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Carol Patterson

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Carol Patterson

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Top 7 Tips When You Get Started on Bird Watching

April 9, 2019 by CarolPatterson 1 Comment

This month I welcome a guest blogger, Steve Wells. With a passion for the outdoors, Steve blogs at Binocularsguru.com and loves traveling and bird watching. Bird watching has been shown to make you healthier and more mindful. If you’re wondering how to get started, Steve’s column has plenty of helpful suggestions.
~Carol

Top 7 Tips When You Get Started on Bird Watching

By Steve Wells

bird-watchingAre you someone who gets excited seeing a bird on your porch? Do you sit there and stare at the bird until it flies away? Well, you may be a bird lover and would love the experience of bird watching. To develop and nurture this into a hobby could be intimidating for some. You may feel lost, thinking about where to start. Well, don’t get discouraged. Here are a few tips for you to get started as a bird watcher:

Start from your backyard

Begin your bird watching journey from your backyard. Place a bird feeder with some bird food and water. You will be amazed to see the number of birds perching in your backyard. Watch them and study their behavior, features, what they eat, and their sounds. Once you know the birds in your backyard, you can step out to watch the birds in the field, nearby jungle trails, lakes, and bird sanctuaries.

Do Note: avoid going into a forest or terrain where you’re not allowed. It’s important to stay safe and have fun watching birds.

Invest in a good bird guide

A bird guide will give you quite a lot of information about different species of birds. You can learn about the different species, their size, sounds, colors, and features. Don’t feel intimidated by the amount of information you see in the guide. Take it slow and read about one bird at a time or begin with learning about the birds you see in your porch or backyard. As you get comfortable knowing about the birds in your local area, you will be eager to know more. You can then move on to reading about other birds.

Binoculars

A pair of binoculars would be an advantageous piece of equipment to pursue this hobby. As a beginner, you don’t need expensive binoculars. A simple binocular with which you can get a good view of the birds soaring high would be all you need. You can check the best binoculars under 200 here. You can go for an 8x to 10x magnification one. Once you are at an advanced stage of bird watching, you will find, there are a variety of high-end binoculars and telescopes in the market. You can then definitely invest in an expensive one.

Camera

As a beginner, you will often be in a situation where you will find it difficult to identify a bird. You can click pictures and later learn about them from your bird guide or online. Clicking pictures with clarity may be challenging as a beginner. Since birds are quite swift and you may not get enough time to click a picture. However, if the picture is enough to identify the bird and learn about its features, it will serve the purpose. The pictures or images will always be a good collection of records.

Join the birders community

You can learn valuable lessons from a community of birders. It’s good to hear stories of their adventures of birding, the kind of birds they have watched, and information on where to find different species of birds. The information they have will be quite beneficial for a beginner. Once you’re in a community, don’t miss out on joining them on their birding adventures. If an enthusiast is ready to teach you birding, then jump on the opportunity to learn from them. There are groups on social media sites, join the online communities, and you can learn about the birding events going on near you.

Maintain a record

Maintain a record book of all the birds you have seen and their pictures. You will be delighted to revisit and appreciate the number of birds you have watched. It will always be an encouragement to go out in the field and look out for more adventures with the birds and feel one with nature.

Have fun

Lastly, it’s essential to have fun. Don’t get competitive with anyone. It will defeat the whole experience of bird watching. It’s a hobby you should enjoy and cherish each time you watch a bird.

TWEETABLES

Top 7 Tips When You Get Started on Bird Watching – Click to Tweet.

Discover how to develop & nurture your hobby of bird watching with Steve Wells top 7 tips: Click to Tweet.

Filed Under: Bird Watching, latest post Tagged With: binoculars guru, bird watching, nature, nature lover, steve wells

Happy New Year!

January 10, 2017 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

I hope your new year is starting with hope and baby (or big) steps towards your most cherished goals.

For the second year in a row, BBC Travel came out with their celebration of travel and the planet “50 Reasons to #LoveTheWorld”.

I was thrilled to contribute (I’m behind reason #33) and the exercise was a chance to reflect on what I love about travel. It’s not the airport hassles!

I love the chance to discover things on my own. I love reading the little signs overlooked by many people or asking a guide how they found passion, for fungi or bears, or whatever has put a sparkle in their eye.

I’m hoping 2017 puts a sparkle in your eye!

TWEETABLES

Discover “50 Reasons to #LoveTheWorld” from @BBC_Travel. Click to Tweet.

My friend @Reinventure shares the #33 reason of “50 to #LoveTheWorld” via @BBC_Travel. Click to Tweet.

