so i ran polls on my IG and my twitter with a few options for this post, and was surprised to see WHY I LOVE BIRDING won on both sites.
if we are close, its possible you are sick of hearing me talk about bird and birding, but TOO BAD THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN.
do you like birds? did you love i spy or wheres waldo as a kid? did you have a huge pokemon go phase? looking for a reason to go outside? find yourself in your 30s, and asking yourself “i wonder what kind of bird that is?”
BIRDING MAY BE FOR YOU!
my journey into birding was a slow one. my friend, jacqui, has (an almost) yearly tradition where she gets a group together to go to the ren fair each year for her birthday. the first year we went to the falcon show, where a husband and wife team show off the art of falconry with a peregrine falcon, and a hawk or two (the details are fuzzy, we didn’t go this past summer) and talk about the history of using hawks and falcon for hunting, and i thought it was VERY COOL.
i wanted to learn more about birds of prey, so i googled local ways to learn about them, and came across the schlitz audubon nature center, and went to an event where they showed off their rescue raptors, which was cool, and THEN i went to XTREME RAPTOR DAY!!! which was DOPE. they gave out little passports, and had different stations where you could learn about raptors/do a little activity and get your passport stamped upon completion.
was this mostly for families and children? SURE. did i still get all of my passport stamped AND get to dissect an owl pellet? YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS I DID.
then for a while, birds took the back seat.
THEN this year, i was looking to see if there’d be another XTREME RAPTOR DAY at the nature center, and saw they were offering a class on identifying local raptors, and signed up.
this class was SO COOL. it was 3 hours long, and VERY INFORMATIVE. i took pages and pages of notes. AND because there were only 3 other students in the class, we got to be really close to the rescue birds they brought you, and ask a lot of questions. i seriously had SO MUCH FUN, and can now CONFIDENTLY identify red tailed hawks and turkey vultures at a distance, AND tell the difference between coopers hawks and sharp shinned hawks close up.
so you may be asking, amanda, why is birding the best hobby ever? and for that, i have made a VERY HELPFUL AND PERSUASIVE LIST
WHY BIRDING IS THE BEST HOBBY EVER
1. you can do it everywhere and anywhere!
because birds are everywhere! you seriously don’t even have to leave your house. i have birded from my apartment before just lookin out the window. (tho most of the birds that fly past my window are ring billed gulls). if you have a yard, you probably have birds in it. if you don’t, get a bird feeder. its a hobby for agoraphobics AND outdoor adventurists!
i birded from the passenger seat a few weeks ago on the way home from the elkhorn vintage flea market, and by “birded” i mean, i shouted TURKEY VULTURE at jacqui everytime i saw one in the sky while she was driving, which happened probably 12 times. (shes since not invited me on any 45 minute drives, but like, im sure its a coincidence)
2. its a good reason to go outside!
so even though you don’t HAVE to go outside for birding, i highly recommend it. its a great excuse to visit new parks, or areas of town. or new towns. whatever, like i said. you can bird anywhere.
3. you can do it alone OR with friends!
need an activity to do with your loved ones? go and look at birds. don’t have any loved ones? go look at birds alone.
4. birders are super nice!
almost every time ive gone birding, ive met another birder. how do i do this, you ask? its SIMPLE. if i see someone walking around with binoculars or a camera with a big ass lens on it, i say “hi!” or “um, excuse me, are you a birder?”, or (i’m learning this is a common question to ask other birders) “what are you looking for/hoping to see?”
once, an old dude taught me all about wood ducks. another time, i met a new friend who ive since gone birding with. so, if you don’t have anyone to go birding with, if you go birding enough and are just a LITTTTTLE outgoing/friendly, you can meet people D2B (down to bird).
5. you don’t need any extra equipment
sure, you CAN use binoculars (and it def makes spotting/identifying birds easier), but its not necessary.
6. the best apps for birding are FREE
and ill get into more detail in the next section
WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED
(yes, i know you said you dont need anything, BUT if you want to up your birding game, here’s a good start)
binoculars! ok i have this pair (you’ll want the 8x42) that was recommended from this list. they have recommendations at various price points, and mine are from the “get in the game” list, aka the cheapest binoculars they recommend.
i heard someone on tiktok say something like, “they say to get the most expensive binoculars you can afford, but i say to get the most expensive pair you can afford to replace” because, even though binoculars can last a long time, and lots have great warranties, you dont want to be heartbroken if you lose or drop them.
PLUS i’ve heard that when birders upgrade their binoculars, they often sell theirs used for cheap, (or sometimes even give them away) so you may be able to score a deal.
one thing with binoculars you want to pay attention to are the little numbers attached to them, (like how mine are 8x42), the first number is the magnification level. and you dont want to go above an 8, otherwise your field of vision becomes to small, and it can be hard to keep a flying bird in frame.
the merlin app!
i fucking love the merlin app. it’s FREE and such a helpful tool for identifying the birds you are seeing AND HEARING. you can upload a photo, or go though a step by step process where you list out the color, size, etc of bird and it will give you a list of what your bird may be. ANNNNND it has a really handy feature, where you can ID birds by sound. I keep it running when I’m out walking around and birding, and it IDs the birds yelling/chripping/whatever around me. it helps me know what birds to look for, like if it says its a cardinal i know to look for a red bird.
eBird is an app where you can track birds you’re seeing, share your lists. if you get an account, it can connect to your merlin account. but IMO the best part of ebird (especially if you’re a new birder like me) is you can look up birding HOTSPOTS in your area, and see what other people have spotted there. like if you really wanted to try and spot a bald eagle, you can check out other people’s lists from the last couple of days to see if anyone has seen one, then go wherever they were.
SUNSCREEN
if you’re outside, you should be wearing sunscreen. i wear sunscreen on my face every single day. honestly you should too, but WHATEVER Im not going to lecture you.
NOW WHAT ARE MY FAVORITE BIRDS?
belted kingfishers
these are one of the first birds i birded, and i got to watch one swoop down and then try and eat a lil fish or tadpole. ive now seen them at almost every milwaukee lake/little stream. i love their dumb hair.
pigeons! i love pigeons so much. dont even get me started on these beautiful, smart birds we brought over, used for hundreds of years, and then abandoned and now see as a pest. they recognize faces! they mate for life! both parents raise the babies!!
crows! whats not to love about a crow? they are super smart, they remember faces and will talk shit about you to other crows if you are mean to them, theyve been known to bring people trinkets in exchange for food.
ravens!
ospreys! i learned about ospreys in my hawk ID class, and they are so cool. they are fish hawks, but instead of just skimming the water to hunt, they will fully dive in. plus, they carry their fish like this, which makes me laugh.
owls, hawks, turkey vultures, falcons, etc etc any bird of prey.
ducks, obvs. all kinds.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? what are your favorite birds? are you gonna go birding? have any birding hot spots? LMK.
ok love you byeeeeeeee
Ok when are you coming to wv to look at birds???
My binoculars are really hard to see out of. Like I get dizzy. Think I need new ones.
I have a cardinal family, chickadees, sparrows, and, my fav, red bellied woodpecker come to my feeder.
on Sunday I watched the woodpecker for a long time dig into a tree and then fit their whole body into it.
Thank you for sharing your love of birding!