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If you haven't taken up bird watching as a hobby, you should absolutely do it. You know that feeling of playing runescape or minecraft or some other game and f

by abnry 7y ago

If you haven't taken up bird watching as a hobby, you should absolutely do it. You know that feeling of playing runescape or minecraft or some other game and finding that one rare item? Birding is like that, except in real life. I have audibly gasped many times when I've found a bird that I had never seen before. Get a decent pair of binoculars (nikon aculon $70 is a good cheap starter pair) and take a relaxing stroll. Birds tend to like water and the edges of two habitats (fields and woods, marsh and fields, etc). Part of the fun is using your ears and trying to track that darn bird down.

ses4j 7y ago
And to loop it back around to a video game if that's more in your comfort zone, there is Fantasy Birding where you pick a virtual location every day and are credited with seeing whatever real people really reported in that location that day. Only the truly intrepid fantasy-bird themselves.
japhyr 7y ago
I just got into birding more seriously in the last year, and I absolutely second this. I got a decent pair of binoculars that I keep around the house and on short walks [0], and a smaller pair of travel binoculars [1] that go pretty much everywhere, including my suitcase on trips. Every trip is a birdwatching trip now! It's so much fun to look for birds when you travel, because you're almost certainly going to see some that you've never seen before. I did learn to stop spending so much time trying to identify each individual bird. It can be hard to positively identify closely-related species. For example, there are several species of woodpeckers where I live, and I used to try to identify one when I saw it. Then I just stopped thinking about that and started to really enjoy watching them when I see them. It's much more enjoyable, it's less rushed, and I'll get better at identifying them as I see them more often. If you've never looked through some decent binoculars, it will amaze you. I did a lot of reading about binoculars before buying a pair. I had always heard things like 8x25, 8x42, etc. I went into it thinking bigger numbers are better, but of course that's not always true. The first number is magnification. I went with 8x, because higher magnifications can make the image too shaky unless you're using a tripod or leaning the binoculars against something. That magnification can also over-fill the viewing field, I believe. The second number is the size of the objective lens. Larger numbers mean brighter images, but they also mean bigger binoculars. As with many things, spending a few hundred dollars will get you a much nicer pair of binoculars than spending $50, but you won't get a whole lot more quality if you spend $1000. REI has a great, simple guide for choosing a pair. [2] [0] https://www.rei.com/product/744595/nikon-trailblazer-atb-waterproof-8-x-25-binoculars https://www.rei.com/product/744595/nikon-trailblazer-atb-wat... [1] https://www.rei.com/product/853970/nikon-monarch-5-8-x-42-waterproof-binoculars https://www.rei.com/product/853970/nikon-monarch-5-8-x-42-wa... [2] https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/binoculars.html https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/binoculars.html
elcapitan 7y ago
For me one interesting aspect was to watch my "hunter sense" wake up doing it - you start out and barely notice anything at all, you walk the woods and try to see some birds, but then with time it "wakes up", and even though you're not trying, you subconsciously "know" where some birds are, or that they are there. And as opposed to actual hunting everybody is still alive in the end, so win-win ;) (unless you're watching birds of prey of course)
tzs 7y ago
Another good pair of binoculars to start with are those in the Celestron Nature DX family. About $100 for 8x42 or about $110 for 10x42. These have a close focus distance of 2 m, as opposed to 5 m for the Nikon Aculon family. Probably not a big deal for looking at birds while out on a stroll, but it could matter at home. I put food out on the rail of my deck and then have a nice parade of birds and squirrels visiting throughout the day, often much closer than 5m. For example, this squirrel [1] that was staring at me through the window--some seem to have learned that this might cause me to come out with peanuts. [1] https://i.imgur.com/yJRsQoa.png https://i.imgur.com/yJRsQoa.png

by abnry 7y ago

ses4j 7y ago

And to loop it back around to a video game if that's more in your comfort zone, there is Fantasy Birding where you pick a virtual location every day and are credited with seeing whatever real people really reported in that location that day. Only the truly intrepid fantasy-bird themselves.

japhyr 7y ago

I just got into birding more seriously in the last year, and I absolutely second this. I got a decent pair of binoculars that I keep around the house and on short walks [0], and a smaller pair of travel binoculars [1] that go pretty much everywhere, including my suitcase on trips. Every trip is a birdwatching trip now! It's so much fun to look for birds when you travel, because you're almost certainly going to see some that you've never seen before. I did learn to stop spending so much time trying to identify each individual bird. It can be hard to positively identify closely-related species. For example, there are several species of woodpeckers where I live, and I used to try to identify one when I saw it. Then I just stopped thinking about that and started to really enjoy watching them when I see them. It's much more enjoyable, it's less rushed, and I'll get better at identifying them as I see them more often. If you've never looked through some decent binoculars, it will amaze you. I did a lot of reading about binoculars before buying a pair. I had always heard things like 8x25, 8x42, etc. I went into it thinking bigger numbers are better, but of course that's not always true. The first number is magnification. I went with 8x, because higher magnifications can make the image too shaky unless you're using a tripod or leaning the binoculars against something. That magnification can also over-fill the viewing field, I believe. The second number is the size of the objective lens. Larger numbers mean brighter images, but they also mean bigger binoculars. As with many things, spending a few hundred dollars will get you a much nicer pair of binoculars than spending $50, but you won't get a whole lot more quality if you spend $1000. REI has a great, simple guide for choosing a pair. [2] [0] https://www.rei.com/product/744595/nikon-trailblazer-atb-waterproof-8-x-25-binoculars https://www.rei.com/product/744595/nikon-trailblazer-atb-wat... [1] https://www.rei.com/product/853970/nikon-monarch-5-8-x-42-waterproof-binoculars https://www.rei.com/product/853970/nikon-monarch-5-8-x-42-wa... [2] https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/binoculars.html https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/binoculars.html

elcapitan 7y ago

For me one interesting aspect was to watch my "hunter sense" wake up doing it - you start out and barely notice anything at all, you walk the woods and try to see some birds, but then with time it "wakes up", and even though you're not trying, you subconsciously "know" where some birds are, or that they are there. And as opposed to actual hunting everybody is still alive in the end, so win-win ;) (unless you're watching birds of prey of course)

tzs 7y ago

Another good pair of binoculars to start with are those in the Celestron Nature DX family. About $100 for 8x42 or about $110 for 10x42. These have a close focus distance of 2 m, as opposed to 5 m for the Nikon Aculon family. Probably not a big deal for looking at birds while out on a stroll, but it could matter at home. I put food out on the rail of my deck and then have a nice parade of birds and squirrels visiting throughout the day, often much closer than 5m. For example, this squirrel [1] that was staring at me through the window--some seem to have learned that this might cause me to come out with peanuts. [1] https://i.imgur.com/yJRsQoa.png https://i.imgur.com/yJRsQoa.png