Backyard Birds: Looking Through the Glass available at Amazon

Many people start looking at birds in their backyards. The process of going beyond just feeding the birds to actually watching them and learn what they are, as well as get familiar with their habits, is what takes the bird-feeder to the next level to become a bird-watcher. Some, especially today in the digital camera age, also become bird photographers in the process.  Millions of people go through this process every year. Glen Apseloff of Ohio describes the process  in a lovely new book  called Backyard Birds -Looking Through the Glass.

The book is illustrated with 125 amazing photographs of birds which regularly occur at feeders in Eastern and Midwest US/Canada, so it can easily be used as a birdfeeder field guide.  I especially like  how all species are presented with descriptions of the habits of each, how to separate the sexes, what kind of seeds they prefer and any natural history or trivia connected to the species.  At the end of the book, there is also a mammal bestiary visiting the feeders as well as some common butterflies in the garden. All photographs are shot from inside Glen’s house through the window.

Glen sent me a copy to review some time ago, but rather than giving you only my opinion, I want to publish a few extracts of the book.  In this first part is the introductory text how Glen got into it. He was not a birder when he started this project, but he is now.  Sit back and enjoy!

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Through the Looking Glass – Inside-Out

Male Red-winged Blackbird in the backyard

Every photograph in this book was taken from inside my house (in Powell, Ohio) through a closed window. This in part explains the title: Looking Through the Glass. But the title is intended to mean more than that. For most of my life, I viewed windows as simply something to let in light. I didn’t appreciate what was on the other side. I do now.

The title of this book is also a play on words of Lewis Carroll’s literary work, and it’s a metaphor. When Alice stepped through the looking glass, she entered a place of wonder. When I look through the windows of my house, I too experience that, and when you read this book, I hope the same thing happens to you.

The baseball player Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.” Until recently, I didn’t do that, and I didn’t notice much around me. I had no clue how many species of birds could be found in my own backyard, and I didn’t know enough to distinguish one from another if they looked even remotely alike. To me, a sparrow was a sparrow. Not a song sparrow or a field sparrow or a house sparrow or a chipping sparrow. Just a sparrow. I had grown up with cardinals in the neighborhood (they’re the state bird of Ohio), but I never wondered how a juvenile of that species differed from an adult, or how juveniles of any species differed from adults. I had also never noticed that birds molt, and I never gave any thought to possible differences between winter and summer plumage, let alone the transition between the two. I’ve since learned the basics, or at least some of them, from books and from the internet, including web sites of state departments of natural resources, the Audubon Society, and the All About Birds site of Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The information I provide in this book is from those sources.

Winter wildlife in my backyard

Eastern Bluebird looking fluffy..
Glen writes: In the cold of winter, as shown here,
bluebirds frequently fluff their feathers to trap air between the
feathers and their body, for added insulation.

Until a couple of years ago, I believed central Ohio was relatively devoid of wildlife. With that misconception in mind, I traveled widely to photograph animals as far away as Madagascar, Botswana, New Zealand, Alaska, and even Antarctica. Usually I hired guides, and they showed me local fauna in natural settings, sometimes with stunning backdrops—the jungle, the ocean and mountains, glaciers. I never imagined that anything in Ohio could compare to that, to lemurs hanging from trees, or penguins jumping off icebergs. Certainly nothing in my own backyard could compare. But then a couple of years ago I faced an extended period without a vacation. As weeks turned into months, and one season into the next, I felt increasingly compelled to take out my camera and photograph something.  Anything.

That’s when I thought of what I might be overlooking. Backyard birds? Maybe, but how many birds can people really see in their own backyard? When I go to art festivals and find photographs of what look like backyard birds, the photographers invariably tell me they took the pictures in a state park or some other out-of-the-way place. Of course, people really do take pictures in their own backyards, but the best photographs I’ve seen have always been somewhere else.

So what about my backyard? Could I photograph anything there? I had serious doubts. Especially in the winter. It isn’t like Antarctica where you can just sit down and penguins waddle up to you and peck at your parka.

One thing I knew was that I did not want to spend a lot of time outside in the winter. The last time I did cold-weather photography, I thought I might get frostbite and cause permanent damage to my fingers, despite chemical hand warmers inside my gloves. I don’t mind sacrificing time, money, and comfort to photograph wildlife, but I draw the line at body parts.

Looking out the window for birds

Mourning Dove close up by Glen Aspeloff

However, outdoor photography typically takes place outdoors, and if it’s done in the winter, that means going out in the cold. Or does it? Instead of photographing birds the way countless other photographers do, by going out and finding them, what if I just stayed inside and waited for the birds to find me?

That’s how I came up with the idea for this project. One of my objectives with wildlife photography has always been to give people a better appreciation of nature. By photographing birds from inside my house, I could show others what they’re missing around them, and maybe I could motivate them to want to see more and to learn more. I could show people that working long hours and seeing daylight primarily through the windows of an office building or a house isn’t an excuse to ignore nature. I could show them that all they have to do is look outside. This was assuming, of course, that I could find birds to photograph.

With that goal in mind, I embarked on this project. It started as a calendar, not a book—a calendar of backyard birds photographed from inside my house, through closed windows. I wasn’t sure I could find a dozen different species, but I figured I could include pictures of both males and females for those that are sexually dimorphic, and then I might need as few as half a dozen. Eventually I should be able to find that many.

I used a handheld camera (no tripod or cable release for remote pictures) with no special filters, not even a polarized filter, and no flash. I wanted to show what people can see if they simply look outside their windows. I removed a couple of screens, put up decals to try to minimize the likelihood that birds would fly into the glass, and then I started observing. Because it was winter, with no plants to attract birds, I put out suet and bird seed in feeders on my back deck and experimented with different types. I learned that most birds seemed to prefer peanut-butter suet (especially with large pieces of peanuts) and definitely black-oil sunflower seeds. Many birds were also attracted to safflower seeds, and the smaller birds (including finches, buntings, and chickadees) seemed to prefer a mix of finch food with millet and sunflower seeds.

Like other full-time workers anywhere, I could find only limited opportunities to watch and photograph birds. I’ve never been good at standing still for extended periods, but I forced myself to spend time at the windows, and not just the ones with a view of the back deck. I began looking out the bathroom windows, the dining-room windows, and even the little panes of glass alongside my front door.

I’m seeing birds

My wife, Lucia, bought a book called Birds of Ohio Field Guide by Stan Tekiela, and I looked at the pictures to identify birds I saw outside. When I first flipped through the pages, I couldn’t believe such a wide variety of birds lived in Ohio. The book described more than a hundred of them, and in the introduction, the author mentioned that more than 400 different species have been recorded in Ohio. I found that especially difficult to believe. But then, after I started this project, everything changed. I began seeing birds— unusual and even exotic ones—through my windows: brilliant blue indigo buntings and other species that I thought existed only in the tropics, such as the scarlet tanager. I was amazed by how many birds I observed “just by watching.” Close to half of them, I had never seen in my life—northern flickers, ruby-throated hummingbirds, cedar waxwings, and a rose-breasted grosbeak, to name a few. Others I had seen but had never really noticed, like the multicolored iridescent European starlings that I had always thought were simply gray and black.

In an attempt to show people what they can see just by looking through their windows, I discovered what I had been missing for years, actually for decades. In this book, I’ll show you what that was. I’ve arranged the birds in alphabetical order by common name (e.g., “bunting, indigo” precedes “robin, American”) for lack of a better system. Whenever I introduce a bird, the name is in bold print. The first entry is a blackbird, more specifically a red-winged blackbird.

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Glen’s book will soon be distributed (on trial) in Barnes and Noble bookstores, but  Backyard Birds: Looking Through the Glassis also available at Amazon.

Glen Apseloff is an award-winning landscape/wildlife photographer who has traveled on all seven continents to capture unique images in nature. His photographs have been published in several calendars and print magazines. He also has photographs in the Kent State University Libraries, Special Collections and Archives. He lives in Powell, Ohio, with his wife, Lucia; dogs, Poco, Tiki, and Gucci; and cat, Pelusa.

