Chronicles

Tips For Beginner Birders With Mike Lushington by: Mike Lushington                                     Part I: Getting Started              Bird Watching, or "Birding" as many practitioners prefer to call it, is the fastest rising recreational activity in North America - and has been for some time. Whether it is simply setting out a few feeders and watching from your window to see what they might attract, or setting off on long Ecotourism trips to Costa Rica or the Galapagos Islands, people are spending time and money to see birds, and to try to identify them.              The most basic and important bit of advice that I can offer anyone who is developing an interest in birds is simply to get out there and look at them as often as you can. The more you do so, the more you will begin to understand what to look for and how to interpret what you are seeing. For the rest of this article, lets consider binoculars (or glasses, as we often call them)  - those indispensable tools for bird identification.              Most birds are small; they flit actively through the trees and across the landscape. Seeing what you need to see in order to identify them is challenging enough with a good pair of binoculars; it is often just about impossible with the naked eye.Of course the big question with binoculars is how much will a good pair cost. You can buy a pair for $40.00 or $50.00 - or you can spend upwards of $1000 - or even more. In the end, you will get what you pay for. The cheap ones will not give you satisfactory performance, and they will not likely last for very long; on the other hand, the most expensive ones are meant for professionals. A price tag somewhere in the middle of the range should suit your needs. Unless you decide to travel a lot in pursuit of your new hobby, binoculars will be your one fairly large expense, but that expense will be repaid over and again when you get the satisfaction of identifying that little jewel in the top of a distant spruce tree while others are fumbling and fuming over glasses that simply do not perform.              If you are planning on doing most of your birding from your window or in the woods, a set of binoculars with 7.5 or 8 power magnification is ideal. Stronger glasses blur when you are trying to see small objects that are not really that far away. On the other hand, 10 power glasses might be a better choice if you are going to concentrate on birds on the water or at the beach, where the distances will be further and where the birds tend to sit still for longer periods. A good pair of 8 power binoculars will serve under most circumstances, though - and will be comfortable and easy to use.              Many people have some difficulty in getting used to using binoculars, so it is always a good idea to practice with them. You don't want to wait until you see that bird of a lifetime at your feeders to discover how to use them. Try them in different lights, from different angles and from a variety of distances. Teach yourself how to find your target quickly and easily by experimenting. A good pair of binoculars is a tool,and those who use their tools well do so because they have practiced until they become completely comfortable with them. Besides, watching a robin on your lawn with the aid of your new glasses is a delightful experience in itself.

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