Bird-watching secrets

People sometimes get the idea, from the way I talk about the various cool birds I have seen, that I spend a lot of time watching them.

This could not be further from the truth. I spend almost no time sitting (or standing) at the window looking out for birds. That, to my mind, sounds like about the most boring thing ever. The parsonage here at Augustana has a great backyard for bird-watching, but it isn't that great. I could maybe sit in one place for an hour and watch birds if it were, like, the zoo. Or maybe someplace really exotic. Or if there were a pileated woodpecker involved, but they don't usually hang around that long.


But I have still managed to compile a rather impressive (to me) list of cool bird sightings. The grackle with the white tail-feathers, the family of Harris's sparrows that spent the winter, the leucistic mourning dove, the random bird of prey on a wire, the green herons in a tree, the orangish rose-breasted grosbeak, the baby oriole on the front lawn, the father mourning dove trying to lure me away from his nest...not to mention the low-flying bald eagle I saw last weekend just north of Lafayette. And that's just in the last year or so: I've also been lucky enough to spot yellow warblers and indigo buntings and even, best of all, a pileated woodpecker on my very own suet feeder.



The secret to bird-watching, if you are lazy like me and disinclined to sit in one place for hours just in case you get lucky, is to be patient and persistent...and curious.

There are plenty of excellent guides to bird-watching to be found on the Internet, but most of them assume that you are actually devoting actual time to actually watching the birds. (This is probably a good idea. I totally ought to go out to some different habitats where I could see some different birds.) However, you can have quite a good time bird-watching without ever actually doing that. Here's how I do it:

1. Use a variety of feeders, year-round. Everyone will tell you this, because it really is a good idea. However, this step is optional: you can just do the following steps wherever you happen to be, as long as there are occasionally birds around.
2. Look out the window occasionally. You really don't have to be obsessive about this. I usually just glance out the window as I walk by, or turn and look if I catch movement out of the corner of my eye.
3. Identify the birds that you see, even if they are boring, everyday birds. Whether it is at my feeder, in a tree, on the ground in the backyard, or flying across the road when I'm out driving, I try to identify it. (Often it goes like this: "Grackle... grackle... grackle... grackle...") Start with the birds that you know. With practice, you will start to notice when there is an unusual bird that deserves further attention. ("Grackle... grackle... cowbird... grackle... hey, a yellow-headed blackbird!")
4. Look up anything that you can't identify. With practice, you start to learn what to look for to help you make the identification. Everyone notices colors, but beyond that, size is a good start: is it bigger than a sparrow but smaller than a robin? Note any detail you can--if all you can see is the color of its legs, the shape of its beak, or the rusty patch on its rump as it flies away, that might be the clue you need. Also, it's rare to see a bird just once. Even if it's just passing through it is likely to stick around long enough for you to spot it again, if you're looking for it.

Of course, sometimes you just get lucky, and there's a baby oriole cheeping its little head off right next to your foot. That works, too.