Birding for Beginners
Use our resources to learn how to identify common birds in our area, such as this brown thrasher seen carrying nesting material at our Fred Archibald Audubon Sanctuary. Photo by Crystal Kunst
If you are new to birding, check out
these resources to get you started.
According to National Audubon, now is a great time to get started watching birds. Find out why.
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has short videos on basic techniques for identifying local birds and using the eBird app:
If you’re thinking about buying a field guidebook to birds, here’s a review of some of the many choices.
National Audubon’s online field guide lets you search by region to narrow down what you might be seeing, and also offers habitat, behavior, and vocal clues to help with identification.
Audubon also has a handy app for identifying species and reporting sightings that is easy to use, especially to see what other local birders are spotting.
Another popular app is iNaturalist, which is used to report local sightings and also to ask for help identifying birds, other wildlife, and plants that you’re seeing. It works well for collecting your local observations, and also to see what others around the world are finding.