Lazy Birdwatching (Birdwatching)

Member Name: luckyarchers

Product:	Birdwatching
Date:	23/01/09 (696 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: For me, an absorbing and relaxing hobby.

Disadvantages: Some people disturb the birds that they are watching.

*** Types of Birdwatcher ***

Birdwatchers fall into two main groups.

Some race around the country, burning up lots of fuel which contributes to spoiling the habitat of many of the birds they want to see.

Others including myself, usually spend much of their leisure time enjoying the birds in, or near, their own home.


*** Information Sources ***

There have been many books written on the subject. If you are a beginner or on a tight budget, borrowing books from the library may be the best way for you. Then gradually acquire for yourself the literature that you will have the most long term use for. For me, the most useful publications are the compact identification charts, for guidance and ease of carrying around.

The internet is a great source of information, as it can keep you right up to date on what can be seen where, as well as give the sort of information you can get from books. My favourite websites for birds are the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Nature part of the BBC site. Amongst other interesting information, they will let you know what to look out for in the area that you are in, and give tips about what food to use to try to attract the species that live in the type of habitat near you.

CDs are available so you can get used to the sounds that different species make. I have spotted some on Amazon, amongst other places. You can also find bird calls on the internet. I like being able to listen to the Dawn Chorus on the BBC website at any time of day, and any time of the year, as well as the individual bird songs there. The site will give you the link to the free Real Player download site, which you will need, if you have not already got it.


*** Identification ***

The pair of binoculars that I find the most useful is my small lightweight one. Even though I am a comparatively Lazy Birdwatcher, I still like to stroll around my local area, or areas that I am holidaying near, and take these binoculars with me.

Once I had a little experience, I learnt that getting a perfect look at a bird is not the only way to identify it. Wing beat (eg graceful, rapid), other movement styles, preferred food, shape, size, habitat that you see it in, and call, can all help in successful identification.


*** In the Garden ***

This is my favourite place for relaxing and watching birds.

We live just north of the Thames estuary in one direction, and have woodland and farmland not far from us in the opposite direction. We also have a lake near us that attracts inland water birds, so we get a good variety of birds visiting, or just flying over, our suburban garden.

We throw some food onto our garage roof in the hope that it will distract some of the bigger birds away from the feeders we put up that are most suitable for smaller agile birds.

When in the garden, we only see the geese from our local lake when they fly overhead back and forth from their night and day time haunts. However some of the local ducks come to visit us in our garden. Weather permitting, they have sunbathed with us, and then begged for some of our food when we eat al fresco.

My neighbours also share my interest, so we can let each other know what we have seen at different parts of the day.

By comparing spottings we have learnt that gulls stop off hoping to find food on our garage roof, on their way from their safe roost to their daytime feeding ground of our local tip. Shy birds, including blue tits, briefly visit our feeders at times with the least competition from other birds, preferably when the least number of humans are about as well.

We have noticed a big decline in the sparrow population in our area, but are spotting more birds of prey. We see sparrowhawks (that eat small birds like sparrows), kestrels, hobbies and the occasional buzzard.

The only encouragement we give the birds of prey, is to feed the smaller birds that give them nourishment, and keep a pet rabbit. If the rabbit is out of his protective run when a predator is about, he quickly dives for cover though, and we don't leave him out in the open unattended.

We, like many others, did not always appreciate the amount of different feathered species that share our local environment, but now they make our neighbourhood a lot more interesting for us.


If you have not already done so, I hope you learn to enjoy birds, especially the ones that live near you. The more people that appreciate them, the more interest there ought to be in protecting them.

I'm off to roost now, so I will wish you good-night.

Summary: Can be a fascinating, relatively easy and inexpensive pastime.