The next post will be dealing with How to take photographs and provide a safe environment for the birds.

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The post Review: Backyard Birds – Looking through the Glass by Glen Aspeloff – part 1 first appeared on Birding 101.

What is it about birding that makes it so great? Perhaps it’s the challenge of finding and identifying birds, marveling at their beauty, chasing them to improve our lists, the opportunity to escape reality, to travel the world or perhaps just the chance to connect with nature. Have you really thought about why you love birding? We would probably all give different answers. Yet, I see us all as the same.

The truth is that each one of us can do something extremely important and, yet, incredibly simple for the birds. We can share our appreciation and knowledge of birds with the people in our everyday lives. This is the purpose of Pledge to Fledge  (P2F)

Pledge to Fledge

Back in August 2012, a diverse coalition of birders representing 5 continents launched this international grassroots birding movement. The shared goal is to unite birders around the world in birding outreach events twice a year.

Pledge to Fledge is now mobilizing birders worldwide to proactively share their interest for birding with the people in their lives. Pledge to Fledge aims to both popularize birding worldwide and generate more awareness of bird conservation issues. The best way to do this is to ask passionate birders to introduce non-birders to birds and the sport of birding.

Pledge to Fledge dedicates two weekends a year to encourage birders to take a  neighbor, a friend, their Uncle Joe,  or any other “non-birders” out birding to truly see and enjoy birds for the first time. Both mentors and participants are encouraged to post photos, videos, and stories of their birding trips via Pledge to Fledge social media interfaces.

Global coverage

Both organizations and individuals can participate in P2F efforts globally. Birding organizations are in a particularly unique position to join the Pledge to Fledge campaign. By promoting the P2F movement to existing membership, members are enabled to become birding leaders in their own community and effect real changes for bird conservation. As members ‘fledge’ new birders in their area, organizations will gain new members and program participants. In the US, groups like Cornell, ABA, WildBirds Unlimited and others are already supporting the campaign.

During 2012, 44 countries as diverse as Bhutan, China, Ghana and Mongolia have joined the Pledge to Fledge effort, bringing the magic of birding to their residents. Some events have included walks and classroom presentations in India, while others are as simple as showing Nepalese monks a telescope for the first time!

The P2F site  and Facebook page share the global community of birders’ photos, videos, and stories relating to their adventures as they actively share their passion for birding with new people. The site also includes resources to support birders in their efforts to get others involved with birding, in April, August and beyond every year.

Why a Pledge to Fledge?

So why should you be part of Pledge to Fledge movement. The P2F provides profound benefits for all involved. Some examples include:

• New birders will welcome the healthier lifestyle of birding and outdoor  recreation.
• Heightened public awareness for birds is critical for increasing citizen support for bird conservation at the local, regional, national and global levels.
• More people birding = more birds being seen. This means a better understanding of bird populations AND more rarities being found for other birders to enjoy.

We warmly invite you to join the international Pledge to Fledge. It’s good for the birders-to-be. It’s good for families and kids. It’s good for the birding community at large. It’s good for conservation organizations. And, most importantly, it’s good for the birds themselves!

The next Pledge to Fledge starts tomorrow and runs over the weekend April 25th to April 29th, 2013.  The truth is that you can take someone birding any day, but at least this weekend make that little extra effort to introduce someone to birdwatching.

What you are doing this weekend to introduce birdwatching to someone? Let us know in the comment section below.

Richard Crossley
Crossley Books
www.crossleybirds.com
www.pledgetofledge.org
www.facebook.com/CrossleyIDGuide

Photo credits:  www.crossleybooks.com

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Some comments from Gunnar Engblom:
Richard Crossley has produced some highly recommended books giving bird identification a new dimension by inserting several different plumages and postures into a habitat photo.  By buying any of these books via these links you will also support this website and the Birding 101 free ebook project. Drag the cursor over the link to see a preview of the book.  Thanks.

• The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors (Crossley Id Guides) This is the newest of Richard Crossley’s book.  Download this free pdf preview to get a feel for how useful this approach is.
• The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds (The Crossley ID Guides) The first book in the ID series. A must for both beginners and more advanced birders. I use this book a lot.  Here is a pdf sample of the 25 most common garden birds in Eastern North America for you to download.
• The Shorebird Guide.  A very useful guide for anyone wanting to master shorebird identification. By Michael O’Brian, Richard Crossley and Kevin Karlson.

If you liked this post, please consider sharing it with your friends, on mailing lists you belong to, on Twitter, on Google+, on your Facebook wall, and on Facebook groups and on Pinterest.  Or you may blog about this blog.

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The post Make someone a birder this weekend. first appeared on Birding 101.

• A time stamp of the state of the birds
• Citizen Science – your observations are important for the big picture
• Anyone can join – just count the birds you see.
• As little as 15 minutes suffice.
• Do it near you. Your feeder, your backyard, your local park, on your holiday, anywhere goes.

GBBC goes global

This weekend is a historic one for birds and birding, since the Great Backyard Bird Count will be conducted worldwide for the first time.

This global expansion of the count is made possible by partnering with eBird. eBird is an online bird checklist reporting program that allows birders to keep their personal bird records and birding lists online. Those observations are combined with those of birders from all over the world on maps and graphs and then are used by the science and conservation communities.

eBird began in the United States and Canada and expanded to South America in 2007 and the entire world in 2010. With eBird, you can truly report “any bird, any time, any where.” eBird is now collecting more than 3 million records per month and its userbase continues to grow. If you have not yet tried eBird, this weekend is the perfect time to try.

Some GBBC history – the eBird precursor

The Great Backyard Bird Count started in 1998 as a joint project of the National Audubon Society, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada, but with hundreds of other local partners around the U.S. and Canada. In many ways, the GBBC set the stage for eBird, demonstrating that broad internet-based citizen science bird counts could be successful. Four years later, eBird was released. And this year, the GBBC will use the eBird data entry interface and allow GBBC participants to store all their data under a single account.

The Great Backyard Bird Count always takes place on a four-day weekend in mid-February. This is a perfect time of year, halfway between the Christmas Bird Counts and the onset of spring songbird migration in North America. It is also the coldest and harshest time of year in the northern hemisphere, so the count provides good information on winter survivorship. (Note however that some waterfowl, blackbirds, cranes, swallows, and other species are already beginning their northward migration in the United States.) In 2012 the count posted record-breaking numbers, with 104,151 checklists submitted of 623 species and 17.4 million individuals.

Getting people involved

As the GBBC has matured over the past decade, it has become one of the most successful ways to get citizens involved with birds and citizen science. For those of us that are already hooked on birding, the Great Backyard Bird Count is an opportunity to take someone birding who has never been. Try to get them to see birds the way you do and show them how counting birds is an important way to understand the environment around us and how it is changing. Maybe go for the gold and see if you can turn them into a regular eBird participant year-round!

With the GBBC, we expect submissions to eBird to triple. You can watch the checklists flow in on the newly released live submissions map. If your area is looking sort of blank today, then get out there and submit a checklist yourself, even if it is just a short count in your backyard. On the GBBC and on eBird, every observation has value and it takes submissions by everyone to help paint an accurate picture of global bird occurrence.

How to particpate

To participate in the GBBC visit www.birdcount.org and then click “submit your bird checklist” to get started. The count runs from 15-18 February, but be sure to remember that you can submit birds through eBird anytime and that your observations from the GBBC and eBird will always be accessible to you under a single account.

Will you participate or have you participated in GBBC? Tell us about your approach. Tell us about your experiences. Check the comment section below.

Also check out the previous post about FeederWatch.

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If you liked this post, please consider sharing it with your friends, on mailing lists you belong to, on Twitter, on Google+, on your Facebook wall, and on Facebook groups and on Pinterest.  Or you may blog about this blog.
The more people we can get to take part in citizen science the more we will learn about the distributions of the birds and the variations of population sizes.

Finally, subscribe to this blog, not to miss any future posts.

