New Rustic Bird Houses

Tips for watching birds

Bird watching is quickly acquiring popularity as an outdoor activity so if you have an interest in watching birds the following tips will teach you how to get the most out of the experience. At first, telling one bird from another will be difficult because they move around so much and hardly stay in place. Once you see a bird you will want to make the most of the brief time you have to watch the bird by taking note of its markings, movements, birdsong, what it consumes and how it eats it.

Listening can be just as important as watching, as many birds are best identified by their song than compared to how they look like so listening to a bird’s vocalization is simple but it can also easy to forget. When listening to a song, pay attention to the bird’s mouth since this will help you better determine the sounds you are hearing relate to the bird you are watching. By looking up birds of similar size and shape, you may be able to narrow down the results so begin with the bird’s overall appearance but also take note of the body shape and silhouette. Don’t overlook the details in the head the bird’s mouth can also be a very important identifying feature then once this is done, look at the bird’s body, wings and tail finishing with the legs.

Watch closely on how the bird moves because it’s movements can be a dead giveaway as to its species. Also if you can, try to determine what kind of food the bird eats. Write down the area you saw the bird in keeping in mind that birds tend to migrate so make sure that you have taken into consideration the time of the year. Write down anything that you have noticed, it can help when you later sit down with a field guide to confirm the bird’s species.

Make sure you keep a pair of binoculars with you – some people will even wear camouflaged clothing to blend in better with the surroundings. Long sleeved shirts, and long pants will go a long way in a wooded area, and leech socks help protect you from insects and leeches. Field boots will keep your feet dry help you traverse rough terrain, hills, and wet areas. When bird watching in parks, there are some that provide shelters, most parks feature different types of shelter which assist bird watchers and photographers alike.

If you are with friends family and suddenly you have spotted a rare bird specie, try to avoid giving vague directions, I know you can’t use hand signals, but you can point to landmarks by first using large points of reference, then get more detailed. When the person finds the object you’re pointing out, tell them to look in a clock related direction. To ensure that you do it correctly, you can practice when you go out bird watching by yourself.