Backyard Bird Habitats

Lesson 4: Follow-up to Habitats for Backyard Birds

Expanding On Your New Hobby

As you know, birdwatching is a fun and relaxing hobby. Expanding on your new knowledge can take you in many directions. As we discussed in Lesson One, Cornell University’s web site, http://birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAbo... has information about becoming a citizen research scientist. You can join research projects through the links provided on that site. One of the programs, The Birdhouse Network, is looking for volunteer Ambassadors to be trained to answer questions about birdhouses and The Birdhouse Network.

Both The Birdhouse Network and Project FeederWatch give you the opportunity to sign up to receive electronic newsletters. You should continue to explore Cornell’s web site and the other web sites that are linked to this course. They are updated regularly.

To participate in the 2005 Great Backyard Bird Count, visit The National Audubon Society web site linked to this course, http://www.audubon.org/bird/at_home/. In the February 2004 Bird Count Report, Audubon stated that birders across North America submitted almost 50,000 checklists totaling more than four million birds. The event documented the locations of 573 species.

A bird’s color, size and shape help to identify it. A good field guide and a handy notebook will help out. Starting out with a regional or statewide field guide is recommended. Many birdwatchers keep a birding life list that shows when and under what conditions they first saw a particular kind of bird. These check lists can be found on-line and downloaded for free.

Cornell’s web site also has a useful gear guide. For example, the site provides you with information on purchasing and using binoculars and spotting scopes.

Our textbook, The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher, discusses Bird Classification on page 365. The Bird Behavior Guide on pages 144-203 is an excellent resource for studying birds. There are also many birding magazines to subscribe to and many birding organizations to join.

You might consider learning more about bird anatomy. Characteristics such as bill size and shape, adaptive colors and specialized feet and wings help you to identify birds and better understand how birds survive.

Bird songs and calls can also help with identification. Males sing to females in spring during breeding season and to scare away other males. Both males and females sing during the nesting season. Brief bird calls can alert other members of the flock that food is nearby, warn that predators are in the area, or keep the flock together. You can purchase recordings of bird songs and calls or access them from web sites.

Learning about breeding rituals, such as courtship and nest making, and how birds defend food and nesting territory will allow you to understand the interesting antics that you will observe while birdwatching.

With a little research before traveling, you can look for birds that you would not see in your home area. Our textbook will be helpful if you are traveling in North America. In 1997 we traveled to Virginia on vacation and I was thrilled to see a pileated woodpecker.

Other topics related to this course include bird photography, growing your own plants from seed, cuttings or division, and gardening to attract other kinds of backyard wildlife, such as butterflies. Suite 101 has many courses available to build on Habitats for Backyard Birds.

  1  2  3  4