Photos courtesy GBBC. Birders/GBBC, Evening Grosbeak by Norm Dougan/GBBC and Blue Jay by Linda Pizer/GBBC.

The post Great Backyard Bird Count first appeared on Birding 101.

Have you got a bird feeder in your backyard? If so you can contribute to science. Don’t worry if you don’t know all the birds by name yet, you will learn as you go along with FeederWatch.

Project FeederWatch organized by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada, is a winter-long survey of North American birds that is conducted every year by thousands of birdwatchers–FeederWatchers–across the United States and Canada. By counting birds at their backyard feeders, FeederWatchers learn more about birds and bird behavior while they contribute to an important scientific endeavor.

Anyone with an interest in birds can participate in Project FeederWatch! FeederWatch is conducted by people of all skill levels and backgrounds, including children, families, individuals, classrooms, retired persons, youth groups, nature centers, and bird clubs.

New participants receive a research kit containing instructions, a poster of common feeder birds, a calendar, and an instructional handbook full of information about birds and bird feeding. Participants submit their counts through our website or on optional paper forms. FeederWatchers receive a subscription to the Lab’s quarterly newsletter, Living Bird News as well as FeederWatch’s annual publication, Winter Bird Highlights, which summarizes the results of the previous season.
With all those perks, the $15 annual fee  ($12 for Cornell Lab of Ornithology members) to participate feels like a tremendous bargain and you give support to a well worthy project.

FeederWatchers periodically count the birds they see at their feeders from November through early April and send their counts to Project FeederWatch. FeederWatch data help scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distribution and abundance.

New Project FeederWatch participants joining before March 1 will be enrolled in the remainder of this season (ending April 5)–plus you’ll be signed up for the entire 2013-14 season, at no extra charge!

Sign up NOW! – Just CLICK HERE.

More information about Project FeederWatch is available on our website:
https://feederwatch.org

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If you liked this post, please consider sharing it with your friends, on mailing lists you belong to, on Twitter, on Google+, on your Facebook wall, and on Facebook groups or you may blog about it. The more people we can get to take part in citizen science the more we will learn about the distributions of the birds and the variations of population sizes.

Finally, subscribe to this blog, not to miss any future posts.

In the next post, we shall brief you about Great BackYard Bird Count which starts on Friday February 15 over the weekend. New for this year is that it is global.

Photos:  Scrub Jay by Jack Sutton/Feederwatch and bachelors by Melissa Penta/Feederwatch .

The post Project Feederwatch first appeared on Birding 101.

Here’s a recipe for suet that birds absolutely LOVE.  It has been scientifically tested against store-bought suet:  the birds don’t even touch the store-bought if this suet is there too.  Also, my very exacting sister Sherry has given it her approval.  This is a woman who fine-tunes her bird seed, observing species and taking notes.

I’ve seen an amazing variety of species at this suet:  even American Robins, Baltimore Orioles, and yes, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  (Granted, the Hummingbird was just checking it out, but seeing him made me put out nectar, and after that one summer, they now come and look at the suet each year in order to prompt me to put the nectar out once more.)  It is guaranteed, as well.  If you don’t like it, feel free to yell at me.

Ingredients

2 c. lard (or suet) NOTE: 1# lard = 2 c.
2 c. peanut butter
4 c. oatmeal
4 c. corn meal
1-2 c. other stuff (wheat germ, raisins, rye flour, bird seed, a handful of craisins, mealworms, whatever)

Follow these easy steps

1. Melt the lard and peanut butter together, then mix it in with the dry ingredients.
2. Line a 9″ X 11″ brownie pan with foil (I use foil because it can be recycled), and pour the mixture in.
3. Shake the pan a little to settle the mix.
4. Chill in the fridge, and cut in 6.
5. I wrap the extras in foil and store in the freezer.
6. Each block fits into one of those green wire suet cages.

I feed this all summer. When it gets too hot, I cut each piece in 4 and feed only one at a time in the platform feeder.

If you feed in summer, do not substitute suet for the lard. Happy Feeding!

More tips how to feed the birds you find on the previous blog post about birdfeeding,  Check it out!

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The post THE BEST SUET IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE first appeared on Birding 101.

If you really want to enjoy the birds close up there is nothing that beats feeding the birds. You get the birds so close you can study them with your bare eyes or take photos of them with you cell phone or a point and shoot camera.
Providing you have a place to put the feeder, here are some tips for the absolute beginner collected from my Facebook friends.

Type of feeders

It is important to keep the feeders clean. Make sure the seeds are kept dry and that there is good ventilation.

You can build your own feeders with some ingenuity or you can buy designed feeders.  Some of my Facebook friends recommend some specific products below.

Home made feeders made of milk packages and soda bottles.

A clever soda bottle feeder with wooden spoons. See Spoonful.com for instructions how to build it.

Here is a video how to make a feeder from a milk package.

Here are 7 DIY Recylced Bird Feeders if you need more inspiration.

Hopper Feeders
A hopper feeder is a platform upon which walls and a roof are built, forming a “hopper” that protects seed fairly well against the weather,
less well against squirrels. They are fairly easy to build yourself. There are also commercially available ones that are designed to keep squirrels off such as those recommended below.

Gry Lockert-Andersen and Charles Swift recommend the Droll Yankees Hopper Feeder above.

Deborah Jean Cohen swears by Heritage Farms Absolute Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder (above). She has used it for years.

Squirrel Buster
Ingenious feeder Squirrel Buster to give the expensive seeds to the birds and not to the gluttonous squirrels.

David Graham’s neighbor and Janet Pawlusiak Pace recommend the Squirrel Buster. Janet says she has had hers for 6 years and it has performed very well.

Mesh Tube Feeder
These feeders are specifically good to keep the small Nyger seeds. There are plenty of models to choose from. This is just one Mesh Tube feeder I have found.

There are also mesh tubes for peanuts which will be very popular among woodpeckers. Here is a smart circular design for whole peanuts.

Suet Block Holder
Hanging the suet block you attract Woodpeckers and Nuthatches. Again there are many different models. This double suet block holder from the Stokes is Squirrel proof.

Tray feeder
Tray feeders are quite easy to put together by yourself.  These feeders provide fast available food for a number of species. It is a good idea to have a roof so the seeds don’t get wet. It is also possible to put suet on the tray feeder.  Depending on the design, the tray can either be placed on a pole or hanging from a tree.

Tray feeders tend to attract squirrels, so either you live with it or you prepare your feeder with a Squirrel Baffle.

It can also be an idea to put some food on the ground to attract such birds which keeps most of their time on the ground, such as doves, pheasants, quails, etc. If there is snow on the ground it is not a good idea to put bird food there, as it will be difficult for the birds to get to. Better to offer a ground feeder which could be a frisbee or a garbage can lid or you could buy a designed ground tray.

Birds seeds

When I was a kid we used to feed the birds bread, and yes the birds will eat that. But there is not much energy value in bread. Better to supply fat and protein rich seeds. Here are some seeds that are commercially available.

Sunflower seeds

Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, Goldfinches, House Finches, Cardinals, Grosbeaks and Jays love sunflower seeds. The seeds come in two forms. Black oil sunflower seed is the most popular and have the high content of oil and a shell that is easy for the birds to open. The Striped form of Sunflower seeds have harder hulls.
Hulled Sunflower seeds are also available. Clean of the hulls it is less messy and easier for the birds to eat. The hulled seeds additionally attract Woodpeckers, Sparrows, Mockingbirds and Wrens.

Safflower
Safflower, are superficially similar to Sunflower seeds but white. Fewer birds eat them. The Starlings, Grackles and House Sparrows don’t like them. So if these birds are a problem in your area Safflower seeds could be away to avoid non-native birds.  The Safflower seeds are particularly popular among the Cardinals.

Thistle Seeds
Also known as Nyjer or Nyger. These are thin black seeds imported from Africa and Southeast Asia. They are especially popular by clinging finches such as the Goldfinch, Common Redpoll and Purple Finch, as well as many of the other seed-eaters mentioned above. These seeds are high in oil, making them great for winter bird feeding. But they are small and very light, so they are easily spilled or blown away. Mesh-style or sock feeders are best for this expensive seed. Clinging birds will have no trouble feeding from these unique feeders.

