Improving your Sound Birding

Improving Your Sound Birding

Getting to know the calls of more birds is probably the best way to improve your birding. It improves your awareness of what birds are around, helps you identify more species and makes you far more in tune with your environment. Some people just seem to be able to pick up calls a lot more easily than others. So if you are battling to sort out a host of unknown sounds whenever you go birding then here are some tips:

1. Ears before eyes.

You will always hear more birds than you see. A deaf birder will generally record fewer birds than a blind one. Concentrate on what you hear and pay attention to new sounds. Develop the habit of being attuned to birdsound - no matter where you are.

2. Try and identify every sound you hear.

Once you are aware of sound then you need to give your brain the motivation to sort out the noises. If you try and identify every sound you hear this will come naturally. Birdsounds are everywhere and if you concentrate in identifying every sound you hear you will get to know some common birdsound really well. This gives your brain something to compare with when you hear other, unknown calls. Try and apply this when you are out birding, and you will find that the number of unknown sounds starts to diminish!

3. Organise the sound files in your mind.

Every time you hear a call ask the question - what does it sound like ? If you know it well ask the same question - "what does it sound like ?" This will prompt the answer - "yes it sounds like a Coucal, but........" Sound identification is based on discriminating between different sounds and sound patterns, the more conscious you are about how they are different and similar, the better organised you sound files are - the more easily you will remember and recognise calls.

4. Believe in your brain capacity.

How many calls can a person know ? To many people knowing all the calls of Southern African birds that one normally hears (about 600) seems impossible. How can the brain take in all that knowledge. Have faith ! There are birders who can recognise several thousand calls ! Knowing 400 or so is pretty average for serious birders, and covers most of the calls you are likely to hear in your lifetime. The human mind has the capacity for a lot more - don't tell yourself you can't do it !

6. Work at it !

Let's face it -  birdcalls are not easy to learn. Unlike the pro's who can work at it night and day, most birders have to be much more selective in how they spend their bird time. Nevertherless a little effort put into mastering birdcalls will be wonderfully rewarding, both in the quality of your birding, and the pleasure you can get out of if.  The best way to learn calls is to listen to them. In the wild you have the problem that you often can't link a sound to an identifiable bird. Nevertherless with patience and determination you can usually track down the origin of an unknown call. Obviously the more time you spend actually birding and paying attention to calls the better you will get to know the calls. Most of us have limited time to spend in the field - so listen to recordings of birdsound.

If you are listening to tapes, the ones that do not have announcements before them are better, as they force you to actually draw the associations yourself. Best of all are the CD's on the market which allow you to play the calls in random order. Even if you have a "Gibbons set", the CD's reviewed here will help you make progress.