WHAT
EQUIPMENT DO YOU NEED?
The best part about bird watching
is that you don’t need much in the way of tools to do it effectively.
You should just start with a good pair of binoculars, a field guide,
a notebook, and a camera. Let’s look at each component individually.
Binoculars
You need binoculars
to better see the birds. You will soon discover an ironic fact.
The best birders have the best binoculars -- even though they can
identify a bird 100 yards away by its silhouette. Newcomers with
a cheap binocular see a fuzzy ball of feathers and don't have a
clue which bird it is. There is an unbelievable difference between
a $59 binocular and a $900 binocular.
Binoculars are a birder's eyes on the world, and they can greatly
affect the quality of a bird outing. Good binoculars make for good
birding,
while bad binoculars can lead to missed birds and severe headaches
induced by blurred images, double vision, and eye strain.
Binoculars come in many different shapes and forms and carry such
descriptions as "roof prism," "close focus,"
"armor coated," etc. At the outset, you don't need to
spend too much time deciphering this arcane lexicon. If you really
get hooked on bird watching, you can learn more about binoculars
later and trade in for a better pair. A decent pair of binoculars
will run you around $60 depending on where you live.
There are a few simple rules to consider and questions to ask when
purchasing your first pair of binoculars.
Make sure the power (or magnification) is at least 7-power. The
power is the first number given in the numerical notation that describes
binoculars. For example, a "7 X 35" pair of "glasses"
will make objects appear as if they are seven times as close as
they actually are. Seven-power binoculars are about the minimum
needed to see birds well. Binoculars 10-power or stronger can be
difficult for some birders to hold steady.
Make sure that the second number ("35" for a "7
X 35" pair of glasses) is at least five times as large as the
power (e.g., "7 X 35," "8 X 40," etc.). This
second number describes the diameter, in millimeters, of the large
lens that faces the object of interest - the "objective"
lens. The larger this lens is, the greater the amount of light the
binoculars gather and thus the easier it will be to see characteristics
in dim light or on a dull-colored bird.
Are the binoculars too heavy for you to carry and use for at least
two hours straight? Don't end up with a hunchback because your binoculars
act like a yoke.
Can you flex the barrels of the binoculars fairly easily? To test
to see if they are too flexible, spread the barrels out as far as
possible and then hold onto only one of the barrels. Does the free
barrel slip or fall from the spread position? It shouldn't.
When held a foot away, do the large objective lenses reflect a
bluish or purplish tinge? If they do, the lenses are color-coated.
This coating reduces internal glare in the binoculars and increases
the amount of light that actually comes to your eyes. Check lenses
to make sure the coatings are free of any blotches or scrapes.
Can you bring the barrels of the binoculars close enough together
so that the image you see merges into a single, clear image within
a single, perfect circle? If the image isn't singular or clear,
the binoculars may be out of alignment or the eyepieces may not
come close enough together to accommodate your eyes. These two problems
may lead to eye strain and severe headaches.
Do you wear prescription eyeglasses? If you do, your binoculars
should have rubber eye cups that fold back. This allows you to put
your eyeglasses up closer to the eyepieces of your binoculars and
gives you a much larger field of view.
Do the binoculars produce a clear image of an object only 20 feet
away? Some binoculars do not focus on objects this close, so you
may miss the sparrow or warbler that skulks in a nearby bush.
Look at a sign with large lettering. Do the letters close to the
edge of the field of view appear as precise and well-formed as the
letters in the center of the field of view? Image distortion towards
the edge of binoculars is common in bad binoculars - like looking
through a fish-eye lens. Look for a pair that has minimal distortion
When you focus on a license plate or small sign two blocks away,
are the letters and numbers clear? If they’re not, choose
a different pair!
A general list of “don’ts” to consider when buying
binoculars:
· Don't buy compact or pocket-sized binoculars (typically
8 x 21, or 10 x 21) as your primary pair for birding. The size and
weight are attractive, but no matter how good the optics, compacts
provide a lower quality image than mid- or full-size binoculars.
Another drawback is that most compacts have a narrow field of view,
which makes it very difficult to locate and follow birds.
· Don't buy zoom binoculars. Expert birders report them as
being inferior.
· Don't seek advice on buying optics from non-birders. Hikers,
hunters, and boaters have different needs than birders. Looking
at birds is not the same as looking at other wildlife. Pocket binoculars
are fine for looking across a savannah at an elephant or a cheetah,
but they are not suitable for birding. Marine binoculars provide
a sharp, bright image, but are too big and heavy to carry around
all day.
· Don't buy binoculars until you have tried them. Make sure
they feel comfortable in your hands. Look through them and be sure
you get a clear, unobstructed view. Different models suit different
people, and each instrument varies. If ordering by mail or online,
make sure that you can exchange them.
