“I would love to get into birds”, “It’s something I love but have never really gotten into it”.
The famous words of not only people that come on safari but even you at home. Not only would I recommend getting into birding, but I would promote it as well.
Birding in its simplest form, unlike other extreme adventure sports, is pretty much a complementary activity. Fortunately, this wonderful activity only requires two pieces of equipment to get started, one being a bird book and the other a pair of binoculars. Let’s start with the bird book. For one, they make for a great read whilst enjoying a cup of coffee and you can test yourself trying to ID these birds you have slowly started to notice in the garden. Choose a book with an illustrated glossary on the inside of the front or back page and ensure it provides you with a clear image of prominent species from different family groups. This will go a long way in helping you start to slowly narrow down the birds you see and identify them. If you’re feeling technically inclined, the Roberts Bird App is user friendly and helps ID Birds too. Secondly, and a very important piece of the puzzle, get yourself a decent pair of binoculars, there is no need to break the bank here, I still have my first pair of binoculars that work like a charm, although they are bigger than my whole face and weigh a ton… wouldn’t recommend those.
The beautifully striking Scarlet Chested Sunbird. To me, one of the most beautiful birds around. With its plain black back, it can be easily missed when overlooked, however as it turns and you get the view of its scarlet breast and lower throat you will be amazed by its beauty, especially through binoculars. Photo by Anthony Goldman.
My best advice would be to start with that one bird in your garden, you know that one that catches your eye every day. Listen to its call and know what bird it is but there is always another bird that chases that bird away, the one you don’t like, learn that one too. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes those two birds. The easiest thing to start with is the pretty birds. Start by showing interest in the flashy beautiful birds and this might spark your interest in the more challenging “brown” ones.
Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” So too should birding. So, I set a goal for you if you haven’t started birding yet, learn ten or twenty different birds, and hopefully, this will be enough to pique your interest. If this does spark your interest, take the time to learn the different families in your garden, this would usually be sparrows, barbets, thrushes, weavers, and Ibis.
Weavers are a good family of birds to begin trying to identify the differences between. Here, this male Village Weaver assesses the completion of the ring, foundational structure.
Simply by sitting on the porch a going page by page you will move from one family to the next and before you know it you will be able to pick up the ever so slight differences between the individual families of birds. Remember how I said to start with that one bird. Use that as the reference and compare the new birds you see. You’re looking for the popular birding term “GISS” commonly interpreted to stand for “general impression of size and shape.” Generally, smaller birds are in the back quarter of the book and larger ones toward the front but as always there are a few exceptions.
Camp manager, Kelly Odams, stops and points out some of the Ashy Flycatchers outside Varty Camp.
I can promise you that once you get into birding, you will never look back. Camp manager, Kelly Odams tried to fight this for months, after her partner, ranger Chris Taylor, being an avid birder himself tried and tried to no avail. All it took to get her hooked, was just that one bird in camp, a call she recognised and wanted to find out what bird it was.
She might hate to admit it now but I have been in camp with her naming the birds calling in the background, sometimes lawyering me. Take my word for it, if Kelly can you can.
It’s true that each time I visit Africa, I wish I knew more about birds. Around my house I only see two – three birds so I will need to find a larger birding area. I am pleased to say that my past trip to Londolozi gave me the opportunity to learn more about the native birds and those migratory species, so that I came away able to identify more than three!
So now it’s time to buy a bird book and download an app and try to approach birding from a more positive perspective. Thank you for the tips.