Entryway to Birding

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A Beginner's Guide to Finding Birds

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This week’s Entryway to Birding post is for those of you who are feeling pretty comfortable with your backyard bird IDs and are itching to see a new species! Maybe you’re eager to test out your ID skills, or maybe you want to venture to a new destination in search of a little more variety than the backyard can hold.

Where do you start looking? How do you know where to go? What might you expect to find at this time of year?

On one hand, the answer to these questions is as simple as getting outside and seeing what you find! On the other, it gets a little more complicated as issues of habitat, range, and migration patterns come into play. Getting a sense of what you might see, where you might see it, and when you might see it can feel like a big challenge to a new birder who is still learning the ropes.

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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Bird With Me! A Virtual Field Trip at Cherokee North

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Are you missing field trips as much as I am? When you are a new birder like myself, field trips and group bird walks are like gold. You can absorb so much from experienced birders that share tips and advice they’ve accumulated over many years of birding. Nothing quite compares to having someone ID a tricky bird song in the field or point out a field mark that you can recognize right then and there.

I can’t promise you all the joys of a real field trip here on the Entryway to Birding blog, but I’ll do my best! I am not nearly as experienced as Madison Audubon’s many other field trip leaders, but I hope the little bit of direction that I can share will help open your eyes to a few birds that you may not have noticed before.

So where are we off to? Last week, I wrote about my experience birding at Cherokee Marsh for our office’s relay-style participation in the Great Wisconsin Birdathon. This week, I’m heading back to the marsh … and I’m taking you with me!

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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A Beginner's First Birdathon

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This past Tuesday, the Madison Audubon office staff participated in the Natural Resources Foundation’s Great Wisconsin Birdathon, a walk-a-thon-style fundraiser where the goal is not about the miles you walk, but the number of bird species you can spot in a single day of your choosing.

The Great Wisconsin Birdathon is the largest fundraiser for bird conservation in Wisconsin and a yearly event that unites bird-loving folks all across the state. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that birdathon-ing may look quite different this year, but it doesn’t have to come at the cost of connection. In fact, the Natural Resources Foundation is encouraging you to connect more than ever—to connect with the birds you may not have noticed before, to connect with local landscapes that may prove unexpectedly full of life, and to connect (safely, distantly, virtually) with family and friends as you bring awareness to Wisconsin’s birds.

In this week’s Entryway to Birding blog, I’m going to tell you about our staff’s Birdathon day, which was also my first time participating in the Great Wisconsin Birdathon. I’ll share my experience of connection and give you some pointers about how you might plan your own Birdathon day too!

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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Birding with Confidence

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Welcome back to the Entryway to Birding blog! Last week, I had some tips and suggestions for how to get more comfortable identifying the birds you see with the Merlin ID app. But even with a handy field guide like Merlin in your pocket, it can be hard to feel confident in your skills when you’re new. This week, I’ve got some advice about staying confident (even if you’re just confident in what you don’t know!) and a list of some of my favorite non-field guide resources that have helped me feel like a more capable, assured birder.

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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A Beginner's Guide to Bird ID

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In this week’s Entryway to Birding blog, I’m going to share some simple and practical tips to help you ID birds in the field—especially when you’re out there on your own. It may feel intimidating without a field trip leader or fellow birders beside you to help you out, but don’t let that hold you back from trying to improve your skills. I’ll show you how to use the Merlin ID app to help give you a great place to start with your IDs.

None of my advice is new or groundbreaking, but I hope it can give you a little more confidence if you’ve been flustered by an overwhelming amount of birds (it’s really a good problem to have!). When you’re birding solo as a beginner, you may not be able ID everything you see, but if you keep at it, you’ll find you improve with each and every attempt.

Let’s get started!

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt