Birding and children
No Comments »17th April, 2007; Category: Birds
In another life I was a primary (elementary) school teacher for 35 years until I retired several years ago.
During my time with children mostly aged between 6 and 10 I promoted the love and study of birds. I always included as many units of study on birds as I could fit into the curriculum. I also included units of work on animals, insects, plants and the environment in general. Most of my teaching was pre-internet, so much of our classroom study was confined to books.
Whenever possible, however, these studies flowed out into the real environment. I remember fondly many class excursions and school camps where I led children into natural environments distant and different from their home town. Some of these were in the Mt Lofty Ranges and the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Others were at the seaside location of Victor Harbor.
I recently discovered a website of someone working with children in schools teaching them about birds. I think it’s a delightful site, full of information relevant to children and with interactive pages. It also includes teaching resources. The downside is that it deals mostly in birds found in north America.
Link:
- Kidwings – a website for teaching children about birds.
Australian Pelicans, Rocky Gully Wetlands
Armchair Bird Twitching
Twitching is alive a well in Australia.
Over recent years there have been a number of well documented rare bird sightings in our country. Each of these has resulted in birders – twitchers – heading by car or plane to cross vast expanses of countryside just to “tick” a rare bird off their list of birds seen.
Then a few years ago we had Sean Dooley’s celebrated “The Big Twitch”. Sean spent a whole year – without any income – travelling the country trying to break the unofficial record for the most species seen in Australia in one calendar year. This adventure resulted in a very popular and entertaining book of the same name.
Every year various state bird organisations run twitchathons, 12 or 24 hour events where car loads of birders race around trying to see as many different species as possible in the given time. Some are having second thoughts about this concept. Sure – it raises lots of money for bird conservation. But at what cost? First there is the expense of fuel, then there are the extra carbon emissions racing around the country.
Someone has suggested that these events should be confined to birding on foot or bicycle. I like another suggestion; it appeals to the lazy birder in me.
The Armchair Bird Twitch
At least one birding organisation is organising a twitch where you stay in one place throughout the duration of the twitch. The Armchair Twitch details can be found here. I find this idea a great one – just get a few birding friends together with plenty of food, drinks, comfortable chairs and a place with a good view of birds.
What more could you want – ah, yes, a toilet nearby would be essential I guess.
Related articles:
- Twitching in Australia
- What is a Twitcher?
- The lazy birder – a 12 part series of articles on how to be a lazy birder.
- Twitcher: someone who is prepared to travel great distances or go to great effort or expense in order to see birds, often just a single bird, that they have never seen before so that it can be marked on their list of birds seen (called a “tick†or “liferâ€Â). The word ‘twitcher’ might have originated from their propensity to develop a nervous twitch until the rare or desired bird has been ticked off their list.
- Twitching: the habit or behaviour of some very keen or compulsive birders, ‘twitchers,’ who must travel great distances or go to great effort in order to see a rare or unusual bird, or a species they have never seen before.
Golden Headed Cisticola
Birding in Nepal – some frustrations
Feral Pigeon in Kathmandu
One of the aspects of visiting Nepal in 2006 that excited me was the propect of seeing many birds for the very first time. This was my first trip overseas and for months before I studied field guides to help me identify the birds, first in Thailand and then in Nepal.
At first I was quite disappointed with the birding I was able to do. I soon realised that watching birds was not my main purpose in visiting these countries, so any birds I did see were a bonus. Secondly, I realised very quickly that identifying birds in a strange country is not easy. Even though I had studied the field guides for many months, getting an ID for some birds was very hard. Third, trying to identify and photograph a bird from the back of a moving elephant, or in the lurching back seat of a 4WD or bus, or while gasping for air when staggering up the track towards Mt Everest IS NOT EASY.
So, in that context, the photo above was a bonus. This Feral Pigeon (Rock Dove) posed for me beautifully on a the ledge of part of a temple in Kathmandu. Still, I didn’t exactly travel a third of the way around the world to see and photograph a common bird I can see just by stepping out my front door at home. [Sigh]
What would I do differently?
The next time I go overseas I will go with different plans and different expectations. I will not expect to be able to identify every bird I see. That takes much experience and knowledge. I will also schedule in more times to just go quietly and not in a rush – certainly not on the back of an elephant – though that is a handy place to be when confronted by a tiger (which I didn’t see) or a rhino (which I did see).
Professional Guides:
While I did have the expertise of a professional birding guide for some of the time at Chitwan National Park, most of the time I was left on my own when birding. In many Asian countries, birding guides are relatively cheap to employ for a morning or even for a day. Their local knowledge is vital, plus you have the bonus of helping to give employment to a local person which in turn helps a struggling economy.
Related articles from my travel blog:
- Himalayan Monal – national bird of Nepal.
- Another rhinoceros – and some birds too
- Canoe trip – and many birds
- An early morning birding walk – it’s hard in the fog!
- Royal Chitwan National Park – complete with a list of birds I saw.
Link:
- Trevor’s Travels – my blog about my travels in Australia, Thailand and Nepal.
Birds in Aesop’s Fables
No Comments »14th April, 2007; Category: Birds
Aesop was a Greek storyteller. He was born around about 620BC. His stories are known as fables which are stories that have a moral to them. I knew a few of them but I did not realise he had written so many that included birds until I came across this lovely little website called Cockatiel Cottage. The rest of the site is dedicated to looking after Cockatiels.
Bird Watching in Greece
I have never been to Greece and have no immediate plans to take a holiday there. However, if you would like to send me a return airline ticket to Greece I would be forced to consider changing any plans I have.
It certainly is one of those countries I would love to visit. At school I studied ancient history and so I know quite a deal about many aspects of Greek culture and their history. I enjoyed the coverage of the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the snippets of the countryside shown during that time. Several of our television networks here in Australia feature holiday destinations in Greece occasionally.
I must admit that my main interest in visiting Greece would have to be to visit historic sites, cultural sites and some of the beautiful islands. Until recently I hadn’t considered going there just to go birding. That was until I discovered the blog Birdwatching in Greece. This blog gives an excellent coverage of many of the birds found in Greece. It also features many wonderful photos of birds seen there by birders. Over a dozen trip reports are included in the archives. It also includes links to a number of Greek birding blogs and birding web sites.
This blog is worth a visit even if it is just to look at the photos.