Birdwatching – Spring migrations and Birdwatching

Birdwatching and Spring Bird Migrations are ideal for high magnification birding binoculars. You also need to Look UP and Listen. These are times it is best to go birding with a group. What one pair of eyes might miss, another person might see or hear.

Once, I was on an early morning spring migration bird walk in western Pennsylvania. The area was an ideal mix of open fields, nearby streams, ponds and forested woodlands. The weather was damp and foggy. But these intrepid birders, both novice and experts, were prepared and did not complain.

Most of us had 8×42 or 10×42 birding binoculars hanging on sturdy neck straps or grasped in our hands focused upon some motion in the trees. I enjoyed watching the birders as much as they enjoyed listening to the speaker at the front of the line.

Soon, I realized most of the action was above us. Not in the trees. But actually in flight high above where my 8X25 compact Bushnell binoculars could see. I saw no hint of birds in the sky and blamed the fog and my smaller birdwatching binoculars. THEN I heard the leader announce, he was recognizing the birds by sound, rather than sight. He could not see them either. I was stunned.

We gathered in a small tight circle in the grass and looked up into the clearing sky and listened as the well trained birders, who could hear, identified one warbler after another. “Here comes a flock of dot . dot. dot.”   They would say.  Or “Listen, off to the left you can hear the ducks from the pond.” They estimated how high were the birds flying based upon how loud their calls were. It was either a grand hoax or a great demonstration of skill and experience. I chose to believe it was the latter.

Donna Paul Bessken is an active bird watcher, affiliate marketer and freelance writer. Studying birding guides prepares her for the next trip. Sign up for her new Better Birding E Course, It is free right now.

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