• Home
  • About
  • Blog
Menu

Birdchick

Birdchick
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog

Birdchick Blog

Insert the Ned Stark joke here: winter is coming, juncos are in full force in Minneapolis. My patch is full of them right now and always taking a moment to observe even a common bird like this can imprint their shape and behavior on your brain.

Insert the Ned Stark joke here: winter is coming, juncos are in full force in Minneapolis. My patch is full of them right now and always taking a moment to observe even a common bird like this can imprint their shape and behavior on your brain.

New Birder Advice

October 9, 2015

I was recently on Jekyll Island for the Georgia Ornithological Society annual meeting and I had a blast. What really impressed me was not only the diversity of birders but the mix in ages. I met Evan who runs the Georgia Young Birder Club and he asked me what is the one piece of advice I would give new birders. I had to resist the smart ass part of my brain that wanted to answer, "never drink scotch under 15 years of age" or "avoid the clap" but I managed to retain a modicum of adulthood and gave what I hope is a better answer.

My initial advice is always to try and find a place and do your own informal bird survey. Whether that's picking a spot or a few nearby spots and doing weekly 20 minute point counts or  visiting it as much as possible. You learn so much about about the birds that visit, pass through and breed there. That's been my big takeaway doing bird surveys over the years. I've now adopted that with my local patch. 

My patch on a brisk fall morning. Thanks to a hard overnight rain, the air was thick with the aroma of wet autumn leaves. 

My patch on a brisk fall morning. Thanks to a hard overnight rain, the air was thick with the aroma of wet autumn leaves. 

I discovered my patch not long after we moved a year ago. I ran into a fellow eBirder not too long ago and they said, "You're always turning in lists from this spot when you should really do this other spot, the birding is better."

That may be, but I love my patch because it's in easy walking distance from my home. If I find myself with a spare hour, I have time to not only bird my patch but add over 5000 steps to my step tracker app. It's a win/win. 
 

One of the hundreds of white-throated sparrows lurking about in my patch today. 

One of the hundreds of white-throated sparrows lurking about in my patch today. 

My other advice is that if you do not have children and you have a choice between birding and responsibility...choose birding. Always. I've never regretted that decision (my credit cars maybe have, but me personally, no). My classic example that I've pointed to before is the time years ago when I random day off of the bird store and though I should have used that day to do things like clean the kitchen and tackle the piles of month old laundry, I decided to take a day trip up do Duluth to see Hawk Ridge. The winds were supposed to be perfect for a good broad-winged hawk flight, right out of the northwest. Even as my car reached the outer suburbs, I almost turned around, "You're an adult now, you should really do laundry," but my bird side won out.

It ended up being a record day for Hawk Ridge and over 100,000 broad-winged hawks were tallied that day. It was magical. And I would have hated myself had I chosen to stay home and do laundry instead. 

Palm warlber. 

Palm warlber. 

And unless I'm just home for a very hardcore birding trip or survey, I generally try to avoid laundry, vacuuming, cleaning out the fridge, etc as much as possible and go birding. Last night I was biking through my patch and almost hit a Harris's sparrow that flew in front of me. I knew that if I went to bed before midnight and got up at 6:30am (or about) I'd have enough time to walk my local patch, get some birds and get cleaned up for a day at the park service. I was hoping to digiscope the Harris's sparrow but also I just like looking for sparrows in the fall. All those lovely combinations of brown, rufous, gray, buff and heck if I'm lucky enough to find a Nelson's sparrow, even pumpkin color. 

I did get some yellow-rumped warblers and palm warblers but there all kinds of great sparrows: Harris's still (though none were obliging enough for a photo, swamp, fox, white-throated, Lincoln's and quite a few song sparrows.

First winter chipping sparrow.

First winter chipping sparrow.

At first glance, I really wanted to turn the above bird into a clay-colored sparrow when I first saw it but my patch isn't really clay-colored habitat. After a bit more observation showed the bold eyeline of a chipping sparrow and it lacked the white "muttonchop" look of a clay-colored. Chipping sparrow makes way more sense for this habit anyway. A bummer to not add a new species but I do enjoy sorting out tough species. If you've never noticed how similar these two sparrows can look in the fall, check this out from the Sibley app:

First winter chipping sparrow is on top and non breeding clay-colored sparrow is on the bottom--they're practically twins! Mercifully, they are way easier to separate in summer. 

First winter chipping sparrow is on top and non breeding clay-colored sparrow is on the bottom--they're practically twins! Mercifully, they are way easier to separate in summer. 

← Podcast #196 BIRD DRAMAPodcast #195 Birders are dirty. →
Blog RSS

Have a bird question or would you like to hire me as a speaker?

sharon@birdchick.com

I have a recycled plastic mat on the floor of my deck. I like the color, but it’s primarily there to prevent birdseed from going on to my downstairs neighbor’s deck. I also love that I can hear a “tap tap tap” sound when birds
Rumor has it I will be on MPR with Cathy Wurzer at 8:30 am talking about snowy owls.
Had an amazing geek out date with my friend and amazing crop artist @geedee08 yeaterday. We both love @maybell.eequay (if you got a card for me while I was in Alaska chances were good I included a sticker from that artist). We went to a book signing
Taking him to another adoption event. Here’s hoping Mr. Biscuit doesn’t hump everything in sight.
Looks like I should have brought my feeder in while I was in the RGV. 🐿️🐿️🐿️
I appreciate that this title doesn’t lie to me like saying it’s “simplified.” 😂😂 I actually bought this with my own money. It wasn’t one of the freebie books that I get.
Everybody is a little afraid of my Swarovski repair tool.
Meet my new boyfriend (the one with the feathers) 😂😂😂😂 #Caracara #Kara

I currently live in Denali National Park and Preserve.

