Birdwatching. Guide to the world of dinosaur’s relatives

What is it?

Birdwatchers are people who like to observe wild birds in their natural habitat.
You don’t have to open your school books again or be an ornitolog to do birdwatching. Lot’s of people just simply enjoy watching wild life.

It is boring.

No! You never would have thought what a busy bird life happened every day around us. However we don’t pay attention to it in a daily rush.

You can make a list and put there every bird you found. The mateur birdwathers can have on their list thoughsands of species. On the list of world’s #1 birdwatcher John Hornbuckle there are 9435 of them (of about 10500 known in the world nowdays).

There are different competitions when you should photograph and identify birds as much as you can in the limited time.

There are only pigeons and ducks in my city.

You would be surprised how many species of birds living in the city! Wherever you live, there are about hundred of different species in your area which are easy to find.
At the first time all birds seems the same. We recognize only pigeons or ducks just because they are familiar to us. When you will start to observe birds, you’ll find out that there are much more beautiful birds around us every day.

Why should I try it?

For fun and self-education.
Birds are almost the only connection of a modern urban man with a wildlife.
Living in the cities, we are increasingly moving away from nature and forgetting that there is life beyond our stone jungle.

We grew up on the books about animals, authors like Gerald Durrell, Ernest Thompson Seton or one my favorite when I was a kid Vitaly Bianki. Somehow, we’ve grown up and nature doesn’t interest and fascinate us as much as before.

There are about 10500 species of birds in the world. And more than 10% of them may face extinction in next 100 years. There are plenty of reason for it, most of them are human’s fault. The first step to prevent a tragedy is awareness.

It is healthy.

Birding push you go out for a long walks, be on the open air, outside of dirty streets with traffic and noise. Birdwatching is very catching, and you probably start to travel more, spend more time outside.

I find it more life-affirming to observe wild life around us than to waste time in front of the television.

New hobby brings people together.

As every new hobby, birdwatching can help you to make new friends. You’ll be surprised how many people sharing the same hobby and willing to talk and share their experience with others. Same hobby unites people across different countries and generations and it’s great!

It’s also a perfect reason to spend time with family, enjoy walks, weekends together. If you have kids – they will be happy to learn about new world of nature that will stay with them for all their life. Paying attention on nature will make you think more about enviroment, be more careful with a world where all of us live.

Why not to invite you friends to discover something new? New experience and exploration of wonderness of the life will make you friendship stronger.

…Or enjoy solitude.

On the other hand you can also go alone and enjoy time all by yourself. It gives you perfect opportunity to think and reflect, put things in your head on the right order, meditate and relax. Your mind settles down while communicating with nature.

You’ll learn to pay attention.

Attention to the life around you in general. Start observing birds makes you pay more attention on details. To identify the bird you’ll need to spot this little creatures in the huge area and notice details as their color, habits, etc.
You’ll bring soon attention skills to you daily life. You’ll start to pay more attention to the people in your life, your family, friends, neighbors.
And it’s very important, isn’t it?

How to start?

Just step outside and start noticing this little creatures around you!
You don’t need special equipment for the first time. However, field guide (hand book that helps to identify birds) would be helpful.

You can also need a binoculars. Don’t buy something professional – any binoculars would be better that nothing. Ideal binoculars for birdwatching –  8 to 10 fold increase, light and compact.

Camera, if you would like to take photos as well. You can both take a camera with a long focus lens or use you smartphone camera. You can use the technology ‘digiscoping’, photographing through the lense of binocular or a telescope. Special adapters for digiscoping (average cost about 30-40 $) also exist.

Make a list! It will give you more motivation. Write down every kind of bird you have spotted. While I try to identify the bird, I also learn more about their difference, inviroment they live, their habits. It encourages you to observe carefully.

Where can I do it?

The best thing about birdwathing – you don’t need to go far from home. You can do it in your city on weekend in the nearest big park or you can have a trip out of the city.

On you travel. Wherever you go, there always will be birds around. You can explore new country in different ways, some species of birds are simply amazing.

In every country you’ll find birdwathing tours with a knowlegable guide who can show you specific birds you won’t find by yourself.  You can enjoy walking in the national park as well – its healthy and lovely.

Birdwatchers who are really into birding do special trips only to spot specific birds. Some birds are really cool and rare so this trips are totally worse it. Check paradise bird, crowned crane, harpy eagle or golden pheasant! Its simply beautiful.

Get inspired!

Check out most famouse movies about birdwatching:
A Birderʼs Guide to Everything by Rob Meyer
The Big year (2011)
Birders: The Central Park Effect (2012)