Picture This

It's been a while since my last article, and I was debating on what to write about, when suddenly, inspiration struck! I would write about my birding experiences.

If you are still new to this wonderful hobby we call Birding, you may be interested to hear that there are 2 ways people experience birding - let me break it down quickly below:

1. Birding with Binoculars

This is the way that I bird - you simply go out looking for birds, and identify birds based on what you can see through you binoculars, or monocular if you are really talented! This comes with a bit of a challenge, as you often can't get a good enough look at a bird to identify them, and once you've looked up from your bird book / app to check if the features match the bird you think it is, the energetic bird has already left town!

2. Birding with Cameras

Birding with a camera seems to be the preferred method. Personally I feel like this is a bit of a cheat code - for those who might not understand gaming slang, it is an easier yet less rewarding way to do things - don't get me wrong, birding with a camera is immensely helpful to identify birds, as you can spend more time identifying the birds, and if need be, you can provide evidence of your sighting.

Now that you know the differences, let me tell you why I am writing this blog...

As I only bird with a pair of binos, I'm going to be honest about something that makes me sigh and roll my eyes when I bird with someone with a camera - people with the cameras are (most times) looking to get that 'perfect' shot. You know the one I am talking about: the sun has to be perfect, the bird has to land about a metre away, and it has to be in mid song and display, and if it is a small bird, a peregrine falcon must swoop in during the shot to catch the bird in slow motion - this is also known as the 'National Geographic shot'.

I consider myself a fairly patient person, but after the 50th shot of the same bird, I do tend to feel a bit exasperated. And don't even ask about another bird in the vicinity - only the one in focus matters!

Before I get a complaint, let me clarify something - I support all amateur photographers! But on behalf of those of us that only use binos, please remember that we are waiting to see another bird - looking at the same bird does get a touch tedious after the 10 minute mark!

So, please let me know in the comments if you think I need to work on my patience - until next time, cheers!