Birding all weekend was a ton of fun! On Saturday we saw 28 different species at Bluebonnet Swamp and Sunday about the same at Greenwood Park. Both days I came home and took a nap. Early mornings are brutal; I dislike them to my core.
Our instructor uses a trick of playing a screech owl sound on her smart phone, putting the phone down on a low limb or on the forest edge, and then standing back to see who emerges. By playing the screech owl sound, for instance, it puts all the birds on high alert. There is definitely a lot of movement using raptor sounds. She encourages us to do this sparingly so as not to stress or agitate the birds too much. I saw my first hermit thrush using this method, and got photos of the eastern towhee and ruby-crowned kinglet with this same trick. I will be trying this occasionally on my own if I'm not seeing birds. There are apps with sound only, or spring for a full-fledged bird app like iBird, which is what I have.
I did not take my camera Saturday because 1) I go to Bluebonnet Swamp all the time; and 2) I wanted to learn and not be distracted with photography. Here is some of what I saw on Sunday.
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| Pied-billed grebe |
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| Ruby-crowned kinglet |
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Eastern towhee.
Not the best image, but at least I have proof that I've seen him. |
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| Japanese magnolia |
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| Field of wildflowers |
Another trick is to learn the call or song of each bird. Oftentimes our instructor heard the birds first, then knew they were nearby so she could look for them.
I hope this helps some beginning birders out there. I can't wait for our field trip next weekend.
