I am a hardcore badass who goes epic birdwatching. What is Epic Birdwatching?? Well... it's going out and enjoying nature, by looking at tiny velociraptors with wings!!!
Actually it's just me trying to make my hobby seem more appealing than the general idea of what birdwatching is.

Birdwatching is not little old ladies sitting on their porch watching cute little birds come up to their feeders and baths.

There's a lot of science and esoteric knowledge that takes place. Like migration patterns, routes, and timing. It's being able to say "Yes I think I will dress like Randy from The Christmas Story and brave walking out on a slimy slippery jetty in a bay with water temps in the freezing cold range, just to see a really pretty arctic duck migrating through"

Some people bird to get a count, "Oh I saw 382 species in North America alone."
Some people bird to see the rares, "I saw the Red-billed Tropicbird in Maine back in 2009."
I bird because it's something I can take anywhere in the world with me, it's interesting, they're pretty, and hey, knowing that they are decedents of dinosaurs makes them pretty damn awesome.


Do we have any other birdwatchers here?
Do you make a backyard list of the birds that have visited you?
Do you take note of the different types of birds when you travel?


Also if you ever have questions about what a bird might be, post a picture! There's a 70% chance I will know what it is right away, and a 94% chance I can quickly figure it out for you. :3

I like watching wildlife!
I wouldn't say I'm a birdwatcher, per se, but I enjoy watching them when I see them.

My favorite bird here is the Hooded Crow and I swear I'm going to befriend one before I leave.
I never really cared for House Sparrows before coming here, but since they're the only bird that will eat the bird seed I put out, I'm content to watch them hop around the backyard.
There's a pipe-looking thing out there and I saw one in it one day, pecking around. And then she yanked some grass growing out of it and kind of comfied herself and closed her eyes for a little bit.

I also like the Barn Swallows around here, but I don't see them still very much, just zipping around throughout the day. I do like how low they get to the ground and aren't afraid to just zip right by you.

There's some other neat-looking bird around here but I don't know what it is and I haven't seen it enough to really pick out any outstanding characteristics. > 3>

Aside from raptors, hummingbirds, and crows I've not really taken much notice in birds until moving here. Partly because we have wild brightly-colored lovebirds flapping around, but mostly because I have some very vocal pigeons that like to congregate in my back yard. I know nearly nothing about birds, really, so it's been interesting to suddenly care about them.

I think I shall start snapping pics while I'm out and about and posting here so you can share your skillz with us, Long. :3

Yes take pictures and share so I can look at pretty birds and tell you what they are!!

Thing I like about them is that no matter how common they are, if you watch them you'll start to see new features and new actions. The other day I watched a hawk scratch it's face, it was really neat! That's the fun part about birdwatching, you never really pay attention to them because they're always there and when you do they're just so interesting.

Iku, watch the little ones on the ground! Sometimes they'll do this little backwards half-hop to kick up dirt to find hidden seeds! It's really cute!

I'll have to keep an eye out for that! !
I need to snap pictures of the crows congregating on this big field nearby. It's neat seeing them shove their big beaks into the ground. XD

I guess I could count myself as a bird watcher. I know everything there is to know about the local birdlife here in New Zealand. I can recognise every bird by its shape, song or flight. I really enjoy it when I see my favourites, or sight something that is pretty rare around these parts. I have always wanted to work for the Department of Conservation, and help future generations be able to see and hear our unique and beautiful birdlife.

We really have a wide variety of birds here. They may not be colourful, but their songs are just... My favourite has to be the Tui. They have a wide range of calls and are known to mimic other birds. They can also speak, which is pretty cool.



Also known as the Parson Bird, the Tui feeds mainly on nectar but can also be seen eating berries. Their songs can be described best as flowing, with guttural croaks. As heard here.

Tuis are pretty common here, especially in the Spring where they can be seen hopping about in Kowhai trees and having amazing air battles while trying to find a mate.

I don't know much about American birds, or from other places, but I really love our birds here in NZ. They are mostly all special and unique, and can't be found anywhere else in the word. If you'd like, I'd love to share a few more with you.

WOULD I EVER!!! Neko that bird is gorgeous! I was only able to spend about a week in NZ when I went as part of a student ambassador program, but I didn't get to see anything quite like that!
I loved the Myna birds and was hoping to see one of the Giant Marsh Hens you guys have. I did get to see a fair number of neat new birds. I would love to get back and see more and explore more. Especially the fern forests. (Go All Blacks!)

