Plan to visit a nature center, bird observatory, or wildlife refuge soon – you will relish the time outdoors (Common Goldeneye photo by Paul Konrad).

Birding is many things to many people – including many tens of millions of Americans and Canadians! For some of us, birding is a lifestyle, an ever-present part of our lives. For some, it’s the action at feeders and a bird bath outside our window, the birds we find along the walking path at a city park or golf course, or the flocks of birds on hand at a national wildlife refuge an hour away. For all of us, birds provide an interest that commands our attention and inspires a lively connection to nature that we enjoy sharing with family, friends, co-workers, and fellow birders.

Birding includes aspects of our home life, such as attracting birds by providing food and water, and landscaping our yard with flowering plants, shrubs, and trees to provide food, shelter, and nesting sites. We also install bird houses, and maybe a big nest box for larger cavity nesting birds to utilize.

Many of us combine birding with all kinds of outdoor activities, including listing and counting the different species we see while on daily walks, longer hikes, while cycling, canoeing and kayaking, auto touring, backpacking and camping, drawing and painting, photographing birds in our yards and in the field, traveling to nature centers and wildlife refuges, and some enjoy occasional trips to other states and even distant countries to explore new locations with distinctive birds. You can even try spending a few days at a birding lodge, near or far.

Inside our homes we assemble libraries about birds, or at least a section of our library books that includes field guides, birding books, species accounts, and magazines. We display bird-inspired drawings, paintings, sculptures, and ceramics in our homes. Our computers provide access to a remarkable wealth of information about birds, and we create files where we can keep birding records and the digital photos we take; and we use specialized computer programs that aid our birding endeavors. There are even birding board games to play.

We can also add bird-oriented improvements where we work, whether that may be adding some bird-friendly landscaping or a hummingbird feeder outdoors, or adding a piece of bird art in a hallway or meeting room. I’ve even visited restaurants that installed a line-up of decorative bird feeders and water features outside large display windows that attracted interesting birds, which in turn attracted people to the business. Some people even choose bird-related occupations – birds, birds, birds!

Many birders enjoy participating in citizen-science projects, including Project FeederWatch, as well as spring and fall big days – the Global Big Day in May, and the October Big Day, both worldwide birding events. At the same time, you can add your birding observations to eBird any day, and include photos and sound recordings if you wish.

There are also ways to become socially active with other birders, with welcoming bird clubs organized across the country that provide regular meeting agendas, speakers, and field trips. Many Audubon chapters are organized around birding activities too. You can also become a member of an area bird observatory or an Audubon center, and there are volunteer opportunities at many nature centers, bird observatories, and wildlife refuges that will bring you in closer touch with birds and other birders. Of course, birding festivals offer an exciting opportunity to spend a day, weekend, or extended period involved in a variety of birding activities ranging from field trips to workshops, guest speakers to birding product bazaars.

This week we are sharing this brief description about the special ways we enjoy birding with an interest in inspiring you to expand your birding horizons in one way or another. Take your binoculars, camera, and field guide as you enjoy the great outdoors! Then too, enjoy the birds you see in your own yard, your workplace, and in your neighborhood too, ‘cuz birds will catch your eye wherever you go!

Article by Paul Konrad

Share your backyard birding experiences and photographs with The Birding Wire at editorstbw2@gmail.com