Birding Basics & Etiquette

BIRDING BASICS & ETIQUETTE

Birding is frequently cited as the largest outdoor activity by number of participants in the United Sates. This number is so large because it includes everyone from people who simply have a bird feeder to those individuals who spend thousands of dollars chasing rarities across the country. If you are interested in enjoying the birds present in McHenry County, below is a listing of activities that can help you get started. It can be quite overwhelming at first, so plan to learn just a little bit on each outing. You will be surprised at how much you will see and experience in a short while.

Please become familiar with and observe good Birding Etiquette.

How to Find Birds:

Birds can be found anywhere, but you will quickly learn that recognizing good habitat will make finding them much easier. Birds can be very specific to certain habitat types. So a hike with a variety of habitats frequently works well. Ask about our McHenry County Birding Guide or our page "Where to Find Birds in McHenry County" for some good starting places.

You can also join one of our field trips (link here) since the best habitats are targeted for our activities.

Birds can be active any time of day or night, but your chances of seeing them increase near dusk and dawn. It can be tough to roll out of bed for a 6 a.m. hike, but you will quickly notice that there is a lot more bird activity at that time. An early start is also the best way to beat the heat in the summer.

Bird feeders will attract some, but not all bird species to your yard. The best thing about them is that you can place the feeder where you can best view the birds, and have the birds come to you.

Place the feeder close to trees and bushes so the birds will feel safe. Hawks will eventually find your yard if you are attracting many birds to it. Heavier vegetation levels will help even out the playing field. A feeder out in the open will leave the birds very exposed to predation.

Identifying Birds:

Bird identification can be quite daunting at the beginning. Four hundred forty bird species have been sighted in Illinois, and around 700 breeding bird species occur in the U.S. Some species are very visually distinctive, while others can only reliably be told apart in the field by their song. No one learns all of these identifications at once. It is an accumulative process where a few bird IDs may get fixed in your mind on each bird hike. Over time this will really add up.

Some suggestions and tools to help your ID skills:

Field Guide (a.k.a. Bird Books)

You will need a field guide to identify birds, although cell phone technology is advancing very rapidly, which may supplant most field guides in the future. Be sure to look through the different guides that are available. Some will use photos and others illustrations. Most expert birders prefer the illustrations, but it comes down to personal choice. When new to birding, it is best to choose a guide with maps on the same or facing page as the bird.
How will you carry your field guide? Make sure it will fit in your pocket if that will be your main mode of transport. Also, consider a simpler guide at the beginning. The Sibley and National Geographic guides are very detailed with every subspecies, gender, and age group shown. You might consider the Peterson Eastern or Golden Guides as a beginner. These are much reduced in content, and it will make it easier for you to become familiar with most local birds.
Make sure you become familiar with your field guide before venturing out. The more quickly you can locate the proper family of birds, the more likely you will be able to find a specific bird in the guide. Paging through the entire guide frequently does not work well. Your memory will get muddled by viewing many different images in the field guide.

Birds on the World Wide Web

There are a lot of websites that we like. Send us your favorites and maybe we'll add them here. Put "website suggestion" in the subject line.

All About Birds by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a great source to find ID help and current research and articles on issues that affect birds

Study the Families of Birds

A good first step is to learn the different families of birds in your area. Some bird families will look very similar. Vireos, old world warblers, and new world warblers are infamous for confusing beginners. You will not identify them if you are in the wrong bird family in your field guide. Behavior may help. For instance, vireos like to crawl along branches while warblers flit between them.

Learn to look for Field Marks

Identifying birds will require looking for specific field marks. Most field guides will include arrows or text to point out distinguishing features. Ideally a species name is based on some obvious characteristic. Note the following on any bird you might see for distinguishing features: bill size, shape, and color, head pattern and color, wing bars (wing stripes), the back and belly color, throat color, and the color and pattern on the tail. This can be a challenge with small hyperactive birds where you may only get a brief glimpse. So take in as much detail as you can to aid your identification.

Join a Bird Walk

Another great way to learn bird ID is to go on field trips with other birders. You will learn all sorts of good hints on identification from the people who know how to find local species.

Learn Bird Songs

Most of us like to see the birds for their bright colors and behaviors. However, knowing some bird songs can greatly increase the number of birds and bird species you will find. Bird songs are usually loud and will travel some distance. By learning bird songs, you will know where to look for your target species, and also know if you want to spend time looking for a cryptic species hidden away in vegetation.

There are also some species that are very tough to find without locating their general area by their song.

Try to learn a song or two each time you go out on a field trip. Learn the common species first since they will be present in abundance. Then when you hear something new, you know to stop and look for it. Over time your brain will perk up and tell you what species are present by the songs that are out there.

