SET A TARGET OF SEEING 200 BIRDS IN ONE YEAR!
This month is your last chance to reach the 200 species mark for 2023, so follow these tips to get yourself over the finishing line…
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Join us on Birda!
You can track your progress in #My200BirdYear by joining us on the Birda app, as featured in our recent Gear Guide. Download the app, sign up for the #My200BirdYear challenge, and log your sightings as you make them. While you’re at it, Birda’s monthly and geographically-based challenges are a great way of motivating yourself towards the bigger target, too, and by interacting with other users you can develop your ID skills.
1 GET ORGANISED
Check how many species you need to see, then go through a field guide and work out which new birds you might reasonably expect to find in December without too much effort (for example, winter species such as Jack Snipe, that you might have missed earlier in the year). If you still find yourself short of the mark, work out a list of possible scarcer targets, and concentrate on these.
2 USE YOUR TIME WISELY
Dawn and dusk are always the best times for birdwatching, and one of the great things about winter birding is that both fall at reasonable times – there’s no getting up at unearthly hours, or staying out late. Birds will be at their most active at these times, so make sure you use these windows of opportunity to look for birds going to and from roosts, or, for example, Woodcocks going out to feed in the fields.
3 WATCH THE WEATHER
It’s true all year round, but never more so than now. Storms can drive seabirds inland, while clear days after long periods of rain will usually bring all the raptors out (and Barn Owls). But, in particular, look for cold snaps. One on your own patch can drive unusual birds into gardens, or make reedbed-skulkers like Water Rails bolder and more visible, while one elsewhere in the country can send unexpected species heading your way.
#My200BirdYear ticklist
Download and print off our 2023 #My200BirdYear ticklist to track your progress throughout the year...
www.birdwatching.co.uk/my-200-sign-up
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Birding is about community. It’s about not only seeing birds but also sharing what you’ve seen with others. It’s about the bonds such sharing creates. It’s about friendships; friendships that endure across both miles and years.
At Celestron, of the many things of which we’re most proud throughout our more than six decades of creating optical instruments, few are more dearly held close to our hearts than the knowledge that our binoc
