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Young Birder Programs

A Bird's-Eye View

Think Like a Bird

by Matt Pelikan
[from A Bird's-Eye View, August 1998, Beginning Birding Special Issue]

If you go to a park, refuge, or other birding spot, you'll probably notice that the birds are not spread evenly around the area. Good birders have a knack for predicting where the birds will be. If you think a bit about how the world looks from a bird's perspective, you'll have better luck finding birds to look at. And if you pay attention to where you find birds, you'll gradually develop a sense of what birds like.

Water is important for birds, either for them to drink or as a breeding place for the insects they like to eat. So birds are likely to be concentrated around a pond or stream, if one is present.

Many birds (especially in winter) eat seeds or berries, and looking in weedy fields or hedgerows or around fruit-bearing bushes is a good way to find birds. But not all seeds and fruit appeal to birds. Can you figure out what kinds of plants are popular food sources for the birds in your area?

Birds need shelter, either to hide from predators or to stay warm in cold weather. So checking brush piles or thickets often helps you find birds (try "pishing" to attract their attention). Especially in cold, windy weather, try looking in spots that are sunny and sheltered from the wind.

About the author: Matt Pelikan is editor of Winging It, the newsletter for ABA members. Before that he was the editorial advisor and author of a regular column on birding optics for A Bird's-Eye View. He lives on the island of Martha's Vineyard.