Becoming a good Birder #ABTRecipeFriday

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  • Have good eyes and ears, and a good brain. At its most fundamental level, birding involves seeing and hearing birds, and then processing the visual and aural input to the birder’s brain.
  • Start young. It is more difficult if you begin as an adult or even a late teenager.
  • Don’t get cocky. Teen birders, who, despite brilliant sensory and neural apparatus, are eerily capable of mistaking a common Savannah Sparrow for a mega-rarity Baird’s Sparrow.
  • Stay with it. The longer you bird, the better you learn.
  • Know status and distribution. This information makes a huge difference in the bird identification process.
  • Learn vocalizations of as much birds as you possibly can.
  • Understand behavior. Recognizing behavioral clues is a key component of bird identification.
  • Go naked! You don’t necessarily notice stuff when you’re birding with binoculars or any other equipment.
  • Have fun. Birding doesn’t promise a cure for cancer. Birding doesn’t provide a clear path to world peace. We go birding for fun!


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