by Gunnar Engblom December 22, 2012 2

Digital photography – nature watching revolution.

More and more people get interested in nature.

It is easy to see that it is digital photography which is the engine of the new trend. It is likely that people who get into birds via digital photography, also start getting into plants and bugs, because it is easy to take photos and no one need to spend money on film anymore. The nature watchers of the future should become much broader and more knowledgeable than traditional birders. Similar photographic challenges with dragonflies or butterflies, are getting very popular. It is the digital photography which has made this possible.

It is also interesting to see that in countries which lack a traditional birdwatching movement, such as Brazil, Thailand, China, Costa Rica, nature watching through digital photography has become massive in recent years. The national parks and nature reserves of these countries are full of local people with massive cameras and blinds – all intending to take superb pictures of birds.

How do we get new and young members to our bird club?

Meanwhile, in the traditional stronghold countries such as US, UK, Netherlands and Scandinavia, there are often complaints that there is little regeneration of young birders. In fact every so often one hears the birders saying that the hobby is dying, as membership figures of bird clubs dwindle and the average age among the members is way over 60.

But if the birdclubs instead concentrated on recruiting new birders with a focus on bird photography and sharing photos on social media there is enormous potential for growth. As the potential is so large, it will also save the “old school” birding which considers good birding is about nurturing field identification skills. There will always be people who shine if enough people get into the “game”, but if we – the birders – close the doors and continue to promote birding the old way, the risk is that we shall not be competitive enough in the digital age. The kids will continue to play video games and be stuck behind the computers and the TV sets instead of discovering nature.
Bird photography in contrast is cool!

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This was the sixth pre intro-post in the birdwatching from the beginning series. There are two more intro chapters to go. Please make sure you tell your friends of this series so they can be with us from the start. Share the posts via email, or on Facebook, Google plus and Twitter. Check the sharing options below.
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Gunnar Engblom
Connect with Gunnar on Facebook or Twitter or kolibriexp@gmail.com

by Gunnar Engblom November 6, 2012 2

Why birds?

How to start birding – intro 5. Why birds?

While digital photography allows us to shoot all types of nature and it is in fact easier to shoot bugs and plants than birds, it is still birds which stand out as most popular among nature watching. Perhaps because it is possible to put a name on practically every bird you would photograph. The literature available for identification is complete for birds, while for plants or bugs either the share numbers of species are not manageable, the identification from photos not straight-forward or the literature incomplete or hard to get access to. Birds come in manageable numbers and can quite safely be identified to species.

Perhaps is it also the fascination people have for birds. Birds occupy every niche on the planet, birds are beautiful, birds represent hope, and birds accompany and give flavor to the changes of the seasons. Birds represent freedom and we envy their ability to fly. Birds come in fascinating shapes and forms: From Hummingbirds to Penguins. From Albatrosses to Warblers. (…click for a larger image…)

Taking all this into account, is there any wonder that birding is the part of nature watching which is most attractive to new adepts. It is also a hobby you can bring with you anywhere in the world. Wherever you are there are always birds to see.

Top Photo: House Sparrows and Black-headed Gull. Paris. Bird Mind Control by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE -on Flickr.
Field guides for the beginner birders. Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie
Collage from Flickr Creative Commons. Annas Hummingbird (Danny Perez), Emperor Penguin (Anne Froehlich), Bullers Albatross (Duncan – Angry Sunbird), Masked Yellowthroat (Naathas)

This was the fifth pre intro-post in the birdwatching from the beginning series. If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to this blog, share the posts via email, or on Facebook, Google plus and Twitter, tell your friends and take your friends birding. Check the sharing options below. Soon the real chapters in the blogseries will begin.

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Gunnar Engblom
Connect with Gunnar on Facebook or Twitter or kolibriexp@gmail.com

by Gunnar Engblom September 12, 2012 15

How to start birding. Intro 3.

How to inspire a kid to get interested in birds and nature.

Say you have kids and you really would like them to become more interested in nature, but they are more into to TV and computer games. You are tearing your hair with the potato couch kid. You read some manuals about birding, which all invariably recommend getting a pair of binoculars first of all. You got $350 to spend. (You are a rich parent just for this argument).

Scenario 1. Binoculars.

You spend 350 dollars on a pair of binoculars and then drag the kid outdoors and show him some birds. Maybe he says “wow”… maybe he says “drag”….but when summer camp comes, he has invariably most likely already forgotten to pack his binoculars.

Scenario 2. Point and Shoot Camera

You picked up THIS EBOOK (forthcoming) and decided to spend 350 dollars instead on a point and shoot mega zoom camera. You drag the kid outdoors, let him take photos of plants and bugs using the macro, and dragonflies, butterflies and birds using the 35x optic zoom. Then you post some of the photos on Facebook or he posts them on his blog. Maybe you will find a local Facebook groups for birds or dragonflies which can tell you what the species they are. You are met with respect, in spite of having no experience of either birds, nor dragonflies – and you don’t own a field guide (yet). The experts on the group tell you the field marks you should look for to clinch the ID.
The kid says wow! How can they know all this? Another question to the Facebook group and you are recommended some field guides applicable to your area.

Comes summer camp and the camera is the first thing to be packed. In fact he’d have it in his hand the entire trip, documenting every detail. Sure, he probably won’t be thinking of shooting birds at all….but because he can, he clicks off some shots of a bird sitting on top of a tree, and when he zooms in, he can see it is a raptor. He shows his friends and they share it on his blog. Hey, it would be kind of cool to know what kind of raptor it is. Mom asks the Facebook group again. Red-tailed Hawk. Other kids, see his pics and also want a point and shoot camera. They also want to learn about the nature around them.

It is easier
It is cooler
A photo is tangible – and observation is not.
It possible to share it
It is viral.

But is it really birding?

I have gotten a lot of comments from birders, that this is not really birding. And maybe they are right. By sending off the picture to Facebook or an online forum and get the ID this way is a bit lazy.

Per definition by American Birding Association: A birder is a person who is actively pursuing the hobby or sport of birding. Birding is a sport and/or hobby in which individuals enjoy the challenge of bird study, listing, or other general activities involving bird life. Critics say that people photographing birds are not really observing.

But taking photographs of birds is a general activity involving bird life, isn’t it? With the new digital photography technique it is far easier to get interested in birds via photography than with binoculars as demonstrated above. This is where I am going with this series. Eventually, the kid will also want a pair of binoculars. Why? Because he likes birds. And he would like to watch them when the photography conditions are not the best. Birding grows on you.

Maybe the definition of a birder will be change soon: Someone who is actively pursuing the hobby or sport of observing or photographing birds. The old school birders will protest. So be it! Digital bird photography at all levels is here to stay. Some people will never become experts. But that is OK.

Jeff Gordon, president of the American Birding Association, said on my Facebook wall:

“Birders have often as a group been insular, though to be fair, they’ve often been marginalized. But part of my whole thesis about how I approach my job at the ABA is that we have to let go of the past, suck it up, and let our lights shine. Become less focused on ourselves and our own successes and failures and more concerned about building a bigger, more fun tent.”

Should pursuing birds by photography be included in the word birding? Comments below please. And don’t forget to subscribe to email updates so you don’t miss any posts. Have a wonderful week full of birds.

Top Photo: Canon SX40 HS (affiliate link): a highly recommended Point and Shoot Camera for $350 dollars. See Stephen Ingraham’s review. Stephen will be blogging about birding with Point and Shoot Cameras later in this series.

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Gunnar Engblom
Connect with Gunnar on Facebook or Twitter or kolibriexp@gmail.com.