Many field guides include mnemonics, a phrase that will capture the essence of a bird song. For instance, chickadees really do say “chickadee-dee-dee-dee”. While many mnemonics in books are very good, you could make up your own to help you. You may remember using mnemonics as a study aid in school, and you will probably find them useful in the field as well.

Visit Cornell Lab or Ornithology's All About Birds Songs & Calls to learn more.

Learn a Bird's Jizz

"Jizz" is a birder's term for the overall impression of a bird. Expert birders can ID a bird at quite a distance in bad light by the way it acts, which habitat it is in, and its posture. This will come with experience over time. A really nice aspect of this is that it improves your efficiency and makes birding more rewarding. Instead of just sighting a bird and checking it off on a list, you will get to know their ecology. You will get to the point where you will know how to go out and find any local species, and be able to predict what species should be present in any habitat type. This understanding can be highly satisfying since you really understand what is occurring in the world around you.

If you would like to study up in detail on a specific local species, check out the Birds of North America Series, which was donated by McHenry County Audubon Society to the library at McHenry County College. These books contain six to ten page reports with in-depth details on the life history of our local bird species.

Binoculars & Spotting Scopes

Binoculars allow you to observe at a distance and frequently keep you from disturbing or scaring the birds. Many bird colors appear muted in poor light or at a distance. Good binoculars will greatly enhance your viewing experience. You will soon realize that there are many, many choices of binoculars. These range from super cheap ($10-25) to super expensive ($2000+). So how do you choose?

Make sure you try out your binoculars before you buy them. Look around at close and distant objects, both in full sun and deep shade. Hang them around your neck. Will they be comfortable to carry for several hours? Waterproof binoculars are also a good idea for use in rainy weather. Ask other birders what they like and why.

Generally high quality binoculars will be much better, particularly in low light conditions. Spending more, if you can afford it, is usually a wise choice. The quality of the optics and films to reduce glare are much better on quality pairs of binoculars.

Binoculars are sold with two prominent numbers separated by an “X”. A typical size is 8 X 35. The first number stands for the amount of magnification. This number typically ranges from seven to ten. The binoculars with larger numbers are much bigger, and therefore, much heavier, so make sure you try out any binoculars before buying them. Larger magnification will make the birds larger in your view, but a downside occurs in heavy vegetation. The limited field of view can make it harder to find birds where no good landmarks exist. Rainforest birding usually calls for seven or eight times magnification to make sure an individual can quickly focus on a species.

The second number is the size of the outer lens in millimeters. The larger sizes will allow more light into the binoculars. This becomes more important in low light conditions. The very small pocket-sized binoculars are not recommended for this reason. A small pair with an 8 X 22 lens size will perform very poorly for a lot of birding conditions. Resist the idea of a light pair that fits in your pocket. A good rule of thumb is to look for an exit pupil (large # divided by small #) of 5 or larger, unless spending upwards of $1,000.

Finally, there are medium-sized telescopes called spotting scopes that you will notice many birders using for seeing species at a distance. Viewing waterfowl and shorebirds is the most common use for spotting scopes. These require a tripod, which needs to be a strong one to remain still in the wind. While spotting scopes are expensive, they will be a nice addition to your birding equipment once you have decided that birding is a serious activity for you. Until then, look through lots of other birders’ scopes. Most birders will be happy to share their scopes with you. You can get an idea of what type and quality range fits your needs in that way.

Birding (& Bird Photography) Etiquette

As birders we are ambassadors to our sport. Please set a good example for others. We all want to protect the birds we seek to see and enjoy.

Use good judgement when posting to social media. Do not share exact locations of rare birds or their nests until they have moved on or completed their nesting.
Stay on established trails. Resident birds in particular become accustomed to activity in an area. Going off trail will alarm birds, and your scent trail can lead mammalian predators to an easy meal of eggs or nestlings.
Keep a big distance from you and rare migrants. They are coming from areas where humans are not commonly encountered.
Do not flush birds; wait quietly for them to come out into view.
If you do approach, move slowly and watch their behavior. If the bird reacts to you, you are too close.
Binocular lenses can look like giant predator eyes. Take quick glimpses so as not stare too long!
Use a blind or hide yourself behind vegetation. Vehicles also make excellent blinds. Stay inside or near your vehicle to conceal your figure.
Keep tripod legs (and your feet) on the trail and other already-impacted earth.
Limit the use of audio calls and spishing, particularly in heavily birded areas. Birds use calls to maintain a territory and our taped recordings can be perceived as intruders. Drawing birds out of cover can make them vulnerable to predators and cause them to waste time and energy better spent feeding themselves and caring for young.
Please respect property rights. Trespassing can create tension between birders and locals. If a resident approaches you, introduce yourself and share your passion for the birds you are watching. Our neighbors are potential new birding friends!
Share your sightings with other birders. Everyone has something to share, so make sure people want to reciprocate and help you see and learn more.

Birding Etiquette