Start Birding with these Five Steps

Woohoo! Welcome to Episode 1 of the Birding Tools Podcast.

Calling all beginner birdwatchers and bird enthusiasts!

This week, I’ll be talking about the five key steps you need to take to start birding.

While the physical tools you need to start birding are pretty standard – binoculars and a field guide – there are other steps that will help you progress in your birdwatching and identification skills.

Here’s how the episode goes

[1:23] Binoculars are a birder’s best friend. They are essential for seeing minute details in birds up close and identifying birds off in the distance. Make sure you have a pair of binoculars that works well for YOU. This means, for example, having the magnification on your binoculars fit your preferences, and ensuring the weight of your binoculars isn’t too much to handle for hours on end.

[4:30] A Field Guide is the next most important item you need to ID birds. In it, you’ll get accustomed to the characteristics used to identify birds as well as understand bird taxonomy. Becoming acquainted with your field guide allows you to better ID the birds in your area. There are electronic and physical field guides, however, I recommend getting a physical bird field guide. Physical guides allow you to get off the phone for a bit as well as help with bird taxonomy.

[6:53] Printing out a Bird Checklist is a great way to start your bird life list! It also allows you to focus on a set number of birds to ID and look out for first, to reduce the overwhelm of seeing all those other birds in your field guide. Plus, who doesn’t love checking off checklists??

[9:10] Understanding the Five Keys to Bird Identification is so important in learning to ID birds. While your Field Guide will help you through the process of identifying each bird, you first need to know what to look for on the bird! These are standard identification factors that extend worldwide and can be used to ID any bird.

[11:00] Connect with other birders in your community. Connection with other birders is part of what makes birding so much fun, and it allows us to share our interests and passion with others. Ornithological Societies and Birding Clubs are great places to start, and there are wonderful Facebook and social media pages for you to engage with other bird-lovers.

Click here to listen!

You can also read more about each of these items to start birding on our Get Started page!

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Links Mentioned in this Podcast

Lots of great beginner’s tools and resources are mentioned in this episode. Since we are based in North America, our focus tends to be on North American birds and resources.

However, if you need a hand finding the best resources for your country or region, please reach out so we can help you start birding on the right foot.