Millet
Are small grainy seeds popular among ground feeders such as Sparrows, Doves and Juncos.

Corn

Whole or cracked placed near the ground for Pigeons, Doves, Quails, Pheasants, Towhees, Blackbirds, Grackles and Jays.

Nuts.

Peanut – unsalted of course – both whole nuts as well as peeled nuts. Most birds that eat hulled sunflower seeds eat nuts.

Fruit

Fresh fruit such as apples and oranges, is popular among Robins, Bluebirds and Mockingbirds. Baltimore Orioles are particularly fond of oranges. They also like dried fruits.

Mealworms

Many birds that eat insects, including titmice, chickadees, and
bluebirds, are attracted by mealworms. In the winter it is a good idea to mix mealworms in the suet. Buy Mealworms in pet stores.

Suet

Made from beef fat is very popular among nuthatches and woodpeckers. You can get unprocessed suet from the grocery store. There are also many packaged suet mixes available in bird food outlets. These suet mixes contain many types of seeds and other food items.
Claire Baker suggests that one may collect grease while cooking  for home-made suet. Especially those “NuWave Convection ovens” with a grease collecting pan in the bottom.  Collecting the grease and mixing it with peanut butter, cornmeal, oats, birdseed, raisins, leftover nuts, or whatever makes a great suet.

Claire writes: Then I put them in the plastic dishes that my chihuahua’s dog food comes in (Cesar’s) and wrap in plastic. This makes a small thing of suet (you could use plastic cat food dishes, be sure and wash them first), then I freeze them. Perfect for summer too. It doesn’t have time to spoil. The Golden-fronted Woodpeckers love the cold suet! So do the Green Jays and Great Kiskadees. 
(Could you tell Claire lives in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas?)

In the next installment of Birding 101, my Facebook friend Deborah Jean Cohen  in Pennsylvania provides a recipe of  THE BEST SUET IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.

This sounds so cool, we just have to make a special post about it!

Bird Bath

Both Deborah Jean Cohen and Julia Lucignani insist that one of the most important items is a heated bird bath in the winter. It gives the birds both drinking water and a chance to keep their feathers clean. Commercial ones available include a bird bath that can be mounted on a porch and another larger 20 inch bird bath with stand. Another option is to just get a ice eliminator which you plug in and  place in any bowl with water.

Identifying the birds.

In chapter 1 of Birding 101 there are a lot of tips for online resources how to identify birds. It is a good idea to try to get a photograph of the birds.  Read Stephen Ingraham’s article how to choose a point and shoot camera for birding. Many of these models will get you excellent shots of the birds that come to your garden.

Spending money!

As I researched for this post I was amazed to see the commitment people have to feed the birds and the seemingly huge amounts of money involved doing so. There are clearly hoards of people out there who are willing to spend on bird seeds and designed feeders.

Facebook friend Jenny Graevell says: We go through about 2500 lbs of bird food a year. No 1 suet (homemade with suet, peanuts, peanut butter, flour, mealworms,) No 2 Black-oil Sunflower seeds, No 3 Thistle, No 4 Millet seed mix. No 5 MAINTENANCE! Clean those bird feeders at least monthly. Jane illustrates this commitment very well.

Feeding birds move a lot of money.  Over 55 million Americans over the age of 16 feed wild birds and spend more than $3 billion a year on bird food, and $800 million a year on bird feeders, bird baths, bird houses and other bird feeding accessories

Now, think if some of these people could be tapped to also become members in bird conservation organizations such as the ABC. Or perhaps become members of local bird clubs or national organizations such as the ABA or National Audubon Society, which could do well with some more members to improve strained budgets.

Sources:

Below I have listed a number of sites I used to prepare this post.

• Janet Pawlusiak Pace supplied me with loads of info via her webpage resource Bird with me. Especially useful was the winter bird section.
• Cornell‘s excelent Feeding birds PDF  prepares people to take part in Cornell’s feederwatch program. We introduce Feederwatch in the next chapter of this series.
• The Stokes‘s website provides a lot of good info. I used some info from the page on bird food.
• How to choose birdseeds from About.com
• Wikipedia. Bird Feeding
• Winter bird feeding tips by Carrol Henderson.

Finally, big thanks to all who have commented on my Facebook. They include:  Martin Swanhall, Julia Lucignani, Deborah Jean Cohen, Andrew Haffenden, Janet Pawlusiak Pace, Jennie Duberstein, Claire Baker, Jenny Graevell, Gry Lockert-Andersen, David Graham, Charles Swift, Sherry Lidstone and Rob Alexander.

Additional tips.

What are your best tips for feeding birds in the winter in the US and Canada? Please use the comment section to let us know.

If you liked this post, please consider sharing it with your friends, on mailing lists you belong to, on Twitter, on Google+, on your Facebook wall, and on Facebook groups or you may blog about it. We need to get more people into caring about the birds. After all, with more people caring about birds and birdwatching becomes more significant, there will be more bird conservation. That can’t be bad.
Finally, subscribe to this blog, not to miss any future posts.

Disclaimer: All links to Amazon.com above are affiliate. That means if you click and buy, we earn a very small commission which helps to run this website, and help paying for the upcoming production of the eBook. You don’t pay any more, and we get a contribution. There will be no affiliate links in the ebook once it is ready. Thanks for your support.

Photos: White-breasted Nuthatch and Baltimore Oriole by Deborah Jean Cohen.

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Gunnar  Engblom
Connect with Gunnar on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter or kolibriexp@gmail.com.

The post Feeding the birds – winter. first appeared on Birding 101.

The first intro posts in this series produced a stir among some birders. How can an experienced birder say that you don’t need binoculars and a field guide to start birding?  Testimonials in the comment section of this blog have however proved this assertion is correct. Many new birders  actually did start with a camera and are lurking on the internet to try to ID the photographs taken before they bought their first binoculars or field guide.

This seems to the trend today. People get into birds via a point and shoot camera and get most information they need from the internet.

You are invited to a Google Hangout, which is like a webinar where we will discuss how birdwatching will be 10 years from now?

Birding 101 Google Hangout #1

Birding 101 contributors Gunnar Engblom  and +Robert Mortensen and a number of others to be confirmed will give their views. Join us for an interesting live chat.
The discussion will be aired live at 3PM EST on Gunnar’s Google+, Youtube channel and on both Gunnar’s personal blog as well right here.

You shall see an embedded video below. If you join at exactly 3 pm EST on Friday Jan 18 it will be LIVE.

UPDATE: This is the edited recorded session between Robert Mortensen and Gunnar Engblom. Unfortunately, Gunnar’s laptop overheated again and the session was broken pre-maturely.

The last question which Robert started answering. Should the membership organizations, such as the ABA actively try to recruit from the new huge group of people who got into birds via digital photography, or should they remain as an organization principally geared towards those who are interested in the fine (somewhat “intellectual”) art of bird identification?

Comments below, please!

Next Google Hangout will take place on Thursday at 8 pm Eastern time. Join us, then.

Top photo: Kids on Fence. Richard Crossley. Used with permission. www.Crossleybooks.com

The post Birding 101 Hangout Friday 3pm EST. first appeared on Birding 101.

Once upon a time, oh, about 5 years ago, if you wanted to take satisfying photos of birds, you invested about $25,000 in equipment, which weighed about 35 pounds including a tripod or two, and you spent a lot of time in the field learning enough about birds to get close to them. You did most of your photography from a blind, sitting for days in the dark, set up as close to the birds as you could get, so you would have the best chance of filling the frame with the bird (and, because, honestly, no one carries 35 pounds of cameras and lenses and tripods further than they have to).

Using a camera to learn to bird was not an attractive option…and using a camera as your primary birding tool would have been considered insanity…and rightly so!

Marsh Wren, Arcata CA. 1680mm equivalent. Hand held. Canon SX40HS

Today, Point & Shoot <$500 and 2 pounds.

