How to Go Bird Watching

By eHow Sports & Fitness Editor

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

Bird watching guide
Binoculars
Sunscreen
Water
Notebook

Step 1:
Increase your enjoyment of bird watching by taking the time to travel to a nearby area with well preserved habitat. Although watching birds in your backyard is relaxing, you can observe a far greater number of species by simply traveling to an area with higher biodiversity, such as a local wetland, national or state nature preserve. Some birds are seasonal visitors to your area and only travel through during fall and spring migrations.
Step 2:
Enjoy the seasonal migration of birds even more and become involved in your area's annual migratory bird count. Contact your state's natural resource agency and ask about their annual bird watching activities. Different climate regions have different plant and animal species, so the bird species you can expect to see will vary accordingly.
Step 3:
Practice identifying birds by observing them at rest, although many first sightings occur when the bird is in flight. Follow birds and locate them on the limbs and branches where they perch. Some birds are more secretive than others, and you may need to buy binoculars to see them. Start with the most obvious birds first and work your way towards the more difficult to identify.
Step 4:
Travel out into your area's nature preserves. They offer the best chance to bird watch. One of the broad categories of bird classification is the birds' beaks. A bird's beak is adapted for the type of foods it eats, such as seeds, insects or meat; the more diverse the food sources available, the more diverse the bird population will be.
Step 5:
Become a bird watcher by simply looking up, or allowing your mind to fly away with a migratory flock of geese, or travel across the country to a distant wetland and wait for days for a chance to observe a rare and endangered bird species. Bird watching is a hobby that requires very little investment other than an investment of time and can give you a lifetime of enjoyment.

Tips & Warnings

Buy a bird identification book specifically for your region and keep a notebook of all the birds you identify during your bird watching outings.
Contact your state's natural resource agency and visit local nature preserves to find the best locations for bird watching in your area. Also, read the local newspaper for articles on bird watching events, such as the annual bird count or bird banding activities.

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