Saturday, April 16, 2011

Tips For Pleasant Bird Watching Experience

Followings are the few points that I found that are essential for bird watching to make it more enjoyable & memorable.

Good Quality Binocular.
It is a very rare scenario that you will get a closer look at the birds when you are in the jungle. But I had one such lucky opportunity during my entire trek. So carry a binocular with you for a real closer look at the birds or other jungle animals or flowers.

DSLR Camera.
If you want to bring back a good memory of all the floras & faunas that you have seen, this is another one must have item. Please carry with you at least one Tele-Zoom & Macro Zoom lens with you in your digital camera kit. Make use of the sunlight available for getting better shots while zooming for long distance object.

Bird’s Guide
There is a book published by local wildlife department and it has good information about different types of birds that can be found in the Fraser’s Hill area & their habitats. On my last day of the trip, I happened to meet the local wild life department officer Mr. Durai, who has contributed his part to this book & information board. He is also interested to share his experience of wildlife with the visitors arriving there.

Bird’s Call Audio
Person like Mr. Durai has the unique quality of spotting the bird and its name just the sound that they make. You can also search on the net to understand various sounds and matching bird’s call in audio format. You can use it to play in a portable speaker connected to your mp3 players based on the birds nearby you. This will help the bird to stay longer in the branch with echoing voice as it feels that their crowd is present there by the call.

Laser Pointer
This is very useful in case you are going as a group to notify the birds sitting position to others. But please point the laser light to the branches nearby the bird so that the birds are not disturbed.

Know The Feeding Timings Of Birds:
I learned from Mr. Durai that birds visit usual area (trees in routes accessible by us) only during their feeding timings. If we don’t know this fact it is not worth waiting under the tree to see the birds on branches. And the birds feeding timings are morning 8AM till 12 noon. Afternoon 2PM till evening 7pm. Owl does its feeding during night time.

This is what I have learned during my trip about points to be certainly take note/prepared of for any bird watching activity. If you know anything more, please feel free to comment.