Today, on the other hand, you can buy a super-zoom Point and Shoot from most camera makers for under $500…a camera that weighs under 2 pounds and fits in a small camera bag that you can carry over your shoulder all day without fatigue, and with which you can take frame filling photos of birds from as far away as, and often from much greater distances than, the guys and girls with the big lenses and expensive bodies.

The images will not be quite as good…but, with practice and persistence, they will be quite satisfying, and will often surprise you, and your fellow birders, with their quality. The birds in this piece were all taken with a super zoom P&S.

And, the inexpensive super-zoom Point & Shoot camera, coupled with the resources available today on the internet, opens up a whole new way of learning to bird.

So, if you were to go this route, what kind of camera are we talking about? A bit of advice here. Do your research first, before you get near a camera store or an on-line retailer. Check the reviews on dpreview.com and other similar sites. Pick a few cameras for your short list, based on the considerations below, and then read what users are saying about them on the dpreview forums. There is a lot of interest in using super-zoom P&Ss for bird and wildlife photography right now, so, for any camera worth considering, there will be posts in the forums which specifically address the topic. No bird or wildlife posts on the camera you are considering? Think again.

Once you have narrowed down your choices to one or two models, do a camera search on www.flickr.com and pull up sample images from each camera. That can tell you a lot about whether it is the camera you really want.

9 Considerations:

1. Long zoom.
You want the longest zoom you can find, consistent with the other considerations below. For the budding birder the long end of the zoom is more important than the short end…you want to be able to fill the frame with the bird from a reasonable distance…so you are looking for a camera with a zoom that reaches out over 600mm equivalent.

Equivalent: the actual focal lengths of Point & Shoot camera lenses are quite short compared to the focal length of the lenses used on full sized DSLR bodies (Digital Single Lens Reflex, cameras with a large digital sensor that take interchangeable lenses)…but the small size of the sensor makes them act like longer lenses…that is they provide the same sized frame, or field of view, as the longer lenses on full sized bodies. If you take a photo of a bird from the same distance with full sized DSLR and a 600mm lens, and with a Point & Shoot with a 600mm equivalent zoom, the bird will be the same size in the image.

There are several cameras out there today that reach into the 800mm and even the 1000mm range. The Canon SX50HS that I use reaches 1200mm optically (50x), but it has a built in Digital Tel-Converter that extends the range out to 2400mm and still returns decent quality…certainly enough for an id.

The zoom race is not over yet…each year one or more of the camera makers up the ante, stretching the zoom a bit further. (Fuji just announced the second P&S with a 50x zoom.)

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magee Marsh OH, 1240mm equivalent, Canon SX40HS

2. Fast focus.
You want the fastest focus possible. Birds do not sit still, at least for long. You need to lock on focus as rapidly as possible, or the bird is likely to be gone. One of the disadvantages of most P&Ss, when compared to full sized DSLRs, is that they use a different, slower, less accurate auto focus system. And not all P&Ss are created equal in the focus department. Check the reviews on dpreview.com for focus speed ratings. You might trade a bit of zoom reach for faster focus. P&Ss are now reaching the market which feature fast focus as a selling point. Canon claims the SX50HS mentioned above focuses 40% faster than its immediate predecessor, and it does indeed…with more accurate focus at that.

3. Image stabilizer
You want efficient, reliable, image stabilization. Without image stabilization any shot over about 500mm taken without a tripod would require very fast shutter speeds…otherwise it would show motion blur from camera movement. There are two kinds of image stabilization: optical which moves elements in the lens to stabilize the image on the sensor, and sensor based, which moves the sensor to stabilize the image. In my experience (and I have owned and used both), the best optical image stabilization is far superior to any sensor based system. Efficient image stabilization will allow you to hand hold shots at 800-1000mm equivalents with confidence. I shoot at 2400mm with my Canon SX50HS hand held every day, with results that surprise even me.

4. Megapixel
You want a 12-16 megapixel sensor, most likely a Back-illuminated CMOS sensor. 12 megapixels is more than enough for high quality images. 16 mp will give you more ability to crop the bird out of the frame to make it larger when you don’t have enough optical reach in your zoom. BiCMOS sensors provide rapid continuous shooting, improved high-ISO performance (meaning that you can shoot in darker situations and use higher shutter speeds with confidence) and the ability to record HD video. All good things.

5. Continuous shooting.
You want the ability to shoot continuous frames at a reasonable speed. Continuous shooting means that the camera continues to take images, one after the other, as long as you hold the shutter down. The speed is measured in frames per second. You want 3-8 fps for both moving and stationary birds. For moving birds the advantage is obvious. You have a better chance of catching the bird in a satisfying position. For stationary birds, taking a burst of 3-5 images at 3-8 fps just increases your chance of getting a tack sharp image…especially if you are out at the ends of the zoom range where image stabilization is stressed to the max.

Roseate Spoonbill. St. Augustine FL. 840mm equivalent. Canon SX40HS. More by chance that design.

Many BiCMOS based P&S super zooms also have what is called burst mode (or they have burst mode instead of rapid continuous shooting…you need to be aware here, that some camera makes do not distinguish between the two, even though they are very different in use). Burst mode takes a rapid sequence of images, often at 8-12 frames per second, every time you press the shutter button. You see the difference? With continuous shooting you control the length of the burst by pressure on the shutter release. With burst mode a single press of the shutter release takes the whole burst. Burst mode is generally faster than continuous by several fps (reaching 10-12 fps), which is why many camera makes quote their burst mode rate as the frames per second rating for the camera. Buyer beware.

I like a camera with at least 3-4 fps true continuous shooting. I do not want to take 8 or 10 shots every time I press the shutter button, even when I am trying for rapidly moving birds…and when shooting stationary birds, a burst of 8 shots at 10 fps will give you 8 virtually identical frames, without any chance that one will be sharper than the others.

A final wrinkle to the whole fps thing: some cameras have two different continuous shooting rates: one with focus between shots and one without. Clearly there are advantages to having the camera focus between continuous frames, but it generally slows the frame rate significantly. There are a few cameras that provide true rapid continuous with focus…but in my experience even 4-8 fps without focus will work for the vast majority of birds.

Great Egret. Viera Wetlands FL. 1240mm equivalent. Canon SX40HS

Many P&S superzooms also feature a Sports Mode which is tailored to capture high speed action. The Canon SX50HS, for instance, has a Sports Mode that features focus tracking, and 5 fps with focus between frames. It is ideal for birds in flight…the first P&S Superzoom that makes bif relatively easy!

Sandhill Cranes at Bosque del Apache NWR. Canon SX50HS in Sports Mode.

You will find image quality rated in reviews at dpreview.com and other such sites, and you will find it much discussed (debated) in the forums.

What I look for is:

• the rendition of fine detail…feather detail on birds…detail in foliage and grass, tree bark, architectural detail, etc. No blurring of fine details (out of focus blur is normal in background…but the in focus details should not run together as if someone dragged a wet brush across them).
•  the smoothness of tones and the graduation between tones…no mottling or patchiness in face tones, blue sky, brightly painted walls, etc.) and an even blend from one shade of color to the next.
• no obvious digital artifacts…no blocky pixelization in solid tone areas, no color or brightness fringing along sharp contrast lines.
• true colors…believable sky blue, grass green…vivid authentic reds and yellows. Browns that do not get mushy.
•  most importantly, just a pleasing rendition…close to what the eye would see from the depicted distance.

Great Egrets, St. Augustine FL. 840mm equivalent.

What I do is to read the reviews and get a general sense of how image quality is being rated for any given camera. Then I read what users are saying about the image quality in the forums. Then I look up as many examples of images taken with the camera (or its most recent sibling if it is a new camera). Then I buy the camera and test it myself. Sometimes I am delighted with my choice. Sometimes I am not. Like I say, I have learned which camera makers are most likely to produce an image quality that is pleasing to me, and I am now sticking pretty much to one brand.

