Do you love to nature? Are you concerned about the environment? If you answered yes to both, then birding is most likely for you. It’s entertaining, inexpensive and helps the birds surrounding your community. Once you begin backyard birding you will begin to see species you may consider “common” exhibit interesting and fascinating behaviors when feeding, bathing, courting and finding a nest. In time, you’ll get to recognize different birds in the same species and get to see how individual the birds are. It’s like having television in your back yard or balcony.
The Beginner Twitcher
The snazzy name for a birdwatcher is a twitcher. However, this is usually given to birdwatchers that drive long distances and take vacations to watch birds. But watching birds in your home turf is just as important to conservation efforts, but for your enjoyment. Many important discoveries about bird behavior have been made by amateur birdwatchers who liked to watch birds for the sheer joy of it.
Despite the name, twitchers stay very still and are often quite relaxed. Birders often become the same way. Watching birds is like a kind of mediation. You become still and focus our attention on just one thing – watching the birds. Birding or twitching is a great way to naturally relieve daily stress.
What You Need To Get Started
With backyard birding for the beginner, you don’t need a lot of equipment. Over time, you may want to get some things like more powerful bird watching binoculars or a birdhouse for a specific species that visits your home, but for now, just looking out of your window and sitting still in a comfortable spot will do.
If you don’t have a lot of bid activity, look at ways you can make your yard or balcony more bird-friendly. Transform your place into a guest hotel for the local bird population. Offer them food, water and shelter. You can best give them these from bird feeders, bird baths or birdhouses.
There are a large variety of bird feeders, bird baths and birdhouses available to fit any budget and any bird species you are trying to attract.
Optional Gear
Later on, as you get more comfortable with the hobby, you can get other equipment to help you with watching birds and attracting them to your yard or balcony. These include:
• Good bird watching binoculars or a telescope on a tripod
• Good illustrated books about the local bird life
• A blank notebook to jot down some of your observations or to note what species regularly visit your place
• Joining a birding club that meets in person or online
This stuff isn’t necessary to get started right away – all you need, really, is bread crumbs to scatter on your yard and a good chair. But this stuff can make your bird watching easier and more enjoyable.
