Most interesting birding experiences (1 Viewer)

[katyakrylo]

I am beginner to birding and curious about all your interesting, scary, different, etc birding experience and storie I have not many since only start out and will love to know how this experience is like for you!

 

[LOC04]

The biggest excitement for the station of the day was catching a flycatcher, which turned out to be a Traill's, which even after doing allllll the measurements and doing the formulas, was still unidentifiable.

 

[emc]

The biggest excitement for me was becoming aware of all the different bird species that pass through my yard. I thought only sparrows were in my backyard until I took the time to observe

 

[Leafbringer]

I saw a laughing kookaburra being mobbed by six noisy miners while it was sitting on a light pole in a park. Then the kookaburra got swooped again by the miners when it flew down to the grass to catch a small prey (maybe an earthworm). That was kind of funny to watch.

 

[Euan Buchan]

Spotting my first ever Corncrake in The Outer Hebrides. This was in April 2007 I could hear its call in the nearby field and I just stood for a long period determined to see it and I did .

 

[VonMaunder]

When I first started bird watching, in my early 20s, it was for the raptors. I had seen Barred and Screech Owls but not a Great Horned yet. Found some good habitat, fields over rolling hills and a woodline that looked to have potential. I cut a date short, with a pretty girl-whom I liked a lot-so you know this was serious business--to go owling at above location, some Saturday night around 1030pm. Wasn't standing for longer than 10 minutes with 12X50 binocs scanning the treeline when a Great Horned Owl about scalped me, saw it fly back to the edge of the treeline and was able to watch it watch me for a while. Worth it!

 

[bluebird100]

Seeing snowy owls in Seattle- quite rare and literally brought tears to my eyes they are so beautiful.

My first toucan sighting was in Bolivia. I've seen more since then in Central America- both aricaris and keel billed. The first time was very exciting though.

 

[kb57]

It's difficult to single out a particular experience - sometimes you travel a long distance for something you know is going to be special, other times it's a chance encounter closer to home. Ask me another day and I'd give you a different list, but these are the stand-out experiences I recall just now:

• watching over 2000 pink-footed geese fly over my head on the Northumberland coast, heading for a roost site after a winter sunset;
• watching Japanese cranes displaying in the snow in Hokkaido (along with about 100 Chinese photographers, but it didn't detract from the experience);
• seeing my first ever albatross (a short-tailed at that) off the coast of Miyakejima, Izu Islands;
• sitting and waiting in the summer dawn sunshine in Northumberland for a common grasshopper warbler to finally show itself and sing in plain sight from a fence post;
• experiencing the Andean cock-of-the-rock lek at Jardin, Colombia; and after thinking it couldn't get any better than that...
• the next day, having a chestnut-naped antpitta take a worm from my hand; then...
• the following day, seeing oilbirds emerge from their cave at Rio Claro; but maybe best of all
• when I was about 3 years old, my adoptive father pointing out a blue tit in the garden, the first time I really saw a bird that I recognised as different, and likely my gateway drug into birding!

 

[earlytorise]

My first Two-barred Warbler was when I was spending a penny by a tree on the side of the road, and I heard its call directly above. I couldn't tick it, because it would have required a view and by the time I put my trousers back up it had scarpered.