7. HD video
You want full HD video at the highest frame rate you can get. Trust me. You do. (24 fps is adequate. I am waiting for a camera that has that looks to be as satisfying to me as my Canon SX50HS and has 60 fps!)

8. Portability
You want something small enough to carry everywhere you go. You want something durable enough to last a while, and with a solid enough feel to be satisfying in your hands. (But remember, at less than $500, often less than $400, camera makers rightly consider these cameras disposable…if you get 2 years out of a camera, well, by then something better will be out…and, imho, you got your money out of the camera anyway if you took as many pictures as you should have

9. Additional features.
You want what you want: creature features. Though you don’t need any of this for bird photography, I would never willingly buy a camera without:

• an effective macro mode…I take as many close ups as I do bird shots!
• an articulated LCD. I like low angle shots and shooting around corners and over heads and, as said, lots of macros…all of which are SO much easier with an flip out LCD, or a fully articulated one (flip out and rotate to practically any position)
• built in, easily controllable, flash. Sometimes it is just too dark.

So, those are my considerations. Taking that into account I have assembled a short list of cameras for you to compare. I will keep this list updated as new products come out, and rebuild the comparison table at dpreview.com which is linked in. Please note that not all the info is complete in the table. For some reason, for instance, there is no entry under Image Processor for the Canon SX40HS…which I happen to know is the Digic 5. Also note that the Canon SX500IS is a new camera, which, despite its shorter zoom and older Image Processor (Digic 4), is advertised to have much faster focusing than previous super zooms. And of course, my favorite to date is the Canon SX50HS mentioned so often above.  (UPDATE: Prices given are those of Amazon.com Nov 12, 2015. And newer models mentioned by Stephen in the comments below have been added. Price for some of the older models are given as used).

• Canon SX40HS 12mp BiCMOS 24-840mm $135 (used)
• Canon SX50HS 12mp BiCMOS, 24-1200mm $330
• Canon SX500IS 16mp CCD, 24-720mm $229
• Fujifilm HS50EXR 16mp  $360
• Nikon P510 16mp BiCMOS, 24-1000mm $125 (used)
• Nikon P610 60x Optical Zoom  BiCMOS, 24–1440 mm (60x) $403
• Nikon P900 83x Optical Zoom  BiCMOS, 24–2000 mm (83x) $499
• Olympus SP810 UZ 14mp CCD, 24-864mm $189
• Panasonic DCM FZ60 16mp CMOS, 25-600mm $280 (used)
• Sony DSC HX200V 18mp BiCMOS, 27-810mm $191 (used)
• Sony HX400V/B 20.4 mp  BiCMOS 24-1200mm $428

For a comparison chart, courtesy of dpreview.com go to Compare.

So there you have it. Short of buying your camera for you, that is the best I can do.

One final note.

Let taking photos of birds with your new super zoom be fun. Even if you are an experienced photographer, let the camera do the work. It is practically impossible to out-think the exposure systems built into today’s P&Ss. Put the camera on Program (just in case you want to adjust exposure compensation on occasion) and let it to its thing. Cultivate a Point and Shoot attitude. Just get lined up on the bird and hold the shutter button down for a few seconds. You will be surprised and delighted at the images you bring back. Like I said, all the images you see here were taken with a P&S super zoom…on program and auto focus. Let it be more about finding and enjoying the birds, observing what they are up to, where they are, how they behave…than it is about photography.

And you will have lots of fun. And you will learn to be a birder!

Little Blue Heron. St. Augustine FL. 840mm equivalent.

Stephen Ingraham
p4td.lightshedder.com
weiw.lightshedder.com

 Top Photo: Yellow-headed Blackbird, ND. 1240mm. (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-converter) Canon SX40HS (Stephen Ingraham)

Gunnar’s addition:  I am currently using Canon SX40, but will upgrade to the SX50 very soon.  Many people who bought the SX40 will probably do the same. I am very pleased with my SX40, but to get even better sharpness, more optical zoom and a faster auto-focus makes it a no-brainer to upgrade.

A used Canon SX40 could be a great gift to a kid who just starts getting interested in birds or to lure him/her into it, as explained in the intro-post. Currently they sell for just about $200 on eBay.com.

Whether buying a used SX40 or a new Olympus SP810 UZ could be a hard choice. I am sure Stephen will have some opinion. Check below in the comments section the following days. 

If you haven’t already, why not start subscribing to this blog series.
If you liked this post, consider sharing with your friends who may be needing some advice.

Or leave a comment. You know, we love comments!

Affiliate links: All links to Amazon.com above are affiliate. That means if you click and purchase, we earn a very small commission which helps to run this website, and help paying for the upcoming production of the eBook. You don’t pay any more, and we get a contribution. Thanks for your support.

The post Birding with a Point & Shoot Camera. first appeared on Birding 101.

The intro chapters stated that you don’t need binoculars and a field guide to start birding, just an internet connection and a point and shoot camera would suffice. Wrong!  All you need is curiosity.

You look at birds with your bare eyes at the feeders in your garden or in the park. It is hard to know what the birds are, but hey, today almost every person has a camera in the pocket. Maybe not a large and bulky camera, but almost everyone has a camera on their phones.  So you could carefully try to sneak up on the bird, which is not too difficult with these confiding birds, and take a picture.

Sure you recognise the Cardinal, even the drab lady Cardinal you recognise. And you recognise the Robin. But there are loads of other birds too. Is that a chickadee? How does a chickadee look like. Is that a wren? Maybe, but what kind of wren?

And what is that dull bird with some red on it? And what is that tan-colored bird with a white stripe on the wing? You feel stupid. You don’t know and you don’t know who to ask. Let’s check the internet.

This is what would go through your head if you were completely new to birds. You’d feel a bit intimidated to ask someone who would know better, but you can always google.

Perhaps you google “small red brown bird at feeder” on Google image search and some pictures do look like your bird. It could be a House Finch, but it was not as bright red as that. And the other one could be a Goldfinch.  You feel insecure and need to ask someone.  Since the feeder is just outside the kitchen window, you manage to get a shot of the bird with your cell phone. At this point it would be good to have a directory of birdwatching resources on the internet.  That  is what this chapter is about.

Web field guides to common birds.

Here are some cool websites you can use to identify the most common birds around you.

• Wild Bird Center’s Top 50 Backyard birds.  This is an awesome resource. There is a version for the East and one for the West.  Both works like a book but you have to read in online. There are about for pictures for each species. And they are all supplied also with the sound so you can hear the song of each species.  Study these thoroughly and you will be able to identify most of the birds at your feeder without any trouble
• Audubon online field guide. If you don’t have a field guide your self this comes in very handy. There is also a very advanced search function in which you can describe the bird, what it looked like, and in what habitat the bird was encountered, flight pattern and geographic location. Then the system spits out some suggestions for you. Sadly, the system seems to have a bug when I checked, but when it gets going it shall become a fantastic resource.
• National Geographic Back Yard Bird Identifier.  This should help you get closer to the identity of an unknown bird. A simpler system than what Audubon is intending above, but this one works. And it is fun too.
• What Bird also employs describing different features of the bird as well as location. Recommended.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an online field guide on their  All About Birds site. The are currently building a smarter ID tool called Merlin. You can help out by answering some general questions describing the bird.

Take a picture, honey!

Every so often you see a bird and you really, really, really would like to take a picture of it to find out afterwards what it was. Beware, this is the first sign that there is a birder inside of you who wants to come out.  You have been warned.

You want to take a picture to upload it on the internet to ask an expert what kind of a bird it is.  You don’t own a field guide (yet), and you can’t find it on the online resources listed above.  You feel dazzled  by all the bird diversity.

You took this shot with your phone and you got this speck of a bird. Can you even see it?

Please, don’t upload this. Do yourself and the people who will see your picture on the internet a favor. CROP!  Most non-birders never crop.  Birders always crop.

The absolutely easiest way to crop pictures is by downloading  Picasa 3 – a free software from Google. It even allows you to do some editing.  If you are looking for more serious editing capabilities check this link for the best free photo-editing software, which work like the famous Adobe Photoshop. Do note that some downloads come with notorious ads, or worse they may ask you to download a tool-bar. Decline all such offers.

