![Birdwatching](/content/images/size/w1200/2023/10/DSC_1064.jpg)
Hello readers!
I have long wanted to write something similar to a guide on how to photograph (and generally) watch birds. Go over the basics, maybe give some tips, and that's about it.
So, let's start with what birdwatching is and where it came from.
Wikipedia tells us the following:
Birdwatching is amateur ornithology that involves observing and studying birds with the naked eye, or with binoculars. In addition to visual observation, this activity also involves listening to birdsong, as many species of birds can be more easily recognized by the sounds they make.
Birdwatching is more often seen as a hobby, as the activity has more of a recreational than a scientific purpose. Birdwatching is most popular in Western Europe and North America, and is also popular in Japan. Most observers travel the world either in small groups of 6-10 people or independently. All data (where, when, at what time, how many birds, what species) are recorded in field diaries. Information collected by amateur ornithologists may be of scientific value.
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For myself, I would categorize this hobby into several levels, in terms of cost, time, and overall attitude towards the process. At the same time, it should be understood that this division is very conditional, and is more of an introductory type.
Let's call this part - the introduction -
So, what would be useful for birdwatching in general?
I would divide the essentials here into a few simple parts. First of all, you and your phone. That's enough to get you started. I suspect that you have seen quite a few birds in your life, whether domestic or not. Sparrows, pigeons, crows, magpies, titmice, gulls, they all live in the neighborhood with humans and are frequent visitors to city parks. So it's safe to say you're already in this club.
City parks are a great place to start, there are two reasons for this. The first is excellent accessibility, most often you don't have to spend more than 15 minutes to walk to the nearest one. The second is that birds in such places are used to people, so you don't have to sneak up to get a good look at who's singing in the shrubberies.
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The photo above is a prime example of a typical inhabitant, a sparrow
Homework - walk to the nearest park to you, and write down 5 birds you meet
Some lucky bird watchers can watch birds from the comfort of their own homes. I once lived on the first floor, and in front of the windows there were bushes with berries (unfortunately I don't remember the name, but it doesn't matter), and almost every day tits and sparrows came to eat berries, which allowed me to take pictures of them right from the window.
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Following the parks, you can distinguish forest parks and forests, there is more variety of birds, but it will be much more difficult to catch and notice all this, because here you will not have the advantage that they are not afraid of you.
And here is my first advice, which will be applicable if you like watching birds - buy binoculars.
Small, lightweight, but it will allow you to get a closer look at the object of observation without having to approach it, and therefore with less chance of spooking it. The main point that I would emphasize for beginners - pay attention to the weight of the binoculars, walking all day with 2 kilograms around your neck is a doubtful pleasure.
Tip for using binoculars - first you find the bird with your eyes, and then, when you see approximately where it sits, you start looking through the eyepieces. It's pretty hard to get used to it, and to find birds using it in general.
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The second thing you might find useful as a budding birdwatcher is a mobile app for identifying birds.
I will name the two I use the most - eBird and Merlin Bird ID
- eBird is an observation diary, where you can note the birds you have seen, record your travel routes, and much more
- Merlin Bird ID is a bird identification guide. It can identify birds by description (size, color, whether it was on the ground, in the water), photo (you can upload a picture from your phone, and immediately get an answer), and my favorite feature - identifying birds by voice, you can turn on the recording from the microphone, and the application will automatically track the birds singing around you. If only it could point them in the right direction, it would be great
Both of these apps are released by the same company (more like a research institute) and contain the same base. And by recording your observations there you help other colleagues to find birds. Within the app you can track where a particular bird has been spotted. Also, they have a website with approximately the same functionality
And that's it for today, next time we'll talk about where and how to birdwatch in Paris (Within the framework of what I've already discovered for myself), and we'll talk about photography, and the techniques for it.
![](https://www.krdn.io/content/images/2023/10/DSC_5200-1.jpg)