Birding by Staying Put

from Learn Outdoor Photography

Yellow-rumped Warbler

When I was a beginning birder, my normal birding pattern was to go some place and walk around.  Of course, walking around is essential for good birding.  But too often as a beginning birder I would see a bird, try to photograph the bird, and then move on, without any consideration of why that bird might be there.  It didn't occur to me that the bird may have chosen his location for a very good reason, like an abundance of food, and other birds may be sure to find the same spot as well.

Northern Cardinal

Cedar Waxwing

About a week ago, I was at Mead Gardens, and I happened to find a Cedar Waxwing in the top of a tall tree.  This was the first Cedar Waxwing I'd seen this calendar year, so I stopped to take a terrible picture of the bird through lots of branches.  As I did so, about a dozen more came to keep him company.    Then I noticed that there were berries in the bushes at around eye level, and so I figured good things were going to happen, and I decided to stay put for a while.  At first all I wanted was a good picture of a Cedar Waxwing, but over the next hour or so, I found myself in the midst of perhaps a hundred birds.  There were so many that it was hard to follow just one.  I ended up counting 20 species of birds from one location (including flyovers), and I even found a lifer there--an Orange-crowned Warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Here's a list of what I found:

1. Red-shouldered Hawk 2
2. Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
3. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
4. Downy Woodpecker 3
5. Eastern Phoebe 1
6. Carolina Wren 1
7. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
8. Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
9. American Robin 3
10. Cedar Waxwing 50
11. Black-and-white Warbler 1
12. Orange-crowned Warbler 1
13. Palm Warbler 5
14. Pine Warbler 1
15. Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
16. Northern Cardinal 2
17. White Ibis (flyover)
18. Turkey Vulture 1 (flyover)
19. Osprey 1 (flyover)
20. Mourning Dove 1 (flyover)

That morning reinforced what I believe is a good birding practice.  When you see a bird, look around you and consider what may have drawn the bird to that place.  It may be an area of significant bird activity. Stay put for a while, and you may find that there are a lot more birds in the area than you saw initially, and if you're observant, you may be richly rewarded for your patience.