Backyard birding for beginners

Helix

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MaeZe

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That is fantastic! Fantastic they published it, but also the article is fantastic! Well written, so organized, and the images!

Are those pics you took?

:hooray:
 

Helix

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Thank you! They're not my photos, sadly. I am particularly envious of the treecreeper photo because, although they're one of the most frequent visitors to my garden, I have never taken a decent pic! :cry:
 
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frimble3

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I think the cardboard bird-blind is a brilliant idea - simple and inexpensive, and interesting to camouflage.
I watch those birds who pass through my tiny (16 x 20ish) weed-filled 'garden'. The seed-eaters like the weeds, the bug-eaters like the bugs who presumably hide under the weeds. And it's all organic.

I'd like to suggest to people who may want bird-feeders, but are worried about the mess, or who aren't allowed to have one because of the mess - get a bird-bath or similar. If the thought of a cement monolith in the middle of the garden is putting you off, I have a little (3x3) plastic pond-with-bubbler and a platform, presumably to hold some decorative feature. The available water is about 3 inches deep, the water isn't stagnant, and I've got decorative flat rocks around the edges for the birds to sit on.

And its a magnet, all year round.
All the year there are sparrows and chickadees drinking, nuthatches, finches, and robins in the summer, and the occasional crow or flicker, or Stellar's jay, although the last three are infrequent - I think the garden is just small enough that they start to suspect a trap.
The sparrow and chickadees are also eager bathers. There are times in the warmth of summer when there appears to be a line of sparrows, each waiting for the previous bird to finish up having his splash in the pool. Flap the water around, check the underfeathers for completeness, then hop up to the fence to decide where to go next.

And any mess they make dries up, all tidy for the next day.
 

Helix

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Bird baths are excellent, and if there's a bit of room in the garden it's good to put them near some plant cover, so the smaller birds can feel safer.

About the cardboard box hide -- friends of mine decided to adapt them and tried out a version which involved using a big box to cover your body and a wine carton to cover your head. The effect was a cross between Ned Kelly and Robby the Robot. I don't know if they saw any birds because in the video they sent me they were laughing like mad people.

Me, too, when I saw the video.
 

buz

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I had just started to become interested in wildlife photography when things happened and trips got canceled... I decided to practice anyway, on whatever wildlife was around here. That mostly means birds, and now...now I'm becoming a bird person, and the rapidity of my development is becoming such that...I'm starting to look at moving to properties I can't afford because I don't have a yard/any land/outside space to myself...so that's normal right? This is normal. I mean, it's also normal to contemplate buying a piece of undeveloped land and putting a tent on it I can just sit in all day and stick birdfeeders around yeah? Also normal? Normal and good? Do banks hand out loans for that sort of thing? Or should I say something like "oh it's an investment because finance business business business" and restrain myself from shoving the dude out of the way and knocking all the shit off his desk to make room for the camera if I see a woodpecker go past the window and

I don't know, I have problems I think

ANYWAY hey thank you for sharing the resources, I am only just starting to learn some bird calls and am checking out xeno-canto now :D
 
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stephenf

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I'm a garden bird watcher. I live by the sea , so I get gulls in my garden. They tap on the windows and make a lot of noise , but I like them . I also get most of the common birds you see in the southern England . When it is migration season I get birds that have just flown over from france, on their way north , some will stop
and rest in my garden . Most I can't identify , but it's nice to see them . Lots of pople have seen parakeets in England , I never have , but have you seen any in Sussex ?
 

Jason

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Congrats on the publication!

And for those who are into even enjoying bird photos, there's a thread over here: https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...he-Birds-and-Bird-lovers-CAUTION-LARGE-PHOTOS that has quite a few in there, though it's been a while since it's been added to...

As an aside, in the article you mentioned even listening to birds as a fun pastime. For those interested in learning the sounds different birds make, there's a cool app on iTunes and Google Play called BirdGenie. It's pretty cool because you can either play bird calls from it's library of more than 600 species or record your own bird sounds and then the app will help you identify it. It's $4 for the app, so not free, but supports a worthy cause.
 
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Helix

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Buz, it's all perfectly normal up to and including the tent and the woodpecker-induced vandalism. Welcome to my world.

Stephenf, you're absolutely right -- the joy is in the birds, not their names. I haven't been birding in the UK, but hope to do so at some point after this ghastly business is over. I didn't know about the parakeets. Just looked them up and see that two species have established populations in the SE -- rose-ringed parakeets and monk (or Quaker) parrots.

Jason, thank you! I am hopeless at bird calls; can only recognise about a dozen. And then if I don't hear them for a while, I completely forget what they are.
 

ElaineA

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Helix, I'm so late seeing this! First, congratulations on the fact of publication itself. Especially of such a fun an relatable article. (My favorite bit: "How to do it: you just watch birds" I laughed loudly.) It's really that simple, isn't it. I'm continually shocked by the diversity of bird life in my yard, and equally disappointed by the ones I don't see. (I'll spy you one of these days, barred owl, and what is it about my yard that's so much worse than the scraggly one you prefer, downy woodpecker?)

Anyway, it's a very satisfying way to pass time, or zone out, or be entertained, or--on occasion--be reminded of the circle of life. I'm so pleased you got to share your joy with a wide readership.