There are all kinds of different birders.  The ones that just have backyard feeders, the ones who go to the park, the ones who walk in the woods, and varying combinations thereof.  But one thing most will agree on is that the songbirds are most active and easy to photograph in the morning.

I’m not a morning person (not even when back-country camping in Keji really so we always canoe in the windy afternoons yup) so find this rather daunting.

But it was suggested to me by a friend that 8am is probably just fine, you don’t really have to be out at 6am.  So this morning I gave that a try and was rewarded with a plethora of warblers and flycatchers.  It also apparently does not hurt that it rained yesterday.

Now I would say personally the time of day has something to do with human interference because I was surrounded with birds the whole time I was there until a stranger arrived and spoke to me. That was around 9am and some people had jogged and biked by before that and the birds didn’t care but talking scared them all off.

Most importantly I walked through a cloud of biting blackflies in a marsh soaked my feet and worried about getting covered with ticks.  I more or less snuck up on the birds, as well as a muskrat and a snowshoe hare simply because I was the only person who wandered through their little habitat.

I did not use any tricks or do anything special I was completely silent.  I just listened and watched for the birds and they were there.  They are always there, they just camouflage really well.

I didn’t see anything really spectacular, but it was a spectacular experience.

And when I got home finally my baby Starlings were on my front lawn.  Serendipity I suppose…

Will work on this morning thing…Happy Birding  🙂

PS – click twice on any of these for zoom I did not crop or alter so people who are new birders, or not birders at all can see some perspective.

PPS – if you want to learn about birds on a guided walk at no cost the Nova Scotia Bird Society puts on a lot of great field trips.