Birdwatching Resources

Since I've gotten interested in birds, and I love to tell people about it, I've started getting requests for advice on how to get started or learn a little bit about birds and birding. I thought I'd collect a few things here so I don't have to go searching for links and stuff every single time.

A few introductory notes -- first and foremost, please understand that I'm not an expert! I'm just an amateur who's been putting some time and energy into the hobby for a few years now. But one great thing about birding is that being an amateur is totally normal -- and fun as hell. This page is a work in progress, and I apologize if it's disorganized or incomplete.^[1] Also, many of the resources I recommend are specific to North America - while birds don't care much for national borders (nice one, birds!), there is so much variety out there that is specific to different continents or climates. If you aren't in the US, and you have questions or suggestions for other resources, please drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you and/or try to help.

First of all, everything is optional except for time and attention. Binoculars and books and cameras and so on are neat and helpful, but you can develop a much closer connection to your surroundings using only your senses and your curiosity. With practice and research, you can learn to identify dozens of birds by song alone, or by the slightest glimpse. Once you start developing your eye and ear, you'll probably be amazed at how many different birds live in any given area - even your neighborhood or local park. And even more pass through on migrations or while foraging for food. Birders get excited for the spring and fall migrations for all the rare and interesting visitors, but when you're starting out, you will have dozens of revelations and discoveries to make at any time of year. I find that in my area, although it's in some ways the most "boring" season for birding, they become much easier to spot in the winter and this makes it a good time for beginners to get acquainted with the hobby and start developing skills. But of course, any time is a great time to learn something new.

There are some great apps and websites to help you learn, connect with other birders, and keep track of your sightings. Before getting into the list I'm going to go ahead and talk about the biggest hub of bird info out there - the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (CLO from now on). They've put so many great resources online and they deserve to be acknowledged. You will spend some time with their stuff sooner or later if you want to do anything besides keep your own notes on paper!

• AllAboutBirds.org: This resource from the CLO is kind of like a digital field guide. Each species has a page with pictures, usually showing male and female adults, spring vs. fall plumage, and at least one shot of an immature/juvenile specimen. There are range maps, recordings of calls and songs, and a tool to help compare against similar birds.
• Merlin Bird ID: This is a sub-resource of AllAboutBirds but deserves its own mention for its mobile app (also available as a regular website). It's the fastest way to narrow down possible IDs for an unrecognized bird, using an easy "wizard" model - tell it the date, time, location, approximate size, and a few other details, and it gives you a list of possible matches.
• eBird: this one may feel a bit intimidating at first, but it's near indispensable. Once you have an account with the CLO you can use it while birding to track your sightings, whch are shared with scientists and other birders.^[2] It also lets you track trips (like a vacation in which you went on multiple outings), view notable birding "hotspots" and the observations of other birders, and see your list of unique species sighted by year, location, of all time, etc. Aside from tracking, I find it to be a great tool to help plan outings in unfamiliar places. And the information and options it provides have also prompted me to learn more, so that I could know what the hell they were talking about. This made my outings more interesting, and (I hope) my observations more useful to others!
• Song Identification Guide: This resource, from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's Migratory Bird Center, is a wizard-style finder for bird songs! It's not terribly comprehensive, and of course most birds make a variety of noises in the course of a day or a year, but it can be really helpful.
• [NestWatch]{https://nestwatch.org): Another CLO site, focused on monitoring nesting and reproduction. Of special note here is their "Right Bird, Right House" tool and the associated resources for building and placing nesting boxes.

• The most highly recommended guide for North American birding comes in two separate parts. [Sibley Birds East] and [Sibley Birds West] both feature the work of ornithologist and artist David Allen Sibley. They're durable and easy to use. I've gotten great mileage out of the Eastern edition and recently picked up the Western one - hope I get more chances to use it!
• My first guidebook was the Peterson field guide, Third edition. I got it at a flea market. It's a great guide, but once I had the Sibley guide I found Peterson a little more difficult to use successfully in comparison.

• I've had a great time listening to the podcast Talkin' Birds with Ray Brown. There are lots of other birding podcasts, but I'm only an occasional podcast listener, so I can't really vouch for any others.
• While not strictly about birding, Jenny Odell's fabulous book How to Do Nothing does relate her birding story to the book's broader themes of unplugging, slowing down, and noticing, and her story of growing connection and appreciation for the world around her rings true in my own birding journey.
• Even farther off topic, but still a fantastic book about connecting with the natural world, is Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass. I will take any opportunity to recommend this book, including this one.
• You may find yourself getting curious about flora and fauna that aren't birds, too. Hell yeah! Everything is amazing. A good starting place for identifying bugs, trees, flowers, and all the rest is iNaturalist.