Filed Under: latest post, Travel tips Tagged With: 50 reasons to love the world, adventure travel, bbc travel, travel

Boreal safari in Quebec

December 8, 2015 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

Zoo sauvage de Saint-FélicienI screamed like a girl as a snake slithered over my shoulder in the dark movie theatre. My heart rate slowed as I realized the snake was only air, a special effect at the movie Quebec Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien uses to orient guests to it’s overnight Adventure in the Land of the Caribou. I wanted to learn more about the animals that inhabit Canada’s boreal forest and I didn’t want to suffer to do it. Instead of paddling or hiking into Canada’s north I was starting my quest with the zoo’s ‘behind-the-scenes sleepover with caribou and moose.
Our group of travelers carried our overnight bags past the Zoo’s polar bear, Dall sheep and other northern species to our nature bus. Guide Audrée Morin switched effortlessly from French to English, “Welcome. We are going into our Nature Trail Park.” Within these 3.24 km2 the animals roam free and people are contained. We cruised by black bears, elk, and bison, our cameras and smartphones clicking. Our destination was a tented camp in a forest we shared with moose and caribou. Bears and other creatures were kept out by electric fence.

As we walked the last few meters into camp, a caribou faded into the shadows. Two moose orphans popped their long noses over a wooden corral, eager to see if we brought food. Prospector tents ringed a large fire pit; wood ready to light, dining table and benches were visible in a long screen house across the clearing. The animals were different but the place felt like an African safari camp.

There was time before dinner to canoe nearby Lac Montagnais. Spotting a muskox on shore, Morin explained, “Stay to the left of me as you paddle. That way you won’t get too close!” It reminded me of canoeing the Zambezi River, but here muskox and bear took the place of elephants and lions.

I nibbled my trout dinner as people relived events of the day, some in French, some in English, but the smiles understandable in both languages. I crawled into my sleeping bag atop balsam fir boughs, the smell better than any a fake tree air freshener could deliver.

The next morning it was time to feed the moose before boarding the bus and returning to the rest of the zoo. There was time to visit wolverines – a boreal creature I’ve seen only in nature movies – and lynx before leaving the zoo for another boreal experience – meeting a wolf.

Gilles Granal of Aventuraid/Parc Mahikan runs a wildlife observation center with three packs of wolves. Two of the packs – one Arctic wolves, the other, grey wolves – are wild. A third pack of seven grey wolves are imprinted on humans and enjoy visitors. For $50 people can participate in a face-to-whisker experience assuming the wolves are willing. Granal explains “I don’t do these encounters for the visitors’ benefit, I do it for the wolves. They enjoy the stimulation.” I looked forward to being a play toy for an animal often misunderstood by humans.

Granal reduces the risk of these encounters by entering the enclosure first to read the mood of the pack. If he feels the wolves are not receptive to visitors, no one else goes in. Fortunately for me, the wolves were feeling friendly and the gate was opened a few inches to squeeze our group through. We were warned to wear clothes we didn’t mind getting dirty or torn and to tuck our cameras under our tops. Wolves love to chew and anything hanging loose can be snatched. We lined up against the fence like suspects in a police lineup as the wolves greeted us, their excitement palpable. Within seconds I was looking into the dark eyes of a cream-coloured wolf, it paws resting on my chest as it licked my face. Another sniffed at places not polite to notice in human culture.

“They will calm down soon and you can move away from the fence,” Granal predicted. Soon the novelty faded – only for the wolves, mine was still there – and we walked into the woods of the enclosure. My face was well licked by several wolves as I lowered myself to the ground. I felt rude for not licking them back; to compensate I rubbed all the bellies being offered up.

As I scratched their smooth fur and dodged the licks aimed at my eyes, I almost forgot I was sitting among skilled predators. Granal has created a bridge between wolves and humans and I was happy to cross it for a few minutes, immersed in the socialness of the pack. I had found my boreal wildlife and I was far from suffering.

To experience the wolf encounter check out my video at https://youtu.be/goAMV9n5i1M

TWEETABLES

This overnight Adventure in the Land of the Caribou is not to be missed! Click to Tweet.

An African safari camp in Canada. My friend @Reinventure went there! Discover more: Click to Tweet.

Discover how to get close with Canadian wildlife on this amazing adventure: Click to Tweet.

Filed Under: latest post, Quebec Tagged With: adventure travel, Audrée Morin, Aventuraid/Parc Mahikan, Canada's boreal forest, Gilles Granal, Lac Montagnais, travel, Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien

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