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Birding is burgeoning, and easy to enjoy, even for beginners

By Vicki Croke, Globe Staff, 04/01/2000

aybe you can tell a rock dove (pigeon) from a mourning dove. In winter, you've noticed crows gathering in great numbers at dusk. And you might even have spotted a red-tailed hawk as it circles the highway scouting for roadside rodents - its tail feathers practically glowing red as the animal soars, backlit by the sun.

You're no avian aficionado, but you're intrigued and you wish you knew a little more about these creatures. However, the field guides you've seen are a turnoff - hard to use and cryptic. And worse, the birders you've met are so advanced, you'd feel foolish asking a question.

Fear not, beginner birders! You are among a fast-growing population. Donald Stokes, who writes accessible, colorful, informative birding guides with his wife, Lillian, reports that birding has increased 150 percent in the last 10 years. By phone from Florida - this avid birder travels

south for the winter, and returns to Massachusetts with spring - Stokes points out that 60-70 million Americans feed or watch birds. It is an outdoor hobby second only to gardening in popularity.

With a public television series, "Stokes Birds at Home," more than 24 books, and an informative Web site (stokesbirdsathome.com), the Stokeses are as encouraging as they are knowledgeable. Their Web site points out all kinds of interesting tidbits - as delicious to us humans as bugs in a tree cavity to woodpeckers. Woodpeckers themselves are among the tidbits: Their loud rhythmic drumming is about communication, not bug location.

With tips from area birders included, here's a Stokes-inspired action plan for getting started in birding right now, as the feathered creatures return from their winter habitats:

1. Begin at home. Stokes says that if you live in the suburbs, set up a bird feeder and watch (see sidebar). Norman Smith, director of the Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton, agrees. You can't beat it, he says: Just pour yourself a cup of coffee, plunk yourself down in a comfortable chair, and voila, you're birding.

If you live in the city, attach a feeder to your kitchen window. And hit the parks. The Public Garden and Boston Common are great places to watch birds, Stokes says. And get to know the most common birds. With thousands of chickadees around, you'll get more experience - and have more fun - identifying them than if you learned about some rare bird you might see only once.

2. Get a field guide. Thumb through lots of these books and see what appeals to you. Beginner's guides are organized a little differently than standard field guides, so make sure you check them all out. If you're as interested in what a bird does as what it looks like, be sure to purchase a guide that gives that kind of information.

When you are faced with the daunting number of field guides on the shelves at the bookstore, be sure to compare the Stokes guides to others. The Stokeses' field guides, including "Stokes Field Guide to Birds Eastern Region," are well-known for being inviting to beginners as well as experienced birders. There are clear pictures above every description, not illustrations on separate pages. That is especially helpful to us beginners, though some birders call this blasphemy because they believe illustrations better capture all a bird's identifying features.

A fantastic innovation is seven pages up front with color pictures of the most common birds. This kind of short list is a boon to those just starting out: It relieves us of having to sift through 800 birds to find the very common little house finch. Further, the Stokes books outline interesting behavior where many guides concentrate exclusively on identification. Stokes guides also include "Learning Pages," which give quick primers on some categories of birds such as hawks or gulls.

And don't forget to read your field guide even when you're not in the field, Stokes says. If you're home at night, take the time to actually read what's in it.

3. Get binoculars. "Binos," as birders call them, are vital. Not only do they help you spot birds, but they enable you to enjoy the remarkable details of plumage that you could never get close enough to see otherwise. With binos, even starlings are beautiful with all that iridescent plumage. Stokes says to get the best pair you can afford. "Birding is a lifetime hobby," he says, so splurge if you can. You can get a pretty good pair for about $100, though real pros spend as much as $1,200. Stokes offers this advice to married birders: "Don't share a pair."

4. Keep a journal and learn from it. If you have a feeder, place a little notebook near the window where you watch the birds. You can record which birds come, what date and time of day they arrive, which seeds they like, and whether their plumage changes between seasons. Make sketches and don't be self-conscious about it. "It's just for you," Stokes says.

5. Branch out. Once a month, pack up your gear (binoculars, field guide, a hat to shade your eyes, water bottle, and a snack) and try bird-watching in a different habitat. "The way to see more species," Stokes says, "is to check out different areas - seashore, marsh, woods, fields."

You can try Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Plum Island in Newburyport, Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, or any nearby park.

Greg Mertz, the director of the New England Wildlife Center, has a novel birding spot for novices. He suggests you go down to the waterfront, to a restaurant like the No Name, and after the meal bring your fries outside for the gulls. "You're guaranteed to see three different kinds," Mertz says, "and sometimes more." There - or along Carson Beach in South Boston - look for the herring gull, ring-billed gull, great black-backed gull, and laughing gull. You might even see the rarer Bonaparte's gull or mew gull along the South Boston shore.

Once you've trained your eyes to distinguish ring-billed from herring gulls, you may be ready to move on to another phase - birding by ear. Just imagine being able to differentiate the "trr-tri-tri" of the bank swallow from the "wheeta wheeta tee-o" of the hooded warbler.

Birds on the brain

Here's a sampler of bird-related classes, field trips, and lectures: