Why Birding is So Popular

Series Summary

Observing birds and studying their behavior is what birding and bird watching is all about; to do that effectively you have to have the right birding equipment and supplies. There is a plethora of birding equipment that you could spend thousands on - from binoculars and telescopes to clothing and field journals. It does not have to be super expensive to get started in birding, but it is important to know what is essential bird watching equipment. If you would like to know what type of birding gear you need to get started in bird watching, learn from our birding expert from the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

In this free online video series, learn about essential and luxury birding equipment, from Wayne Petersen, director of the Massachusetts Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program at the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Wayne will give you an overview of birding equipment, how to choose birding binoculars and how much they cost, how to use birding binoculars for bird watching, how to use a telescope for birding, what the advantages are of using a telescope for bird watching, how to dress for bird watching, advantages of using a digital camera, about using tape recorders and iPods for birding, how to keep birding records, how to choose a birding field guide, and how to choose a specialty birding field guide.

Video Transcript

"Welcome to Expert Village, my name is Wayne Petersen and I direct the Massachusetts Audubon Society, important bird areas program for Massachusetts. Today we're here at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield, Massachusetts and we're going to be talking about the equipment needed to get one started in birding. So who's involved in birding and why is it so popular? According to a study done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2001, Birding in the United States a Demographic and Economic Analysis. We're told as many as 46 million people interested in birding today and along with gardening it's one of the fastest activities that people love to engage in. It's one of these things that can be enjoyed by adults, it can be enjoyed by children, it can be enjoyed by families, it can be enjoyed by individuals. It gets us into the outer doors, it puts us in touch with nature and increasingly as bird populations and our planet are beginning to show signs of decay. It registers the significance of conservation as something that we can all engage in. So birding really has something to offer for everyone and it can be enjoyed at many levels. So in the next few minutes hopefully we'll begin to give you some thoughts on how you can engage."