It sounds like we're aiming for the same type of job on other ends of the world *Park Ranger high five*. This summer I got to work for my state's Department of Conservation as a Visitor Service and Education ranger at a camp ground. I loved most of it! Too bad my state is mostly a giant flat sandy pine lot with blueberries and salt marshes. XD

Do you mean the Pukeko or Takahe? XD Pukeko's are known as Moorhens in Australia and are only native. The Takahe is a flightless cousin of the Pukeko and was thought to be extinct before it was rediscovered in the South Island's mountains.

Mynah birds are pests here, though they can be pretty funny to listen to and watch. I just don't like them because the gang up on smaller birds for no reason and kill newborn chicks if they can find the nests.

The Pukeko (Poo-keh-co) is fairly common here as well. They live mainly in swampy areas and farmlands. They use their long feet to walk on lilypads and eat anything from seeds and grasses to frogs and small fish. Their chicks are quite cute because they are black and fluffy, with large feet as their feet don't grow while the rest of them grow. They can fly, but not well and would rather run away.



The Takahe (Tah-kah-he) is similuar to the Pukeko, except it lives in high mountains and feeds on grasses. They are flightless and endemic to New Zealand, which means they are found nowhere else in the world. We have a lot of special and unique birds here XD



Takahe are also a lot prettier than Pukekos *u* Though they are rare and there are few places you can see them. A good place is an island in Auckland's harbour that is a sanctuary for many different birds, the Takehe being one of them. I had always wanted to go there, but never got around to it.

My step mom used to be part of this bird watching association where they went out on certain days in certain areas to count the numbers of different kinds of birds there. It was kind of interesting but I don't think she does it anymore...

Either of them really. I just like the idea of big fat birds marching around open areas. *3* I love those pictures! I still have the field guide of Aussie birds that I bought specifically for my trip down there. And this was years ago.
I do love the myna bird family, we have European Starlings here that are just so neat to watch. I like to call them Speckled Myna birds, it makes people want to watch them a little bit more before they realize I had just made the name up. A lot of people don't like them because they're considered a pest and invasive. I just love how easy they adapt to different habitats and regions. It's incredible!!

Ziggy, I've done things like that with youth groups before. Like the Christmas bird count and summer nesting survey maps. They're fun in their own way, it takes knowing a bit more of the science behind data collection and bird habits.

We have starlings, thrushes and blackbirds here as well. A lot of bird species were introduced when the settlers arrived, some flew here from Australia.

So we still have a lot of birds that you might see around the world, like sparrows, mallards, swans, geese, skylarks etc. But yet, we still have a lot of native and endemic birdlife here.

How about the Kiwi? It is our namesake after all, referring to ourselves as Kiwis when we are overseas. I know Americans call Kiwifruit or Chinese Gooseberries "kiwis", but this is wrong. The fruit is called a kiwifruit because it is round, brown and fluffy like the Kiwi bird.

There are five different species of Kiwi, the most commonly referred to is the Brown Kiwi.



They are nocturnal, flightless birds that use whiskers and their sense of smell to get around the forest floors and find the worms and bugs that they eat. They can also swim, and run really fast if needed. Sadly they are in danger of disappearing from the wild altogether due to pests such as rats, possums, wild cats and dogs.

They also lay the biggest eggs in relation to their size, have very small, featherless wings hidden under their feathers, and the male kiwi is the only bird to have a "full" penis. I won't explain that one in any detail at all XD

I have petted a kiwi before, and they do not feel like a usual bird. They actually kinda feel like a towel. A lot of people think that they are quite common, but it is rare to see them in the wild outside of conservation parks and zoos. Not only do they suffer from pests attacking them, they are also known to be attacked by pet dogs.

:< yeah the story of the kiwi is a sad one. I'm a huge supporter of indoor only cats. reduces the number of cat-related bird deaths drastically especially for the flightless and ground nesters.
Pig and weasels also play a huge roll in the decimation of small ground nesting birds. We have a bird that shares some similarity with the Kiwi, it is capable of flight though. American Woodcock is related to Snipes. They're nocturnal and eat worms, they probe the ground to find them. They have this really neat call that only occurs when they do their spiral courtship flights as the noise is produced from air whistling through their stiff feathers.

