Sunshine Coast Birdlife Australia Blog : Birding, a beginner’s perspective, by Terry Kirkland

out of area - Australian Bustard

Six years ago I enrolled in a U3A Sunshine Coast croquet course because having then recently retired from a high pressure media career I needed a release, something low stress, yet stimulating and refreshing and individual. Six years later I’m still a very active player with the Caloundra Croquet Club. Croquet is a beautiful game.

Californian Quail in NZ

Two years ago I enrolled in another U3A activity, birdwatching, because I love the bush and I love binoculars. Birds are nice, but that wasn’t my motivation. I just needed an excuse to wander the outdoors and use my binos more. Birding too, I’ve since discovered, is another beautiful activity. And I now think birds are more than nice, they’re fascinating.

So what?

I started both activities because I wanted to try something different, and that has turned out to be highly rewarding for me. Both activities have similar backbones...done well they demand individual focus, planning and research; they are low impact, but require enough energy to spend 3-5 hours and more in the field. I’m writing this because the important factor in continuing in both pursuits is that, while it’s fine finding your own way, “newbies” gain from some guidance. Both activities require skills and wandering around the court or bush or shore-side without some initial direction can be less than fulfilling.

I soon out that found trying to engage with a random male birder or even worse a pair of male birders at a bird site was often pointless. Many were rude and dismissive. Bit sad, but there you go. On the other hand most ladies I met were helpful and supportive. Interesting.

My 2019 U3A group is a wonderful bunch of people ranging from total newcomers to the hobby to three or four top-notch birders (known to most of you) who spread their knowledge as best as possible in a 20+ group situation. The Sunshine Coast Birding Facebook Group, though, has been the circuit breaker for me and after a number of faltering posting attempts in late 2018 I’ve spent my time on the page in 2019 watching and learning. I think I’m now learning birds and their habitats at an exponential rate from the clearly wide skillsets of the participants in the group. And Carol Popple, I think I’ve even reduced my double-ups when I do submit a post!! Thank you for your patience.

White throated Treecreeper

Nankeen Night heron

female Koel in a waterfall of fruit

SC mega - croquet playing Banded Lapwing

grasshopper

In the past two years I’ve been on specialised birding tours to the NT and FNQ and travelled with my U3A group to the Ballina and Dalby regions and to Jimna, and all trips have been eye openers to the world of birds and the wildly diverse nature of folk that are birders. Love it!

RTBC

female Red winged Parrot

I have birding apps on my phone, and books and bird charts, but to us newcomers male, female, juvenile and breeding plumage variations, changing names, etc. can be confusing. The Facebook page…the bird IDs, the photos, good and bad, help the inexperienced. The distances travelled by our top birders is staggering, and they in my view are the real educators because they seem to me to be those stretching the boundaries beyond the easier-to-find birds and locales and genuinely seem to enjoy sharing. Same in all fields…the top guns are the sharers. I probably, no certainly, won’t see all the birds and habitats they’ve shared, but I thank them because I’ll keep looking. I’m sure the birds do, too, because they need all the support they can get.

Variegated Wren

My kids and grandkids now think I’m a bit OCD birds and I hear them talking to their friends and whispering “he is a bit odd, he watches birds AND he plays croquet!!.} I really must stop sending them photos of the red-bellied blacks and king browns I meet on my walks, though. And I’ve had to promise them I’ll let someone know where I go when I head bush. I’ll get around to doing that at some stage.

(Although I’ve upgraded my camera to a nice kit, I want to be a bird watcher not a photographer, so view my attached photos in that light please.}