Birding and how I get my birds in Australia.

[Ralph]

I was talking with my mate the other day and this question came up about how do people in other countries get their bird shots.
Yes we get spoiled by youtube but are they all true in how you do it in your country or area.

I live in Mildura Victoria which is in Australia. When we go birding it is usually a day outing.
So lunch and many time a morning play lunch is taken as well due to we will be on the move at about 8 am.
We will travel up to 50 kilometers away but more often it is more like a 100 kilometers from home.

We will drive down a dirt track and with luck a bird will cross the road and this is when we get out of the car.
The get our gear out of our bag I carry my bag as it has my camel pack in it as I drink a lot of water now.
Set the GPS and turn on the camera and then head off into the bush. Yes this sounds like a long time has past but really its not long at all.

Then into the bush we go looking high and low. And at the same time making sure we are not stepping on fallen branches.
These have tripped me up a few times . We will walk about a while and sometime e find the birds and sometimes not.
nothing is set up it is what we see is by the luck of the bird gods.
We do this all day long and some time the walks are short and the others we can be walking for an hour.

We don't as we have seen have feeding stations about we just go out and hope we will see them
The most steps done in a day has be just over 16,000 steps and that was a big day.
On that day I was with a younger female who I will say I out walked her as she stayed in the car the last 2 stops.

So do you do the same as us or different as I know I would like to know.
So if you would could you add in the way you go about the way you do your birding outing's.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

For me, it's really about visiting known locations, usually nature reserves, but also just our countryside and coastal areas in general, which, through experience, you learn the best times and places to visit to get certain species. I will also keep an eye on birdwatching pages on Facebook, and very occasional inside information on sightings of rarities, and then may go out of my way to get some photos. For example, we currently have a Black Browed Albatross visiting a well known reserve in Yorkshire. It's only the 3rd time one has ever been seen in the UK. It was thought it would move on, but has been present for about 6 weeks now. I would almost certainly have gone to see it (though it's a 5.5 hour drive) was it not for being in the process of moving.