What Types of Birding Are There?

There are many different kinds of birding, each one special in its own way. There is shore birding which for me is one of the most challenging. This requires spending endless hours with wind-dried eyes staring into the sun glare and shimmer or through the fog to try to focus on each of the many scurrying little birds gliding across the beached kelp. It is dizzying!

 There is incidental birding which just occurs when one is really not birding, but on the way somewhere when a bird just appears in the sky. I guess this goes to show: A birder is always birding.

 There is sea birding or conducting a sea watch. Big winds at the right time of year can yield some really good birds. This is best done with a scope. Staring out to sea can also be dizzying and even generate a little sea sickness, especially when the person next to you sees a really good bird and you don't.

There is confused birding when a familiar bird presents with a variation from the typical species.

 There is fantasy birding when a common bird takes on the appearance of an "another world" bird.

 There is seasonal birding when common birds drop in at a particular time of the year.

There is therapeutic birding where a birder goes out to enjoy the fresh air and beautiful sights of birds just going about their business. 

There is vagrant birding when the sole purpose is to find the rare birds that just drop in briefly during migration.





There is speed birding when there is only a little time before having to be at an appointed place at an appointed time. It is a rush to a favorite location in the hopes of seeing something special. Sometimes, this is the best birding.

 There is deep birding when it is necessary to work hard to see a bird well enough to identify it or when it is necessary to go deep into the woods to manage to see any bird.



There is birding-to-list where "ticking" becomes very important.  This type of birding often requires a lot of travelling and patience.



I guess I should also mention obsessive birding when a birder spends every waking hour either birding or studying birds.
Whatever the type of birding, the birding experience seems to be the driving force and is so rewarding in so many ways.

Sleepy Shorebirds

 So what's so good about sleepy shorebirds? They are calm and allow people to approach without leaping into the air and moving to an impossible distance.

 These birds were tired, all of them. Although, many of the Semipalmated Plovers continued to mill about... sleep walking. They must have been flying around all day, just waiting for low tide.

This is how Catherine B. and I came to see these few shorebirds up close.

It was near the end of the day and the tide was going out. We tacked on a quick trip to St. Shott's after birding Trepassey for about 10 hours.

 We headed up to the sod farm first to have a look around. There were no evident birds there. Given the time of the day, we opted not to walk about. On the drive down the hill, we saw one Savannah Sparrow. They had certainly been scarce for the day.

 Our arrival at the beach coincided with a fly-in flock of small shorebirds. A quick snap showed there were a few sandpipers among the plovers. That meant we would walk the beach.

 That, we did. On the walk down the absence of birds seemed really strange. In years past (on similar dates), this beach had been filled with American Pipits, Horned Larks and so many plovers and sandpipers it was impossible to scan them all.

When we arrived at the end of the beach, about 15 birds were feeding near the shoreline. Another five or six flew in while we were there.

 It didn't take long for us to spy the sandpipers and look them over closely for a possible rarity. That was easy as there were only four non-plovers on the beach. The Dunlin pictured above was a stand-our with its size, beak and nearly all-gray plumage.

There was one Semiplamated Sandpiper that stayed much to itself. Then, there were these two White-rumped Sandpipers. These were two of only three White-rumped Sandpipers seen from St. John's to St. Shott's. Wow! How did a White-rumped Sandpiper become rare? Nevertheless, it was interesting to see them both side-by-side because their plumage was somewhat different. One was much darker than the other. The truth is this may be the last ones we see this year.

Bird on a Wire

 After scrutinizing a large flock of juncos and sparrows in Blackhead, I had really given up the idea there might be something good around. Then, I drove out. There sitting on a wire in the distance was a bird.

 It would have been easy to assume this, too, was a junco or sparrow. That didn't really factor into my thinking, because I always stop and try to see the bird more clearly.

While straining to see against the back light, I heard the distinctive old-man call come out of this bird. It was a Dickcissel, a cooperative Dickcissel.

Not only did it stay on the wire, it turned around to show me the yellow streak running down its breast. Much of the time, it is just downright luck to be in the right place at the right time. To maximize that luck, it is important to take the time to stop and look closely at every little bird...and big ones too:)

Hudsonian Godwit Arrive

 The flood of migrating birds has dwindled into a trickle. No more long lists of rarities seen in one day. Nevertheless, it is just great to get out for a drive or walk. This led me to Flatrock earlier this week where I witnessed this Merlin make multiple attempts to snag a European Starling. They were just too nimble for him. He returned to the wire several times to regroup before trying again. When I left, he was still hungry.

 While on this drive, I learned Bruce Mactavish had located two Hudsonian Godwit at Mundy Pond. Hmmm, I thought, I had been searching for one in the wrong places in Goulds.

 By late morning, I worked my way to Mundy Pond, only to leave without seeing even one.

When I returned later in the day, there they were large as life, preening out in the open. This provided a great opportunity at close range to really look these birds over.

 It quickly became apparent there is a difference in their plumage. Checking the guides this morning, I don't see any illustrations presenting exactly as either of these birds.

 This is pretty typical of birds seen at this time of the year. They are in an in-between state of transition from breeding to non-breeding plumage or juvenile to adult plumage.

 Now, which is which? Juvenile? Adult?

I will leave that to you to decide as I have not yet reached a decision. These last three images show a good comparison of the two birds.