Here is the pic after cropping.

Bird identification resources on the internet

In spite not being the best photo it is possible to identify it. For the sake of argument, let say you can’t find it in any of the resources listed above, or for whatever reason you need to get a fast answer.

For this blog post I did a test. I sent it to 3 online resources to get an answer. It took between 1-12 minutes to find out what this bird was. Impressive, huh? Remember it was only a speck taken with your phone.

• Birdforum. The number 1 birding website of the world has a section which encourage you to send photos of birds for identification. It took one minute to get the correct answer.  Follow the thread here.  There is seldom an explanation why a bird species is such and such, but nonetheless a valuable resource  for any mystery bird you may have photographed.
• American Birding Association Facebook group.  It took two minutes to get the right answer. With almost 4000 birders in this group there ought to be someone who knows what your North American Mystery bird is. Be sure you try to identify the bird yourself first with the online resources above, before you pin your picture to the group. The group welcomes both new and experienced birders, but it is not appropriate to use the group every time you have a bird you want identification help with.
• Birding School North America Facebook group. This is a smaller Facebook group consisting of about 100 birders, which specifically aim to help beginners. It was created specifically for the Birding 101 project when this whole idea started to shape in late September 2011 in a blogpost called The Future of birding. It took 12 minutes to get the correct identification. Everyone in this group loves to identify your bird pictures. We don’t care if you haven’t checked the field guide. But we will make an effort of telling you what the main field marks are, so you have a learning experience.

Another highly recommended Facebook group is The Facebook Bird ID group of the world which has a larger scope (the world) but a bunch of birders ready to help with identification. You should try come up with a guess, using the tools you have at hand, and also supply location. You will get the hints of the best field marks to look for.

Additional online resources worth checking out.

As I researched for this post I came across a few resources which perhaps does not totally fit the purpose of the post, but still could be valuable to you.

• Birdzilla. Has an online directory of many North American birds.
• Environment for the Americas – Bird Day has a lot of resources to organize birdwatching activities for kids.
• Birdforum tips to new birders has a lot of good info.
• Birders Hangman. Can you complete the bird name before the cowboy get hung.
• ebird bird distribution bar charts. Sometimes it helps to figure out what bird you have in front of you if you know what is available.  Ebird provides a tremendous resource in this way.

Do you have other online tips for beginner birders? Please list in the comment section. In the next chapter of Birding 101, Stephen Ingraham from Zeiss will let us know how to choose a good point and shoot camera for birding. Now that you have been introduced and know where to post your pictures of birds you can’t identify, you may want to invest in a good point and shoot camera.

If you like this post, please consider sharing it with your friends, on mailing lists you belong to, on Twitter, on your Facebook wall, and on Facebook groups or you may blog about it. We need to get more people into caring about the birds. After all, with more people caring about birds, there will be more bird conservation, as the presence of the birds and bird lovers become more and more significant.
Finally, Subscribe to this blog, not to miss any future posts.

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Oh, and if you wondered what the mystery bird was? It was a Red-breasted Nuthatch, photographed by Brooke McDonald in Redding, California.

 Top photo;  Goldfinch and house finch by Sarowen on flickr. Non-commercial CC licence. Feeeder picture by Carl Bendorf. Red-breasted Nuthatch by Brooke McDonald. Used with permission.

The post Birding on Web first appeared on Birding 101.

We are the end of the intros and the beginning of the start. I am about to present the plan of the e-book and the blog series that will build it.  In a way it feels like I imagine parachuting feels like. A great abyss below me and I still jump – hoping the parachute will open. To land this project in a timely manner I rely on the parachute. I will still need to direct the chute to get to the right landing place…and I will still have to land it myself.  Without it? Crash landing!

I have asked many of  my blogging and social media friends to help me out. To be my parachute. I haven’t given them much lee time, so I am still waiting for some replies. I will not compromise anyone by naming them here if they have not yet confirmed.  Check back again and again to see who have confirmed to be part of the project.

I am aware that this is a new approach to birding. It scares me. It probably scare others.  I met resistance from some birders on Facebook. I am not selling anything. I am giving away. Maybe that wasn’t clear?  Furthermore, it is not about me. It is a communal project with lots of other people making it possible.  It is principally about you, who just have become interested in birds.  It is about giving you a tool. A useful tool for you, but not only for you. This tool you can share without limits with everyone you know. Let it go viral.

Maybe I want too much and too fast for my own good.  I had hoped ABA could lead this project. But I understand it would have been difficult. One needs to convince the board and the members, that a Swedish guy who lives in Peru who says one does not need binoculars to start birding, wants the American Birding Association to lead in producing a free downloadable manual to birding in the digital age saying just that.  Yeah, right!

I shall try to land this thing myself with the help of the parachute. Some people I have written will perhaps not have the time to help out. Others are inhibited by the company or organization they work with. That is OK.  We fully support all the organizations mentioned in this project, and hopefully they will also do their share of cross promoting once the product is ready.

As far as I can see, the main thing is to get this done. The rest we shall deal with later. If the product is good and useful, there is nothing that can stop it. Remember it is free.

I am ready to jump. The parachute is this list of content for the forthcoming e-book, here presented as a blog. I hope I can find the people to build it. And if not, by the end of this week, each section which has NOT a name assigned to it, perhaps you, dear reader and supporter of this project, can suggest people willing to fill the still empty slots. Please give suggestions, of great people to work with, in the comment section below.

Blog lay-out – list of content.

The About section gives you a good background of the goals.  Contrary to most manuals about birdwatching, this series will start with online resources and how to pick a point and shoot camera for birding, to eventually make mention of more traditional ways into birding. Binoculars are not discussed until Chapter 10!

This may seem strange. Birders argue that it can’t be proper birding without binoculars and to get binoculars before anything else.  But think for a while more organically. Most people who care about birds are not “birders”. They feed birds. Or they take a snapshot with a point and shoot camera. Or they make casual observations.
It is far too early to say: Buy binoculars!  It builds up to that point eventually. We will take it slow. We want to reach the masses. We don’t want to scare anyone away.

This slow process and this project will gradually convert casual observers into the next level.  A fully fledged birdwatcher.

The schedule – 22 25 chapters

I shall not give exact dates, but considering that the series consists of 22 chapters it shall take about three months, with 2-3 chapters published each week, to finish the series.  If you have not done so already, I suggest you sign up of  for the email updates, so you don’t miss any of the chapters. There is some great stuff ahead. One important central piece to this project  is a content managing system, which shall collect a lot of North American birdwatching resources into one website.  This we shall have to build together as a community. Every reader of this blog, can become a provider of information to the content. More about this below.

Chapter 1.  Birding on the web.
Online resources. (Gunnar Engblom).
A tour to various online resources you can start using today to learn more about birds and to get help in identifying birds you have photographed.

Chapter 2.  Birding with Point and Shoot Cameras.
Steven Ingraham of Zeiss Optics gives you an introduction what to think of when choosing a  suitable megazoom P&S digital camera.

Chapter 3. Feeding the birds.  The best tricks how to feed the birds, when to start and when to end and what to give them. We will also link to some feeder web-cams on the internet that you can check out (give us your best feeder cam tips).  Eventually, you may want to join the feeder watch program of Cornell Lab of Ornithology. See below.  (Author to be confirmed)

Chapter 4: Feederwatch. Bird populations undergo changes. Modern threats such as climate change, pollution, urban development also influence the populations. It is important to watch these changes. One way to collect massive amount of data, for scientists to use in their analyses, is persuading the public to send their observations to Feederwatch.  (Author to be confirmed)

Chapter 5. Bird Gardening
It is not only about feeding the birds if you have a big back yard. You may also shape the environment to become more bird friendly.  Carole Sevilla Brown show her top easy tips without having to become a full-time gardener.

