Equipment

Field guide

It is not possible to bird without a decent field guide so do yourself a favour and buy a field guide that lists all the bird species in Southern Africa. Even though you might only be interested in the birds in your garden there is always a chance that a strange bird might pitch up. We are also blessed in South Africa with fantastic field guides and most of them are not that expensive. For more information please click here.

In a field guide you will get to know the various bird families, see distribution maps and descriptions of different bird species.

Binoculars

Although you might be lucky to get very near to your garden birds and see them well, a pair of binoculars will provide you with that little bit more detail that might clinch the ID for you. Binoculars come in a range of trademarks, specifications and prices. Roof-prism binoculars are more expensive than conventional binoculars, but if you can afford them, it will be the best choice. But there are lots of birders that have seen hundreds of birds species, using conventional binoculars, some selling for under R1000.

Specifications to look for when choosing a binocular is magnification (7 x to 10x will do), lens diameter (32 - 40) and weight. Binoculars with a 10x magnification is usually rather heavy, especially if you have to carry the binoculars for a full day around your neck. Also make sure they are waterproof. Although this might not be a problem when watching birds in your garden, the lenses can fog up very quickly when birding in humid circumstances. And believe me there is nothing as frustrating as watching birds with lenses that are not clear due to fog.

Notebook

The greatest frustration for a birder is that birds very rarely sit still for long periods at a time making it very difficult to see at once all the characteristics of a bird. You will also have to fight the urge to run to the bookshelf to get your field guide - by the time you get back the bird will most probably be gone and looking though many pages of birds in your field guide you will quickly realise you cannot identify the bird you saw.

Little Brown Jobs or LBJs are extremely difficult to identify. But noting all the details of this bird, as for instance the black back, will lead you to it as being a Levaillant's Cisticola. (Simon Du Plessis)

It will be of great benefit to you if you can quickly dot down the most important characteristics of the bird you are trying to identify. Then later you can compare your notes with the sketches and text in your field guide. So get yourself a cheap notebook to dot down the most important features of a bird and take it with you whenever you go birding.

Your next question might be as to what to dot down in your note book? There are a number of things to look at. Please click on the links on the right hand side of this page for more information.