Keeping Bird Records and Analyzing Them
Keeping records/Analyzing records
It is always best to study birds over time, this will help you in identifying certain birds in your garden, like their plumage and how it changes during the year, their anatomy and their breeding behavior and so on. This way you can follow the dynamics of these birds and learn there bird behavior throughout the year. Always remember to put everything down on paper, such as the number of birds you have seen, what they were doing, the color of their plumage which sounds they were making and other interesting details, so you have records you can fall back on and compare with later.
You might find it interesting to also keep records of your visiting birds, and their many different bird behaviors you will encounter throughout your daily bird watching.
For example: one day you might notice that one of the birds such as a blackbird or a towhee that usually would feed on the ground, has suddenly decided to feed from one of your hanging feeders. Did the bird have a hard time hanging on to the feeder; did it use its beak or its feet to hang on, and so on??? You might find it very fascinating once you discovered how and why this particular bird changed its feeding habit at your feeding station.
Your list can be endless if you chose to really study, compare and analyze from day to day, month to month, and year to year. Her are some suggestions on what you might look for: Do the birds arrive at the same day every year? Did they arrive in early or late spring? Did they arrive later because it stayed cold longer one year? Did we have an early or late spring that year? Do birds change their preference of food in the fall and in spring time?
If you keep records on how many birds visited your bird feeding garden you can also detect changes in the population from year to year. Find out if certain migrant birds will boost a certain bird population or decrease another. When you count large numbers of birds that feed in flocks, it might be useful to use a small hand counter. The possibilities of a wide range of bird watching and bird behavior is endless, and instead of just using a note book, it might be a good idea to set up a database program on your computer to keep even more organized records.
A great idea is also to make sketches of the birds you encounter, it really does not matter if you can draw, just remember to make several sketches quickly of the birds size, shape, and its colors. Also try to catch the colors of its legs, bill, and any stripes, especially around the eyes, wings, and breast. You can also try to write down their song, like if it was clear and high-pitches or a phrase of different kinds of “tee-tee-tee”, or “huey-huey” and so on. With lots of practice and a keen ear you will eventually be able to recognize birds just through their song.
