Birding 101

 

Welcome to Halifax River Audubon and our Fall bird watching class. Thanks for signing up. This web page will be your go to site for information about the class, including field trips. After each class session, presentations and class materials will be available here for review. Reference materials will be posted here and links to useful bird information on the web. 

Class  begins October 14, so I have provided info that you can review to kick start your discovery of birds and birding:)

Here is the link for the class session on Zoom. Class will officially begin at 6:30PM. I will open the session at 6:00PM for anyone who may have questions, concerns, unidentified birds they want to talk about or more. At this point the class size is small, so I am looking forward to discovering what you want to learn in the class.

https://zoom.us/j/94392786793?pwd=ZUpRL1lmck11NXBCRStsZEFlS0JKZz09

Meeting ID: 943 9278 6793

Passcode: 368696

If you have any questions outside of our face-to-face sessions, please contact me at members@halifaxriveras.org

Slides and More

Check here for links to Class Slides and the list of birds seen on our field trips throughout the class. This information will be posted after the class for the slides and after our outings for the bird lists. I will also include other information on topics that come up in class and may require some research

Handouts Week One

Bird Orders of North America PDF

Passerine Families in Florida PDF

Central Florida Bird Checklist -  This checklist fits on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, two-sided. PDF

HRA Birds of Central Florida -  This checklist fits on 8 1/2 x 14 paper, two-sided. PDF

Free E-book: Let’s Go Birding! From The American Birding Association

Bird Watching Basics from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission

Florida's Checklist of Birds from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission

Florida Ornithological Society - lots of good information - official state checklist of all species seen and confirmed in Florida 

Audubon On-Line Bird Guide - Load a species or family of birds to get all kinds of information

All About Birds - similar to above from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

eBird - Online Citizen Scientist Database of bird sightings. Good source of current bird distribution information

 

 

Binocular Information

Choosing binoculars can be a daunting process for beginning birders and veterans alike. Past classes have had many questions about this very import tool.  Here are some links that provide information about binoculars and explain what the specifications mean to performance. We are providing these links for your information and do not endorse one brand over the other. During the field trips we will have several guides on hand that can share their experiences in finding the right binoculars.

These links are small articles about binoculars...

From Time & Optics 

Binocular Buying Guide

This link is an excellent video from Adventure Education. It's casually produced, but it covers all of the basics.

For many years a company called Eagle Optics provided a point of sale at bird festivals all across the United States. They have since closed up shop, but their excellent videos live on in YouTube. It's like a small course on Optics, with each video focusing on one aspect of binocular design.

Magnification - What do the numbers mean?

Aperture

Exit Pupil

Fit & Focus

Eye Relief

Optical Quality

Binocular Care

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