One thing about binoculars – you don’t always have to
have the best specs for bird watching. Any binoculars are better
than none at all. The thing to remember is that you need to have
something to magnify the birds you will be looking for. If you are
serious about bird watching, take heed of the tips for buying binoculars
given above. They will be well worth the money!
Practicing Using Your New Binoculars
Before using your binoculars, it is important to adjust them so
they compensate for the differing strengths of your two eyes. Take
a lens cap and cover up the right objective lens with it. Then look
through the left lens and focus on an object 30 feet away using
the main focusing knob located between the two barrels of your binoculars.
Once you have focused on the object, move the lens cap from the
right lens to the left lens. Look through the right lens at the
same object (but don't touch the main focusing wheel!) If the image
you see is not as clear as it looked through the left lens, adjust
it using the focusing ring attached to the right eyepiece of your
binoculars. Take note of where you have set the focus on the right
eyepiece. Now your binoculars are adjusted to your eyes and ready
for action.
Next, spend some time developing the hand-eye coordination you'll
need to spot birds quickly. Most bird watching is definitely not
like watching football. With bird watching there's much more action
- everything is happening at 1/100 the scale and moves 100 times
as quickly over an unlimited expanse of space. It takes time for
beginning birders to get the knack of spotting birds with their
binoculars. The secret is to learn to spot a bird with the naked
eye and then lift the binoculars up to your eyes without ever taking
your eyes off the bird.
Find a comfortable spot at a local park and spend time just practicing
spotting objects with your binoculars. Initially, set the focus
lever on the binoculars so that an object approximately 30 feet
away is in clear view. This is a good average distance from which
you can learn to focus the binoculars in and out.
Then begin to look for birds with your naked eyes and then find
them with your binoculars. Simply follow the bird around for a while,
lowering and lifting your binoculars every so often. Don't worry
about identifying birds yet. Just watch what they are doing. Soon,
you'll be able to spot and focus like a pro.
Field Guides
What is a field guide? A field guide is a little book that's packed
with information about
birds. It's the next best thing to an expert birder by your
side. It describes and shows pictures of the birds, and it tells
you which details of each bird to look for.
A field guide can tell you what kinds of birds might be in your
particular area and give some excellent tips on what to look for
in your bird watching. If you don’t have a field guide, you
won’t have a clue about what kinds of birds you will be seeing,
so this is essential to have. A field guide will generally cost
you around $20.
A field guide contains pictures of birds and tips for identifying
them. The best book for new birders is the Peterson Field Guide
to Eastern Birds or the Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds. When
you become familiar with the birds in your area, you will probably
want the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America
3rd edition. For young birders, we recommend Peterson First Guide:
Birds. It describes 188 common and conspicuous birds and it won't
overwhelm you with too many choices. You will also want to look
at the new Stokes Field Guides.
There has been a veritable explosion in the number of field guides
published about birds over the last few years. Until the late 1960s,
the guide most widely used was Roger Tory Peterson's original The
Birds of Eastern North America, the first field guide of its kind
produced. This book literally made bird watching a popular activity
by making accurate identifications of birds possible.
Today, however, there are specific field guides available for certain
regions of the country (Texas even has its own field guide) as well
as for specific groups of birds, such as hawks, gulls, shorebirds,
ducks, and others. These specialized books may eventually make their
way into the library of a birding enthusiast. Still, beginners need
only consider the comprehensive guides when choosing their first
field guide.
When purchasing your first guide, it is best to start with one that
displays paintings of birds rather than photographs. Paintings allow
artists to include all distinguishing features (called "field
marks") that help to identify a bird in each illustration.
Often, photographs do not show all these marks due to lighting or
positioning of the bird. Photographic guides can be a valuable companion
reference, however, especially when studying the details of a bird's
shape.
Once you have selected your field guide, do not - repeat, do not
- immediately run off looking for birds, because what you'll actually
find instead of birds is trouble and frustration. Many a field guide
has spent more time collecting dust than helping to identify birds
because the owner didn't learn how to use the guide.
Sit down with your field guide when you first get it and read through
the complete introduction. Next, look at some of the pictures and
figure out where some of the common birds you recognize are located
in the field guide (i.e., front, back, or middle).
If you want to become an avid outdoor birder, you’ll want
a guide that is easy to carry and flip through quickly. If you are
more of a backyard birder, watching local species on your feeders
and birdbath, portability is not as important.
Field Guide Organization
Numerous beginners tend to spot a bird and immediately open their
field guide to the middle pages. They then look to the right ten
pages, look left ten pages, and don't find the bird. Then they look
right 20 pages, look left 20 pages, and still don't find the bird.
After looking a few more pages left and right, they heave the guide
into the air out of disgust and give up the whole enterprise.
This happens because the person hasn't learned how bird
species are arranged in the field guide. It's no wonder they
get frustrated. Field guides, just like dictionaries and phone books,
are ordered according to a precise system that determines where
different birds are located in the book.
