Beginning Birders

by Mike Stiles

During four days of leading field trips for the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival I was asked some great questions by beginning birders. It brought back memories of my early days, seeing these neophytes struggle to identify small, fast moving birds, often high overhead in the trees. I will try to answer some of those questions here. I only wish I would have known some of these tips early in my birding career.

"How do you find a bird in the field guide when you have no idea where to even start looking?," I was asked by a young woman from San Francisco. Excellent question, and one that every new birder struggles with. I think first and foremost is to buy a good field guide. Put away the tri-fold laminated guide to common birds, and buy the newest edition of Sibley, or National Geographic, or Peterson, or Kauffman, or the new Smithsonian Guide. These all will have the current nomenclature (bird names are constantly changing) and the current taxonomic order (the ducks and geese should be first in the book).

Don't be daunted by the 900 or so birds in the guides. There are a few tricks to eliminate a great many birds from the start. For example, if you see a small songbird flitting around a willow tree, you can instantly eliminate the entire first half of your field guide. Gone are the ducks, loons, pelagic birds, herons and egrets, raptors, shorebirds, gulls and terns. You can be pretty certain it's not a dove, or owl, or woodpecker. It's probably not a swallow or a swift, or a member of the crow family.

Of course, that still leaves a good many birds. Is it a wren, a warbler, a sparrow? Could it be a vireo, or a kinglet? Look at the bill, for that field mark alone will eliminate a large chunk of the field guide. Look at colors and patterns, and marks in the face, chest, and belly. Look at the tail, watch the bird's actions and mannerisms, for they are all good clues. Study the parts of the bird in the introduction to your guide. Know what the malar stripe is, and where the lores are, for example. In no time at all you'll be looking at primary projection and feather edges on the greater wing coverts.

And here's a tip I wish someone would have told me early on. While the bird is visible, watch it. Don't reach for the field guide and let the bird get away before it is seen well. I know what you're thinking, and I understand very well, that once you look at the field guide, it will invariably tell you what you should have been looking for . . . and then, of course, the bird is long gone. That certainly is frustrating, but still, your chances of identification increase the longer you can look at the bird.

Be prepared that the darn birds very often don't look like the pictures in the book. Birds are extremely variable because of age or gender, time of year, or even feather wear. The field guides mentioned above will show some of this variation, another reason to own a good one.

When you've eliminated all you can and still don't know what it is, go through the remaining field guide page by page and eliminate more birds. And if that does not work, there is no shame in letting the bird go unidentified. You're not alone in this. We can't always get the looks we need, and even the experts, if they're honest, have to sometimes "let them go."

Equally as important as learning field marks, is learning status and distribution of the local birds. "Why is that finch (that I named as House Finch, halfway up Morro Rock) not a Cassin's Finch?" one person asked. I know from years of birding in this county, that Cassin's Finch are extremely rare and are found in certain habitats. A lot of birding is "probability birding," knowing what to expect and when to expect it. One caveat though, don't get lazy and carry the concept too far. Rarities do occur, and the chance of seeing rare birds are the reason most of us are out there, so look at every bird you can, but remember what my friend Brad Schram always says,  "If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." Rare birds are just that, not often seen.

New birders are often amazed at how field trip leaders can find a small warbler near the top of a pine tree, and get the binoculars on them. The main lesson here is practice, practice, practice. Look for movement and don't take your eyes off the spot while you raise your binoculars. If the birding is slow, practice finding stationary objects in the trees such as branches or pine cones, or flowers. Put your binoculars on soaring hawks or birds in flight. Soon you will be an expert at it.

The greatest thing about being a new birder is the excitement of the new bird, the thrill of a new discovery, and the pride of being able to figure out what that little brown bird is that you've been seeing in your yard for all these years. Try not to lose those things.

Burrowing Owl on banner by Cleve Nash.