About Birding 101 – Birdwatching from the beginning.
How this blog series is organized and about the objectives.
Why are there no “How to Birdwatch” manuals which take into account the digital age? Why are so few involved in birdwatching or bird conservation organizations in North America and yet at the same time there are some 47 million people in the US who feed birds or actively go out looking for them and call themselves birdwatchers? Why are there not more members in the membership organizations in spite all the statistics telling us there should be?
Probably the threshold to become initiated is a steep uphill for many, but also the recruitment to bird clubs has been old-fashioned. Recruitment to birdclubs concentrate in things that cost money and forces you to make appointments and detours in your regular life. It is not smooth. Far more success in recruitment would happen if birding was more accessible and the birdwatching clubs embraced the new technology.
The idea to this project first took shape in a blogpost on Birdingblogs.com a year ago called the future of birding. What if there was a free downloadable manual to birdwatching for the absolute beginner? A manual which focused on the easy and smooth way to get access to nature? A manual that emphasized that to get started there are no obstacles or any costs as everything needed to get started is readily available among what most people already have? That is right, you don’t even need binoculars to get started.
The material in this blog will later be edited into an ebook which you can share and spread either as a private person or within the institution you work for. Everything is free. There will eventually be some advertising on this site, and a limited number of affiliate links. If there is some monetary income it will be used to pay for production costs and hosting, etc.
There shall be no commercial content or affiliate links within the ebook. The contributors I have invited are some of my social media and blogging friends who will present different chapters in the blog and they will be participating free of charge.
The blog is principally directed to a North American audience, but there is no reason why it can’t be replicated in other countries and languages. If anyone wants to take on the project in other countries please send me an email.
Now tell everyone you know, that they too can become birdwatchers. Follow us by email from the beginning.
Gunnar Engblom
kolibriexp@gmail.com
Lima
Peru