Join Judy Outside: Fall Migration

Sunday morning, I was vacuuming the living room, and over the drone of the vacuum I heard the telltale song of a black-billed cuckoo… “cu cu cu cu”…“cu cu cu cu.”  I paused for a second, and thought “did I just hear that?”

I quickly grabbed my binoculars and went out into the yard and sure enough, in the apple tree over the driveway, was the cuckoo. I only get cuckoos in my yard once every three to four years so I was excited with this visitor.

This time of year, more and more fall migrants are making their way to my apple trees and throughout my property.  For me, fall migration is amazing; while many birds are not as “sharply dressed” as they are in the spring with their fresh breeding plumage, the fall migration is more protracted, so you can enjoy it longer since the birds aren’t in such a rush in the fall. 

Another bonus is that after the breeding season, there are just so many more birds!  The opportunities are endless.  It’s what I have always loved about birding; you can watch birds every day of the year, in every season, everywhere you go. From your deck, or backyard, at a baseball game (when we start going to those again), or a town or state park. There are birds everywhere, year-round.

Right now is an ideal time to get outside and get to know the birds in your area while we are all still socially distancing.  New to birding? Here are some tips!

1. Start locally. Get to know the birds in your yard/neighborhood.  Go out every day and look around. Once you start paying attention, you’ll notice more and more birds.
2. Get a field guide or birding app; there are dozens of them.
3. Learn to judge size.  Is the bird bigger or smaller than a robin?  Is it bigger or smaller than a crow?  Those simple questions will help you identify birds. Identifying birds is a process of narrowing things down, the more you do this the easier it will be. 
4. Likewise, notice a bird’s bill.  It usually will tell you what the bird eats. Cone shaped beaks are used for breaking open seeds. Hooked beaks can kill and pull apart prey. Identifying beaks can help you identify birds.
5. Enjoy birding with others. It’s super helpful at first to go with someone and ask questions, or go with someone who’s also new and figure things out together.
6. Take your time and observe the bird.  Behavior is often a good clue as to what you are looking at.  Eastern Phoebe’s wag their tail, you can usually identify a phoebe just by that tail wag.
7. Learn to identify a few trees.  If you go out with other people and someone describes “the bird is in the top of the oak tree,” it’s helpful to know which tree the oak is. Beech, birch, maple, oak are good common trees to start with. 
8. Pay attention to habitat, and where you are seeing the bird.  Is it high in the tree, or down toward the ground?  Habitat and location will help you immensely.
9. Get the best pair of binoculars you can afford. They are an investment, but you should only ever need one pair. For most birding I like 8 x 40’s.  The first number is the magnification the second is the amount of light that’s let in.  A good rule of thumb is the second number should be 5 times the first, otherwise you may struggle in low light.  I use Zeiss 8.5 x 42.  They are super-fast to focus, they focus on something 5 feet away, and they are very light, so I can hold them up for a long time.
10. The most common choice is usually the right one. While we all like to find rare birds, most likely the bird you are looking at is common or normal here in Maine. Look at the range map in your field guide or app; if the bird is normally only found on the west coast, that’s probably not what you are looking at.
11. Listen.  Birds make a lot of noise; pay attention to the common ones in your area and get to know those birds’ songs/calls.  Soon you will hear something different and know it’s a new bird. 
12. Get outside! As often as possible. Take your binoculars with you; they do you no good back at the house.  I will admit, I have two pairs, one I keep in the basket by the back door and the other pair I keep in my car.  I take them with me all the time; my family is regularly mortified at the places I bring my binoculars.  But you will be surprised how often you use them if you bring them with you.

Birding is something everyone can enjoy. Take advantage of the fall migration, go for a walk, and watch some birds. You can even submit your observations to the Maine Bird Atlas, a citizen science project, at maine.gov/birdatlas. Every sighting counts, everywhere in the state!

#optouteveryday #livebirdfriendly