Fieldcraft: How can you find more birds?

Has this ever happened to you after coming home from a day of birding? You read the local online birding list only to find that others had been to the same places as you, but recorded many more species? Or maybe you've made several trips to see a reported rarity, but it just didn't seem to be around--but others found it just before or after you?

If you are familiar with the local birds--so that identification skill is not the issue--then somehow these other birders found more birds in the same area. How? The answer might not be luck. It might be... fieldcraft. What is fieldcraft?

I see you. Do you see me? Wilson's Snipe. Oregon, October. Greg Gillson.

Birding can be broken into two parts: 1) Identifying a bird, and 2) Finding a bird in the first place.

Identification is about the bird: how it looks, sounds, behaves. Bird finding is more about the observer: how you look, listen, and behave.

These days there are many tools for identifying birds. There are field guides, online apps, and specialty books and articles dedicated to those hard-to-identify pairs or groups of birds. You know them: Accipiter hawks, Empidonax flycatchers, waterfowl in flight, hawks in flight, female hummingbirds, white swans, streaky sparrows, and more, depending upon where you live in the world.

There isn't a lot of information, though, on fieldcraft--finding birds that may be near you, but hidden from your view at the moment. Today people are more isolated from nature than ever. People don't understand the behavior of other wild living things, as perhaps did our ancestors. To remedy that need this article introduces the topic. It is my intention to create a series of articles on fieldcraft and post them here regularly. When, where, and how to find birds. How to approach birds without frightening them away. Equipment and tools. And more. (I've added a widget in the sidebar (web view) that leads to all posts labeled "fieldcraft." Check them out!)

If one article a month, or so, is too slow for you, there is one book I recommend every birder own in their personal library. It is the National Geographic Birding Essentials, published in 2007 and written by Jonathan Alderfer and Jon L. Dunn, both co-editors of recent versions of the National Geographic birding field guides. This 224 page book is nearly evenly split between identification and fieldcraft. It is a great overview of the topic.


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Brown Booby off San Diego

On the annual First of January pelagic trip from San Diego we saw about 7 Brown Boobies. This is pretty typical for the past 5 years or so, when they increased markedly and then declined slightly. They breed regularly on the Coronado Islands, in Mexican waters about 20 miles SW of San Diego.

The following photos are of 3 different birds. The first 3 photos are an adult male in flight not far out from San Diego in the morning. The next two photos of a bird on the water are of a presumably a different adult male about noon at another location farther offshore. The last photo is a near-adult, probably a female, back closer to San Diego in mid-afternoon.

Brown Booby off San Diego, California. January 1, 2019. Greg Gillson.

To see other photos of Brown Boobies in San Diego, follow this eBird link. Click on the photos to rate (1 awful, 2 poor but identifiable, 3 average or small, 4 very good, 5 magazine cover worthy).

My first attempt at video: Rock Wren at Lake Hodges

I got out before the rain, yesterday, to walk around Lake Hodges. I wanted to try video on my Canon 7D Mark II and 100-400mm lens.

The light conditions were not good. There weren't many cooperative birds. I don't have an external microphone and didn't use a tripod. The video wasn't too bad for my first attempt. If I do this in the future I must have the camera on a tripod.

Here it is:

I noted that the camera's microphone picked up distant traffic on the freeway, boat motors, and people walking on the gravel path. So I dropped audio way down. If I bought a microphone I could add narration. If I had a decent still shot I could insert that as well, but none of my photos really turned out. I used a very simple and basic video editor for my first time.

This could be addictive!

Nature Journaling with ballpoint pen

A couple of months ago I experimented with ballpoint pen as the drawing medium in my journal. I had been using graphite. That worked well, and I often only used a mechanical pencil with HB lead. If I wanted it darker I would use some darker 4B or others. Then I'd have to spray it with fixative to keep it from smudging. I had also been using colored pencils, but that is an extremely slow medium.

I wish I could remember what article I read or video I watched that was the inspiration for going to ballpoint pen. But when I tried it I was immediately impressed. You can actually use the same shading technique with ballpoint pen as graphite pencil! When you push harder more ink is released, when you let up the pressure the ink is lighter. This is only for ballpoint; other pen types lay down an even amount of ink whether pressing hard or lightly.

Here are some sample pages.

Because the ink will not smudge I can journal on both front and back pages, unlike pencil (until sprayed with fixative).

Nature journal entry

Some people make an initial sketch in graphite pencil and then ink that. But that doesn't save any time over graphite alone. Rather, start drawing lightly in ballpoint pen (expecting that your first marks will be wrong) and just go with it, strengthening the lines that are correct. It is rather freeing to draw without erasing.

Most of my nature journaling is not done in the field as taught. Rather, I photograph profusely and then draw from photos. In the example following I drew from photos, primarily freehand. For the turkey profile and the one running from page to page I used a grid and pencil sketch to get proportions right.

2-page spread.

Here is a close-up. If you click on the photo and look close you may see a few of those stray barely-visible faint "wrong" lines.

close-up

While the above "finished" drawings took a bit more time, the sketches on the following page were done more quickly. Nature journaling is "not about the art." It is your observations and impressions that matter. The sketches bring back to mind. They don't try to perfectly replicate what you saw. Some of the nature journaling instructional books I have use rather quick, crude, drawings. I'm trying to emulate that quick nature and curb my perfectionism. Some of the time, anyway.

Impressions from my pelagic trip.

One downside of ballpoint pen ink is that it will fade, especially if exposed to sunlight. So it's perfect for a journal.

Renewal

Why do I crave snow-capped mountains, desert vistas, and wave-lapped beaches?

Why do I derive such idyllic pleasure simply from watching a tiny bird glean insects in the forest canopy?

Nature speaks to me.

The outdoors world sparks my awe and wonder;
It renews my soul.

Is this not joy?