Welcome to BirdwatchingPedia™ -- The Birdwatching Encyclopedia

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To create the most complete and definitive source of information about the past and present of Birdwatching.

Our Goal:
To be your source for Birdwatching related information. We will supply our visitors with up to date news, stories, and latest Birdwatching News Links section below.

Birdwatching News Links:
Schory: Birdwatching, ribbon-cutting included in areaA a a s activities
7 Aug 2008 at 7:14am
Kane County Audubon will be hosting an evening bird walk at Johnson's Mound Forest Preserve, 41W600 ...
Birdwatching in your North Texas yard
6 Aug 2008 at 9:28am
Nancy Collins, co-owner of the Wild Bird Center in Denton, will speak at the Friends of Hagerman NWR...
YouNewsTV: Birding at Tule Lake
4 Aug 2008 at 3:17pm
This photo was taken yesterday morning by my son, Matthew , at Tule Lake. We are new to birdwatching...
Mapping the province, bird by bird
4 Aug 2008 at 7:00am
Birdwatching G6 When it comes to birdwatching, or "birding" as enthusiasts prefer to call it, Eileen...
Summer activities for every child
1 Aug 2008 at 9:02am
More things to do for the summer holidays. Family Fun For A Fiver - " a summer holiday fun day is be...

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Birdwatching:
Birdwatching or birding is the observation and study of birds with the naked eye or through a visual enhancement device like binoculars. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are more readily detected and identified by ear than by eye. Most birders and birdwatchers pursue this activity for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists, who are engaged in the formal scientific study of birds.

Birding Versus Birdwatching:
Both in Britain and in the U.S., 'birders' often differentiate themselves from 'birdwatchers'. At the most basic level the distinction is one of dedication or intensity. Self-described 'birders' are more focused on finding and studying birds than on general observation, and they tend to be more versed in such minutiae as moult, distribution, migration timing and routes, and habitat usage. Dedicated birders tend to invest more in high-quality optical equipment, such as spotting scopes, and many birders travel widely in pursuit of their hobby. Birdwatchers tend to have a more restricted outlook, often confining their birdwatching activity to local nature reserves, their own gardens, or places visited on holiday, and, in general, they invest less in optical equipment.

The History of Birding:
Birding has emerged in recent decades as a popular hobby in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people consider themselves to be serious birders, and several million regard themselves as casual birders. Birding is even more popular in Britain than it is in the United States. Roger Tory Peterson played a central role in the emergence and defining of modern birding, both in the United States and Britain.

Birding in the United States was focused in the early and mid-20th century in the eastern seaboard region, with persons such as Roger Tory Peterson and Ludlow Griscom being especially influential in the early days. In the mid- to late 20th century, many of the pioneering developments in American birding came out of California, where Guy McCaskie was particularly influential.

Overview:
Birders at J "Ding" Darling reserve, Sanibel, Florida.The most active times of the year for birding in temperate zones are during the spring or fall migrations when the greatest variety of birds may be seen. On these occasions, large numbers of birds travel north or south to wintering or nesting locations.

Early morning is typically the best time of the day for birding since many birds are searching for food which makes them easier to find and observe.

Birders who are keen rarity-seekers will travel long distances to locate new and rare species, intending to add these to their list of personally observed birds. These lists often take the form of a life list, national list, state list, county list, or year list.

Seawatching is a type of birdwatching where observers based at a coastal watch point, such as a headland, watch birds flying over the sea. This is one form of pelagic birding, by which pelagic bird species are viewed. Another way birders view pelagic species is from seagoing vessels.

Many birders take part in censuses of bird populations and migratory patterns which are sometimes specific to individual species. These birders may also count all birds in a given area, as in the Christmas Bird Count. This citizen science can assist in identifying environmental threats to the well-being of birds or, conversely, in assessing outcomes of environmental management initiatives intended to ensure the survival of at-risk species or encourage the breeding of species for aesthetic or ecological reasons. This more scientific side of the hobby is an aspect of ornithology, coordinated in the UK by the British Trust for Ornithology.

Increasing seasonal bird populations can be a good indication of biodiversity or the quality of different habitats. Some species are persecuted as vermin, often illegally, as with the case of the Hen Harrier in Britain.

Twitching:
Birders watching Britain's fifth-ever White-tailed Lapwing at Caerlaverock, Scotland, 6 June 2007.Twitching is a British term, meaning "the observation of a previously located rare bird". In North America, this is more often called chasing though the British usage is starting to gain favor, especially among younger birders.

The goal of twitching is often to accumulate species on one's lists. Some birders engage in competition with one another to accumulate the longest species list. The act of the pursuit itself is referred to as a "twitch" or a "chase". A rare bird that stays put long enough for people to see it is called "twitchable" or "chaseable".

Twitching is highly developed among birders in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Finland and Sweden. The smaller regional size of these countries make it possible to quickly travel inside their borders with relative ease. The most popular twitches in the UK have drawn large crowds, such as a group of approximately 5,000 people who came to view a Golden-winged Warbler in Kent.

In the United Kingdom, twitchers have developed their own vocabulary, which is both well developed and potentially confusing to the uninitiated, or dudes. For example, a twitcher who fails to see a rare bird has dipped out; if other twitchers do see the bird, he may feel gripped off. Suppression is the act of concealing news of a rare bird from other twitchers. Similar vocabularies have developed in other countries where twitching is popular.

Weather plays an important role in twitching. In Britain, suitable wind conditions may lead to drift migration, and an influx of birds from the east. In America, birds caught in the tail-end of a hurricane may be blown inland.

Organizations:
Prominent national organizations concerned with birding include the British Trust for Ornithology and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom and the National Audubon Society and American Birding Association in the United States. Many state-wide or local Audubon organizations are also quite active in the United States. BirdLife International is an important global alliance of bird conservation organizations.

Etiquette:
As the numbers of birdwatchers increases, there is growing concern about the impact of birdwatching on the birds and their habitat. Birdwatching etiquette is evolving in response to this concern. Some examples of birdwatching etiquette include promoting the welfare of birds and their environment; avoiding stressing the birds by limiting use of photography and playback devices; keeping back from nests and nesting colonies; and respecting private property.

Equipment:
Birders using a tower hide to gain views over foreground vegetation. Bay of Liminka, south of Oulu, Finland.Equipment commonly used for birding includes binoculars, a spotting scope with tripod, a notepad, and one or more field guides. Hides or observation towers are often used to conceal the observers from birds, and/or to improve viewing conditions. Over the years optics manufacturers have learned that birding binoculars sell, and virtually all have specific binoculars for just that. Some have even geared their whole brand to birders.

Photography:
Photography has always been a part of birding, but in the past the cost of good cameras and long lenses made this a minority, often semi-professional, interest. The advent of affordable digital cameras, which can be used in conjunction with binoculars or a telescope (a technique known as digiscoping), have made this a much more widespread aspect of the hobby.

Socio-Psychology:
Ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen considers birdwatching to be an expression of the male hunting instinct. There have been suggestion that identification of birds may be a form of gaining status which has been compared with Kula valuables noted in Papua New Guinean cultures.

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