BirdLife Top End Amanda Lilleyman

Birdwatching for beginners

BirdLife Top End acknowledges the TraditionalOwners of Kakadu National Park and pay respect tothe elders, past, present and emerging.

Birdwatching for beginners - overview

• What are they

• How many are there

• Why are they so cool?!

• Learn about birdwatching

• How to go birdwatching and when

• The ethics of birdwatching

• Where to go to see some cool birds

What are birds?

• Birds are feathered vertebrates

• Most birds fly and have special wing adaptations to enable flight

• Have light hollow bones to assist them in flight

What are birds?

• Range of sizes

– Emu is almost 2 m tall and 50 kg

– Weebill is 8 cm and 6 g

• Penguins can swim, cormorants and darters also swim!

• Some birds fly thousands of kilometres!

Variety of toes and feet

What are birds?

• Birds have bills or beaks

• No teeth!

• Most birds crush their food in a gizzard (similar to teeth)

• Feathers are made of keratin – protein – same as nails and hair

• Feathers are light-weight so that helps birds fly

• Different shaped wings enable different types of flight

• All birds lay eggs

Bird bills

Bird feeding styles

The Australian Pelican has the longest bill in the world

CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

How many birds in the world?

• About 10000 species

• In Australia, about 900 species

– Seabirds

– Honeyeaters

– Shorebirds

– Passerines

– Seabirds

– Waterbirds

Birds are important

• Birds provide ecosystem services

– Transfer nutrients

– Disperse seeds

– Consume agricultural pests

– Act as environmental indicators

– Socially and culturally important

• What do birds mean to you?

Birdwatching for beginners

• Birdwatching has many positive benefits:

– Get outdoors

– Interact with nature

– Improves mental and physical wellbeing

– Connect with other people

– Contribute to natural history understanding

– Economic benefits

Birdwatching for beginners

• Birdwatching in Australia is accessible to everyone

• There is great variety across Australia

• Birds occur in almost every habitat and some species have done well in urban areas

• Loud and conspicuous – bright colours

How and when to go birdwatching

• Go birdwatching whenever and wherever

– Birds are active throughout the day and some birds are nocturnal

– Best time for birdwatching is morning and evening

• Good to have binoculars or camera but not necessary

• Birdwatch for fun or for survey – citizen science

• Australia has diverse habitats and different environments will support different species

Where to go birdwatching

• Where to go to see some cool birds –

– Where do you live?

– What is nearby?

– What resources are available to help?

– Any groups to join?

Ethics of birdwatching

Ethics of birdwatching

Attracting birds to your home

• Provide safe habitat

• Diverse native plant species

• Range of plant heights and layers

• Available water source

• Bird feeding – common and commercial practice. Best to use natural foods, healthy and not bread or junk

• Provide safe place for birds to nest

• Install a nestbox

• Limit interaction with domestic pets

• http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/Guidelines-Creating-Bird-Habitats

But how to identify birds?

• Field guides, apps, google, social media groups, call the radio

• Take photos, draw a sketch of the bird

• Look at behaviour of the bird

• Compare the size of a bird to a bird you know well

• Consider the shape and any defining features

Bird descriptions

Crest on head

Long neck, legs and bill

Small like a sparrow

What about when we can’t see the bird?

• You can hear it!

• Why do birds make sounds?

• But bird calls can be hard

– A good practice is to get out and listen as much as you can

– When you listen to some, describe the call, write it down

BirdLife Top End

https://birdlife.org.au/locations/birdlife-top-end

Amanda Lilleyman is a bird researcher based at Charles Darwin University. Amandaspecialises in migratory shorebird research but is interested in all birds, particularlythose in the Top End. Amanda is the convenor of BirdLife Top End, a central forum forcommunity activities centred around the conservation of birds and their habitats inthe 'Top End' region of the Northern Territory.