If you were looking up the word "aardvark" in the dictionary,
you wouldn't begin somewhere in the middle, would you? Similarly,
if you see a sparrow-like bird sitting on the ground, don't start
searching through the middle of a field guide because all the sparrows
are located in the last quarter of field guides.
Most guides are roughly organized in "phylogenetic order."
Phylogenetic order is the way scientists classify all living things
(not just birds) based on their evolutionary history - which creatures,
according to likenesses in their present-day appearance, most probably
evolved from common ancestors.
You can learn more about this ordering system by reading your field
guide. The point is that birds having similar physical appearances
occur very close together in a field guide. You won't find sparrows
on the same page with hawks or a loon facing a warbler. All sparrows,
loons, warblers, hawks, and even gulls and blackbirds are located
many pages away from one another.
There are five essential levels of classification by which all birds
are grouped. When we refer to birds of the same "species,"
for example a group of 15 blue jays, we are using the most specific
level of classification.
Similar species are grouped into a "genus," then different
genera (plural of genus) are grouped into a "family,"
different families are grouped into an "order" of birds,
and finally all orders are grouped into just one "class."
This is the class "Aves," which in Latin refers to all
birds. As you may guess, species in the same genus are more closely
related to one another - and look more alike - than species in different
genera. Likewise, families grouped in a single order are more similar
to one another than families grouped in different orders.
Most field guides covering North America contain about 800-900 species,
grouped into over 300 genera, grouped into 74 different families,
grouped into just 20 different orders (guides limited to eastern
or western North America have about half as many species).
The most convenient and logical classification level for the beginning
birder to focus on is the family. There are simply too many genera
and species out there for a novice to grasp easily, and identification
to a particular order is too broad to be challenging. More importantly,
by learning the general shape, size, and appearance of the different
families of birds, you will develop the powers of observation that
characterize a good birder.
In fact, you probably know more about some of the families than
you realize. For example, if you can recognize a laughing gull you
already know a lot about the general sizes and shapes of all the
gulls. Similarly, by knowing what a cardinal looks like, you know
a good bit about buntings, grosbeaks, and other members of this
family - namely that they have very thick, pointed bills.
Armed with the ability to recognize the shapes of the major bird
families and a good local field guide, you can go anywhere in the
world and immediately find yourself head and shoulders above non-birders
in terms of identification skills - even though you don't have any
familiarity or experience with the local birds.
So when you first get your field guide, spend time looking at its
organization and the way it groups families of birds. Divide your
guide into four sections using tags or sticky notes. The first quarter
will contain the families of large water birds, the second quarter
the large land birds (ending with the woodpeckers), and the last
two quarters will contain the small land birds (all in the order
"Passeriformes," commonly called the "passerines"
or "perching birds").
Continue to look for common species that you already know and use
these as a guide for learning the common characteristics of other
species in the family. Remember, you should begin birding using
your head, not running around chasing after elusive thrushes and
confusing fall warblers. Look casually, not frantically, at birds
you don't know. Equipped with your spyglasses and trusty field guide,
you can now begin to get acquainted with all those flitting bundles
of feathers.
Your Notebook
This doesn’t have to be anything fancy. We recommend something
smaller than the standard 8 x 11 variety. Carry something that is
easy to handle and can be kept on your person without being too
intrusive.
What do you want to jot down in your notebook? Birds you have seen,
where you saw them, what they looked like, what they sounded like,
etc. When you record these observations right when you see (and/or
hear) them, you will be able to better reflect on your experience
later on.
Your Camera
While this is not necessarily considered an essential piece of
equipment for bird watching, we think it should be. If you happen
across a particularly beautiful species of bird and want to capture
it for later study, you could rely on your mind, or you could just
snap a picture.
Most of the world is going digital these days. With your digital
camera, get one that has the maximum pixels selected for the best
pictures. Be sure you have a zoom lens so you can get “up
close and personal” with your fine feathered friends. And,
by all means, turn off the flash! Nothing can scare away a bird
quicker than a flash of light from your camera!
If you have pictures of the birds you see, you can also do more
in-depth analysis of the birds once you get home. With pictures,
you can delve more deeply into your field guide and document the
exact birds you came across in your expedition.
And think of the photo album you can create! Beautiful!
Anything Else?
Most experienced bird watchers highly suggest a hat – one
that covers your head from the sun and make you less conspicuous.
Any old hat will do. Birding is not a fashion contest. But the hat
should shade your eyes and not interfere with using your binoculars.
A birding vest is useful, too. You can put your binoculars, your
field guide, your pen and notebook, and perhaps some insect repellent
in the pockets. Hang the vest near the door, and you'll be ready
to grab it and have everything you need for bird watching at a moment's
notice.
One last note, when birding, you should wear neutral colored clothing,
not white. The last thing you want is to scare away normally skittish
creatures with brightly colored clothing that calls attention to
the fact that you are there watching them!
Now that you have the right gear, let’s look first at some
bird watching etiquette.
|
