Crosswords1 min ago
Bird Recognition
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Kilala. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.It sounds like you are trying to learn too much too fast. Take just one area - bird recognition and calls. This alone takes years. I have 13 ID books and 12 tapes and cd's, but the only sure way is to be with someone who knows their stuff when you actually see a particular bird or hear a particularly difficult call.
I'm convinced some birds go out of their way to be awkward. For instance there are the sub-songs which begin before spring - a sort of warming up before the real performance. The spring songs to attract a mate, the contact calls, the take-your-eyes-of-my-woman calls, and the Blackbird even throws in a going-to-bed call just for good measure. It's no wonder our brains turn to porrige.
Everyone is different but this is what has help me. Get a good video or DVD guide. Be careful, there is a lot of expensive rubbish about. My favourites are 'The Video(or DVD) Guide to Bird Identification' 200 species of British Birds in the proper category - waders, raptors etc all with a brilliant commentary by top birder Dave Gosney. This can be purchased on the BirdGuides website.Another must is Bill Oddie's Video Guide to British Birds. This can be bought at any RSPB reserve and probably online. Find a friendly reserve, sit down in a hide, preferably with a good pair of bins and a scope, watch, wait, and ask a lot of questions(quietly!)Birdy folk love to share their knowledge.
I also rely on my good old Collins Gem guide to British birds and this is a great website
http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/
I am shortly moving to Eastbourne, as I go to college in East Sussex. When I was younger, I was considered dyslexic, until they realised theat I simply cannot learn things by rote- I still do not know my times tables! This means that I end up barging at things like this at full pelt, hoping my determination will pull me through. I just feel so silly. I'll ID a bird, then two days later I have no clue as to what it is! A Wren was nesting outside my bedroom window all summer- God they are loud! It took me months to identify it! I listened to various Cd's the whole way through!
Thanks for your help. I just want to plug the knowledge into my brain!