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Re: Getting started birding; conservation action alerts



To beginners,

1) Have fun

2) hang out with the best birders you can find

3) Ask questions, don't be afraid to make mistakes

4) Please be open to being questioned. This is part of the fun (see #1).

5) Ask me. I certainly don't know it all, but I love to nurture new birders.
Most vets do, too.

6) Do all the stuff Josh said. Go into the field, study your field guides,
go into the field, and so on.

7) Draw birds

8) Acquire a SLR camera with a 400 mm lens and take photos

For the new birders,
Steve Compton
Summerville,SC
,scompton@sc.rr.com>
----- Original Message -----
From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
To: Carolina Birds <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 3:28 PM
Subject: Re: Getting started birding; conservation action alerts


> On Tue, 18 Jun 2002, Alex, the Appalachian Naturalist wrote:
> >
> > I have seen many new birders, and took the liberty of making a small
page
> > for beginners. It is on my web site, just go to http://alexnetherton.com
and
> > click on "Mountain Birding, and when that page comes up click on
"Getting
> > Started". This is in no way a didinitive guide, just a place to start.
If
> > any one would be so kind as to critique it, and let me know. Thanks
>
> Hi C-birders,
>
> I've replied privately to Alex about his comments on field guides, optics,
> etc.; things that didn't merit public discussion. However, his comments at
> the end about identification and rarities seem like they could use some
> supplementation. If we were writing a website like Alex has, what advice
> would we give beginning birders?
>
> My first thought: stress that YOU CAN'T IDENTIFY EVERY BIRD. There are
> hybrids. There are mutants. There are half-second glimpses of birds flying
> away from you. There are optics with scratched or smudged lenses or mold
> growing inside, and conditions of poor visibility for even the best
> optics. I think one of the hardest talents for a birder to aquire -
> especially once they're bitten by the life-listing bug - is the ability to
> shrug and say "I'll never really know what species that bird was". And
> many early misidentifications stem from attempts to pin a species name on
> a bird that should remain nameless.
>
> Another: don't wait until after you see a bird to read your field guides!
> This is where the Audubon guides are probably better than any other, as
> guides to read *before* you go birding, to learn details about habitat,
> behavior, etc. Makes it easier to know what to expect, and less prone to
> misidentify a common, expected species as a rare vagrant. Knowing what's
> expected and what's rare allows you to apply the proper extra scrutiny
> when you think you've found something unusual, maybe even get a photo or
> three, rather than scrutinizing your memories after the bird's flown away.
>
> Thirdly: don't start listing too early! Don't go up to the mountains
> looking for a Black-capped Chickadee before you've seen 10,000 or so
> Carolina Chickadees. Don't try to pick out an immature Clay-colored
> Sparrow when you've only seen one or two immature Chipping Sparrows. Don't
> cry "Greenshank" or "Redshank" if you're still getting the hang of telling
> Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs apart. Get familiar with how variable birds
> can be *within* species before looking for the rare ones. (of course,
> don't let this stop you from getting excited and reporting or chasing
> obvious, impossible-to-mistake rarities like Green-tailed Towhee or
> Fork-tailed Flycatcher; you may have to wait a decade or longer before you
> get another chance!)
>
> Anyone else have thoughts on this subject? Veteran birders, what do you
> see beginners doing wrong most often? Novices, what do you wish you'd
> started doing sooner?
>
> On an unrelated front: a friend forwarded a couple of "action alerts" to
> me with relation to birds and items being considered in Congress. The
> first is a proposal to exempt the Department of Defense permanently from
> environmental regulation, whether we're at war or not. This could have
> major impacts in NC, for instance on Red-cockaded Woodpeckers: Fort Bragg
> hosts one of the largest and healthiest populations in the state. For more
> details, see
> http://ga1.org/campaign/bushadministration05152002?source=action_index
>
> And another proposal threatens to gut the Antiquities Act, making it
> necessary for Congress to approve protection of any land tracts over 50K
> acres within 2 years of designation. I don't think the Act applies much to
> the Carolinas, but it was used in the protection of eventual national
> parks like Grand Canyon, Denali, Bryce Canyon, Glacier Bay, Death Valley,
> Joshua Tree, and Olympic NP. For more on this, see
> http://www.wilderness.org/takeaction/index.asp?step=2&item=1614
>
> Good birding,
>
> Josh
>
>
> Joshua S. Rose
> Duke University
> Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)
>
> jsr6@duke.edu
> http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/
>