Hehehe, looks cute :P

They're one of my favorite species we have in the area. Their call is an adorable nasally "thhhpeent" and they have their wing twitters. If I could join a netting and banding of these guys that would be super awesome. I've done some netting and banding before so I have some experience.

Arctic bird in New Jersey. Snowy owls aren't a common sight south of Canada around here. And that is why birdwatching is cool. Seeing awesome things that you might only ever see in nature specials.
Picture taken with my phone through my scope.

I am interested in starting birdwatching. This year I moved to a coastal town and whilst walking to [my previous] workplace passed a cliffside with bushes and have seen different birds, many robins and an interesting green (almost an "acidic" green, I'd say!) bird who had a lovely sound. I wish I knew what it was... I never was able to take a photo.

I have had a pair of mid-priced binoculars saved on my Amazon wishlist for a while now, but still haven't actually taken the plunge and bought them! >w< Perhaps for 2014...

Oh, as well as living on a hill/near the cliffside there is also a public green area a minute's stroll down the road. There is quite a large wooded area connected, which I feel would be good for spotting.

I'm a bird watcher, thanks to my dad and grandpa! Both of them are highly involved in the birding community in my hometown so much so that my parents house the annual muckrace at our house! We have birders come onto our land to partake in the experience and my cats are often a form of comic relief, especially when they decide they need to be fed cat food instead of hunting a bird. Everyone seems to enjoy the fat orange cat because of that. We like to say that he's pro-bird.

Anyway, I've helped with the Christmas Bird count before! I've also down the Backyard Bird Count. I was the youngest on the team but they liked that I had sharp ears and eyes. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. I'm also literally 15 minutes from the Montezuma Wildlife Complex as well as the Audubon. It's really neat because a lot of people in the area are very much into nature.

I think the coolest bird I've ever seen was our bald eagle. I saw our eagle because she lives in my backyard. Last summer I was going to go outside to play with the cats when I saw her swoop down into our yard and grab at a bunny. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She was so graceful! I later found where her nest was and would do my best not to disturb her and the babies. But I did get to see her a few more times as she often flew over the observation deck we built on the water. I never had my camera super handy so I haven't any decent pics. :(

Anyway, it's nice to see that there are other bird enthusiasts on here :)

Disappointed, this thread is not about what I thought it was about...

I like looking at the nice looking birds when I'm out too... clubs and pubs and such!

I have a family of mocking birds that every year come by to get mealworms to feed their babies. They usually follow me when I walk home lol!

(back story c: )
A few years ago my bf and I found a baby mocking bird laying in the road (I live in a desert so I thought it was dead) it had flight feathers so if it were a-ok I would've left it alone (mocking bird chicks live in bushes once they're ready)
Took him home, ran him under cold water (a trick my mom taught me)
Once he was 'better' I kept him a few days only to realize he suffered some brain damage (not as bright as most mockingbirds...birds in general) so my mom takes care of him.....which is a long story on why I have mealworms XD

noirist:
GO FOR IT! :D The only thing you really need is a good field guide. The binoculars just let you get a better look. If you have a camera you could always try taking pictures of them and looking them up later.... or posting them here and try to stump me. :P

Xavirne:
Montezuma... as in Upstate NY??
Christmas bird counts are just really fun. a group of people tromping around looking at nature and then going in to get cocoa and muffins at the end! Birdwatching is just really fun! There are birds everywhere and it's not just about seeing the most but watching them do neat things too!

MossyToadstool: YAY! Isn't it fun to have wild pets? They will be your mocking birds and will always see you as someone who took care of them and fed them.

Yes, yes! Upstate/Central/Finger Lakes Region, for lack of better terms. xD

You know, I miss NY. Been in Massachusetts for about a year and I will admit that there are soe wonky birds here. Sure, they have robins and chickadees, but they have a lot of sea birds too. I miss my own backyard were I could name every bird. D:

I've been doing a fair bit of birdwatching lately. We hung lots more feeders from our tree branches and put some fruit on there too and now lots of different flocks keep coming back day after day. It is beautiful to watch them get excited when they realise we have put new swwds in their feeders, or to watch them play in the water bath. Yesterday a female starling and her mate brought their babies to our tree to enjoy some apple :) I could watch them all day xD