Birdwatching for Beginners

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Birdwatching is a wonderful hobby that can be taken up at any age. Once started, it often leads to a lifelong commitment. Some even say it's addictive!

There's certainly few better ways to enjoy the great outdoors than strolling in the open air, listening and looking for beautiful birds.

If you need some help to get started, Birdlife Melbourne's Beginner Outings are a terrific way to kick off a birdwatching habit.

Each month, there's an outing to a good birding site within about 60 km of the city. Experts are on hand to point out the birds, and everyone's level of expertise is catered for.

Outings take advantage of seasonal sightings, like the Pink and Flame Robins at Woodlands Historic Park (in spring) or the migratory shorebirds at Pt Cook Coastal Park (summer).

A moderate level of physical fitness is all that's required. Binoculars are essential if you want to see the small birds - or any bird, close up - but you can use opera glasses or nothing at all. Depending on the terrain, some people bring along high-powered spotting telescopes, with which they share distant bird sightings.

Birdlife Melbourne's Beginners' Outings take place all year on the fourth Saturday of the month (except January - third Saturday). Some outings are morning only, others are all day.

Beginner birders couldn't find a friendlier bunch to help them tell their pardalotes from their pelicans.

These are the locations for the first half of 2015:

Point Cook Coastal Park: January 24

Banyule Flats, Viewbank: February 28

Mt Macedon Regional Park: March 28

Birdsland Reserve, Belgrave Heights: April 25

'The Briars' Park, Mt Martha: May 23

Braeside Park, Braeside: June 27

All outings end with a 'bird count' - a list of species sighted. These are published online. For example, birds at Braeside Park in autumn, seen in previous outings.

More information here.
[LINK=http://birdlifemelbourne.org.au/]
Birdlife Melbourne[/LINK] is a regional group of the national body Birdlife Australia , our national bird conservation and advocacy group.

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