This is from my book.

North American Bird Watching for Beginners: Field Notes on 150 Species to Start Your Birding Adventures
By Stiteler, Sharon
1001 Secrets Every Birder Should Know: Tips and Trivia for the Backyard and Beyond
By Stiteler, Sharon
Disapproving Rabbits
By Stiteler, Sharon
Amazon Block
Search for an Amazon product to display. Learn more
My piece for the Washington Post on being furloughed.
Outdoor News Articles
PhoneSkope Articles

  • June 2025 (1)
  • January 2025 (1)
  • August 2024 (2)
  • April 2024 (1)
  • July 2023 (1)
  • April 2022 (2)
  • March 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (2)
  • December 2021 (2)
  • September 2021 (2)
  • July 2021 (1)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (3)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • January 2020 (5)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (3)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (2)
  • January 2019 (3)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • November 2018 (4)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (3)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (3)
  • November 2017 (2)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (3)
  • August 2017 (3)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (4)
  • December 2016 (5)
  • November 2016 (2)
  • October 2016 (2)
  • September 2016 (2)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (2)
  • June 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (2)
  • April 2016 (2)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (2)
  • January 2016 (3)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (2)
  • October 2015 (3)
  • September 2015 (3)
  • August 2015 (2)
  • July 2015 (2)
  • May 2015 (1)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (5)
  • September 2014 (5)
  • August 2014 (6)
  • July 2014 (5)
  • June 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (6)
  • April 2014 (2)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (6)
  • December 2013 (4)
  • November 2013 (5)
  • October 2013 (8)
  • September 2013 (5)
  • August 2013 (5)
  • July 2013 (6)
  • June 2013 (8)
  • May 2013 (11)
  • April 2013 (19)
  • March 2013 (13)
  • February 2013 (18)
  • January 2013 (20)
  • December 2012 (15)
  • November 2012 (8)
  • October 2012 (16)
  • September 2012 (7)
  • August 2012 (7)
  • July 2012 (7)
  • June 2012 (4)
  • May 2012 (13)
  • April 2012 (15)
  • March 2012 (17)
  • February 2012 (14)
  • January 2012 (22)
  • December 2011 (13)
  • November 2011 (18)
  • October 2011 (30)
  • September 2011 (21)
  • August 2011 (25)
  • July 2011 (21)
  • June 2011 (22)
  • May 2011 (32)
  • April 2011 (35)
  • March 2011 (37)
  • February 2011 (37)
  • January 2011 (20)
  • December 2010 (16)
  • November 2010 (22)
  • October 2010 (27)
  • September 2010 (34)
  • August 2010 (27)
  • July 2010 (27)
  • June 2010 (30)
  • May 2010 (29)
  • April 2010 (34)
  • March 2010 (28)
  • February 2010 (32)
  • January 2010 (26)
  • December 2009 (21)
  • November 2009 (24)
  • October 2009 (34)
  • September 2009 (30)
  • August 2009 (28)
  • July 2009 (33)
  • June 2009 (30)
  • May 2009 (46)
  • April 2009 (48)
  • March 2009 (51)
  • February 2009 (41)
  • January 2009 (46)
  • December 2008 (41)
  • November 2008 (40)
  • October 2008 (52)
  • September 2008 (36)
  • August 2008 (50)
  • July 2008 (46)
  • June 2008 (45)
  • May 2008 (45)
  • April 2008 (46)
  • March 2008 (44)
  • February 2008 (43)
  • January 2008 (50)
  • December 2007 (35)
  • November 2007 (45)
  • October 2007 (52)
  • September 2007 (40)
  • August 2007 (51)
  • July 2007 (48)
  • June 2007 (43)
  • May 2007 (65)
  • April 2007 (62)
  • March 2007 (58)
  • February 2007 (45)
  • January 2007 (54)
  • December 2006 (50)
  • November 2006 (50)
  • October 2006 (55)
  • September 2006 (61)
  • August 2006 (68)
  • July 2006 (52)
  • June 2006 (43)
  • May 2006 (41)
  • April 2006 (45)
  • March 2006 (52)
  • February 2006 (35)
  • January 2006 (43)
  • December 2005 (40)
  • November 2005 (36)
  • October 2005 (31)
  • September 2005 (35)
  • August 2005 (34)
  • July 2005 (40)
  • June 2005 (39)
  • May 2005 (31)
  • April 2005 (36)
  • March 2005 (24)
  • February 2005 (26)
  • January 2005 (21)
  • December 2004 (24)
  • November 2004 (22)
  • October 2004 (30)
  • September 2004 (7)

Powered by Squarespace