Yes, You Can: Be A Backyard Birder
May/June 2008

Our easy tips will soon have you on a first-name basis with all those birds hanging around outside your window.
By Maria Dolan

It will never be an Olympic sport, but watching birds is an easygoing activity that can perfectly complement more rigorous outdoor pastimes. Most bird-watching outdoorswomen echo one another when they talk about why they love watching birds: the activity helps you feel closer to the wild animals that share the water or mountains with you. “Once I learned that birds are the wildlife that you can see wherever you go,” says Seattleite Ashley Parkinson, “I was hooked. I cross-country ski, hike, canoe, kayak, bike, and camp—and I’m always on the lookout.”

“I think of it as the difference between knowing and not knowing your neighbors,” says Lyanda Lynn Haupt, a lifelong
bird watcher and author who has written about birding in such books as Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent: The Importance of Everything and Other Lessons from Darwin’s Lost Notebooks and the forthcoming Crow Planet. “Knowing the name of something is the first step to knowing more about it ecologically.” And getting to know your neighbors is easier than you think, once you figure out their habits.

Get Started
At its simplest studying birds requires only a pair of alert eyes. Nevertheless, like opting for a powder day and an easy run when you are learning to ski, choosing the right conditions for this activity cuts down on frustration and boredom.

For a smooth start, get an excellent field guide with clear photos or illustrations, such as the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Because different regions of the country attract different bird species, a regional guide, or perhaps even a guide to your city, can help you narrow the field of study. Try keeping binoculars and a field guide at the kitchen window or in your bike bag so you can work bird watching into your daily routine. You’ll find more birds out foraging at dawn or dusk on a warm day, but really you can spot birds during any season and at any time of day. Spring is a great time to see songbirds, but in fall and winter shorelines bustle with ducks
and other waterfowl. Hawks can be seen later in the day as warm air rises.

Learn What to Look For
Whenever you’re watching, one thing seems to be universal: birds rarely stand still and are apt to take flight before you can compare them with field guide pictures and learn their names.

If you forget to notice key features, it can be challenging to figure out which species you’ve seen. Absorb as much information as you can about a bird before turning to the field guide—and prioritize what to look for.
“People visually overemphasize color and size,” says Haupt, “but size is really hard to judge in the field unless you have two birds sitting right next to each other. And color is hard because there are all different birds over all different taxonomic groups that are the same color.”

Keep these characteristics in mind but consider others. For instance, what kind of bill does the bird have? Is it big and bulky for chopping seeds, or is it a little tweezer bill? Behavior is also important: is the bird flitting fast, eating berries, hopping under leaves? Also look at the pattern of colors. Are there streaks? Wing bars? If you have a hard time remembering visual detail, jot down notes. And pay attention to a bird’s voice. Mating season, usually during late winter, is an especially good time to hear their callsand songs. Some people pick up calls easily, while this aspect of
birding can be a major challenge for others. Once you learn more about which birds you might expect to hear on a mountain trail or in your urban backyard, determining which bird is singing will become much easier.

Set the Stage
If you’ve hunkered down attentively but are spotting only crows, perhaps it’s time to offer treats. Hanging your own feeder can attract new birds. Be sure to hook it where you can see it regularly, and try to find a place that offers a challenge to squirrels, which tend to raid feeders. Also put some thought into feed and feeder types. Most birds are choosy: sparrows prefer black-oil sunflower seeds and millet, and orioles like fruit, such as orange and apple slices. The best place for advice on feeding is at a local bird-watching shop or nature center, such as Audubon, or head online to sites such as the Backyard Birder section of www.birdwatchersdigest.com.

Hummingbird feeders can be especially rewarding because these entertaining birds buzz throughout the United States year-round in temperate climates. There’s also no need to buy hummingbird food: just boil one part sugar (not honey, which ferments) to four parts water, let it cool, and add it to the feeder. (You can store the rest for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.) Keep the feeder replenished, especially in hot weather, when it tends to evaporate. If you’d rather garden, pack in plants with nectar-rich blossoms, such as salvia, honeysuckle, and hibiscus.

A water feature is also a draw for almost any backyard bird. “Water is the number one thing that attracts birds,” says Andy Thompson, publisher of Birdwatcher’s Digest. He says even a simple birdbath works well but suggests using a “water wiggler”—a battery-operated device that keeps water moving—to attract birds to bathe and drink. (This or any other device that keeps water in motion, such as a fountain, also discourages mosquitoes.)

Moving Forward
If you’re ready to stretch your vocabulary beyond a handful of backyard-bird names, or if teasing apart the species is proving difficult, Thompson highly recommends locating a mentor. “I think it really shortens your learning curve,” he says. Try local nature centers, classes at community colleges, or your local Audubon chapter.

And don’t be surprised if your new pastime becomes a social outlet as well. “We all secretly feel supremely geeky,” says Parkinson of the bird-watching tribe. “So when we find each other, we feel an immediate bond.”