdwatchers

Hard-core birdwatchers will spend huge sums of money on their binoculars and whilst these will be better than cheaper pairs, a pair of binoculars that cost $2000 are not twice as good as a pair that cost $1000.

A Great Value-for-money Pair of Binoculars For Beginners
This is a great pair of binoculars for beginners. With a wide field of view and 8x magnification, locating birds through these binoculars is relatively easy. The lens quality is good and overall these are a good value for money pair of binoculars for beginners and even a very serviceable spare pair for experienced birders.

Olympus America Inc Binocular Trooper 8X40 Dps 1 118755 118755

Olympus America Inc Binocular Trooper 8X40

Finding Birds 

There are a number of ways that one can find birds. These range from methods that are very simple and cheap to those that require a lot of organisation and are expensive.

Lets take a brief look at them:

1. Watching birds in the backyard.
This is easy and can be cheap, although if you get involved in lots of bird feeding the cost can get quite high.

2. Going for a walk in your local area and looking out for birds.
This is available to anyone and costs vitually nothing, although if you live in an urban area with no open spaces, birdwatching opportunities can be few.

3. Travelling to local wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves to see concentrations of birds. This is an activity that many people quickly progress to when they first take an interest in birds. Local wildlife and nature reserves are usually pockets of high-quality habitat and are specially managed for wildlife, meaning that a high number of species and individual birds is quite likely. Many birds in these reserves are ones that are very unlikely to come into your back yard.

Travelling further afield to see national specialities. This requires a larger financial commitment and gives birdwatchers the chance to see species which are restricted to certain areas and habitats. Once you start doing this you know that you are hooked - you are a birdwatcher!

5. Racing around the country to see national rarities; this is "twitching".

6. Travelling overseas to see exotic birds.

7. Hiring a bird guide to show you birds.

Birdwatching in the Garden 

Probably the best thing about watching birds in the garden is that they are your birds; you can take a special pride in the fact that of all the places these birds could go, they have chosen your garden to feed in or make their nest in.

Another great thing about garden birdwatching is that anyone can do it and it is a great way to share your love of birds with those that you live with.

Although many hard-core birdwatchers sneer at garden (or armchair) birders, this is a really excellent way of getting close up to birds and observing their behaviour and other characteristics - great for really getting to know a bird. Use your garden birding time to leanr how certain species move, what exactly they like to eat or how bold/shy each species is. Before you know it you will be an archair ornithologist rather than just a simple birdwatcher!

Here are a couple of lenses that demonstrate the passion that people can have for their garden birds:

My Olive-backed Sunbirds in Bangkok

Our Nesting Blackbirds

Birds of the Garden Poster 

Bird Feeders 

Obviously, one of the best ways of improving your backyard birdwatching experience is to attract more birds to your garden. One of the best and easiest ways of doing this is to provide food for birds.

Alabama Crimson Tide Bird Feeder

Amazon Price: (as of 12/09/2009) Buy Now

12" Cardinal Tube Feeder Verdigris [Kitchen]

Amazon Price: $49.00 (as of 12/09/2009) Buy Now

Birdscapes® 325 Panorama Feeder, 4.5 lb capacity

Amazon Price: $18.55 (as of 12/09/2009) Buy Now

Bird Feeding Lenses 

Bird Feeder Video Clips 


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curated content from YouTube

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by nickupton



Having been a birdologist since the age of seven I am something of an ornithological recluse. However, I managed to gain adulthood, if only physic... (more)

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