Chapter 6.  Local suppliers for bird feeding and bird gardening.
We shall list owners of  stores for supplies of bird food and bird-gardening such as owners of Wild Birds Unlimited and Wild Bird Centers stores who are also bloggers and active in social media.
If  bird-feeding and bird-gardening interest you, you will  learn a lot from these. If you own or run a store which sells supplies for bird-feeding and bird gardening, and you also blog or are active in social media let me know and I will include you in the list.

Additionally, this is where the content managing system will begin.  We shall build a store locator for US and Canada. All stores shall be found on a Google map within the system.

This will be labor intense. Maybe someone from Wild birds Unlimited and from Wild Bird Centers could send us an excel file of all their stores. Also other franchises that sell bird food (please suggest names of such franchises) could do the same.
Everyone, shall be able to help to enter their favorite suppliers in the content system.

Visitors to the site will be able to rate stores and leave comments. The owners of each store will be able to manage their information.  Gunnar Engblom is building the content managing system.

Chapter 7.  Blogging – showing your birds to the world
Although, Facebook is great for sharing photos once in a while. You may want to share more and report from your explorations. Some simply delivers a nature diary of their explorations, while others concentrate on providing useful content for others. Robert Mortensen, Gunnar Engblom share some of their secrets.
We also hope to hold a webinar about bird blogging. Would you be interested?

Chapter 8. Social Media for birders.
Gunnar Engblom list various platforms and give ideas how to connect with other birders locally and worldwide.

Chapter 9. Birding with DSLR
What is ideal for bird photographer? How serious do you want to get? How long lenses do you need? What do cropping-sensors and megapixel really mean? Tradeoffs? Budget? A professional bird photographer will go through these items. (Yet do be defined)

Chapter 10.  Choosing binoculars.
In spite of promoting bird photography as entrance point to birding, in the end you really do need a pair of bins. You see so much more details with binoculars and you will find it easier to take a record shot if you located the bird first in the binoculars. Most old-time birders, will tell you that while getting a picture is great, the best experience of behavior and grace about birds you experience live with binoculars.  If you have reached this stage you should really consider getting binoculars.

In this post an expert (to be defined) will guide us through what to think of when choosing binoculars.  And give a range of tips of binoculars for beginners and especially highlighting inexpensive binoculars and binoculars for kids. 

Nothing beats visiting a dealer before buying to test the optics, why below we list all the binoculars outlets in the US and Canada that we know of. Some are even have panorama windows so you can test them in conditions close to the field conditions.  Another good idea is to visit birding festivals and test binoculars there.

We shall start listing all birding optics outlets in the US and Canada in the content managing system. Again, please help us inserting the data and get in touch with the owners to manage their entries.  I shall announce the content managing system within the coming  2 weeks. Keep your eyes open for this.

Chapter 11. Choosing telescope for digiscoping.
While a telescope may feel like a huge investment for someone who got into birding via a point and shoot camera it brings some advantages.  Apart from being able to finally see some details on those pesky sandpipers on the mudflat, it also opens up fantastic opportunities for long-range photography exploring the technique called digiscoping. It is also a cheaper alternative than extremely long lenses for the DSLR.

We hope to get the leading experts from the field to give their tips here.  Stay tuned for announcement of who they are. 

Chapter 12.  Describing a bird – what to look for to identify a bird yourself.
One of the pitfalls that traditional birders often mention about photography verses birding, is that the photographer stops looking at the bird while shooting away. Some information may not make appear in the photo. What was the relative size? How did the bird appear? What was it doing? What did it sound like?  We hope a major field guide author will cover this topic for us.  Stay tuned! Kenn Kaufman has confirmed to write this section.

Chapter 13. Identifying birds – field guides, apps and additional online resources
Sooner or later you will want to learn to identify birds by the means of a field guide or a birding app for your tablet or smartphone. There are also online resources for identifying birds. Grant McCreary and Drew Weber will go through the books and apps and give a fast review of what is available.

Chapter 14. Birding by Ear.
How to learn bird calls. Resources on line for bird calls. An expert on birdcalls, namely Tony Gallucci will write this chapter.

Chapter 15. The economics of birds and birding.
Ted Lee Eubanks has a long history of building resources for birders and building communities which supply services. Ted will show us that birding is not only fun, but it makes for good sustainable business which protects habitat and the birds we love. More birders =>More business=>More conservation.

Chapter 16. The Benefits of birding. 
Dave Magpiong will show how birding can improve your life – health, cognition, social life, development of children, mental acuity for seniors etc.

Chater 17. Birder ethics for digi-birders

Birder have a long tradition of setting up ethics for how to behave as a birder approaching the birds. Drew Weber will summarize a set of good standards for people who photograph birds. These standards have been selected in a survey given to bird photographers.

Chapter 18.  Become a better birder. Join a club.
A prominent birder (to be announced) will make a case why join a bird club.

For the content managing system all birding clubs and Audubon chapters across the US and Canada will be listed.
In reality it will be something of an updated  combined listing of the following resources:

https://find.mapmuse.com/map/birding-clubs

https://www.aba.org/resources/birdclubs.html

https://www.thebinocularsite.com/consumer/birding/bird-clubs-in-north-america.html

This will be labor intense, but again possible cooperating. A current Excel file from Audubon with all the local chapters would be a great start. Who has the contact details to get this?

Once every birdclub is responsible for their own information in the content managing system, they shall also be able to upload all events including talks and field trips to the event calendar which is build into the content managing system.

Chapter 19. Birding Magazines.
We shall list the major birding, birdwatching and bird gardening magazines in North America – and give a short review for each. Please provide contact details to editors/owners of these in the comment section below. (Need someone to be responsible for this section. Suggestions? Volunteers?)

To be listed the magazine must promise to

1. Mention Birding.com.co in their magazine and website with link.
2. Put a link to download the ebook on their web-page when it is ready.

Chapter 20. Birding Festivals.
Which are the best birding festivals in North America?  Perhaps we make the users decide in a survey. Hope to get a birding festival organizer to lead this topic.

Again we shall use the content managing system to place the birding festivals on a google map, as well as show the dates for each in the event calendar.

Chapter 21. Listing and ebird.
Many birders keep lists. Now lists can be kept on line. Ebird from Cornell Lab of Ornithology is one of the most important where your records also contributes to research.  Chris Wood from E-bird will write this chapter. A few desktop software and apps for smartphones shall also be discussed here.

Chapter 22.  Bird Conservation
American Birding Conservancy protects birds in the North America and in Central and South America.  ABC president Mike Parr presents ABC.

Chapter 23. Bird Travel
It is becoming more and more popular to look for birds further and further away from home.  Bird Tour Operators – a selected list of bird tour operators.

To be listed the bird tour operator must promise to:

1. Upload a link to The  blog – to start with,
2. Upload a link to Download the e-book
3. Mention the blog and the e-book in their newsletter to their clients.

We need a volunteer to lead this topic. Anyone who has traveled a lot can do this.

Chapter 24. Make someone near you a birder.  Pledge to Fledge.
A wonderful new global movement to get more people involved into birding. It is simple. Just take someone birding. Next event is April 26th-28th 2013. Richard Crossley has agreed to summarize what the movement is and how you can get involved.

Chapter 25. Share this. Spread this.
The more people who get into birding, the more resources there would be for birding itself, for bird conservation and any type of birding business. Do yourself a favor. Do the birds a favor. Share this and spread this as often as you can. Print it entirely! Give it away!

You are not allowed to sell it!

The end

So what do you think? Will this work? Looking forward to your feed back in the comment section.
In the end it depends on how many people share the message. Share this and earlier posts with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Make a blogpost about this project. Send some links to friends via email.

If you liked this post, you may want to subscribe to this blog.  The first post is due in a couple of days. And Stephen Ingraham has prepared a monster post for Chapter 2 about digital point and shoot cameras. You really don’t want to miss any posts.

Gunnar  Engblom
Connect with Gunnar on Facebook or Twitter or kolibriexp@gmail.com

PS: I added this author box below. Does this work?   Too big?  Too much advertising or relevant info?

Top photo: Before the jump by Gerard on Flickr. Creative Commons.

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