 Blue Jay Feathers Emporium |
|
Blue Jay Feathers Emporium |
I decide to establish a new bird watchers club. The name of the club is "Blue Jay Feathers." The purpose of the club is to watch birds, report sightings, maintain records of bird sightings, promote bird sanctuaries, build and establish bird houses, feeders and watering stations and to generally act to stimulate and maintain bird populations around the world through helping to educate and inform people about birds.
Anyone may be a member of the "Blue Jay Feathers." Membership if free and open to anyone, in the world who is in sympathy of the above stated purposes.
To participate in the club you merely have to watch birds and record and post your sightings. You are welcome to post your sightings here in the comments section. Just say what birds you saw, when and where, as your share your experiences. Also I encourage everyone to establish their own personal natural history site to report birds sighted when they are in the field or outdoors at home. You may also link your site to this page or the Blue Jay Feather home page at http://www.byteland.org/naturalist/bluejayfeathers/index.html. Over time I will be developing that site and adding additional information and material related to bird watching. This may include links to other bird watching clubs which are well established.
The Blue Jay Feathers club is designed to be a fun and educational social organization where anyone who is interested in birds and nature can join in and share their thoughts and experiences. I'm asking everyone who loves nature to start carrying a notebook, a pair of small binoculars, a field guide to birds, and begin reporting their bird sightings. Also, when you make your reports you may link to other field guide type sites on the Internet or to your own natural history site where there is a picture of the bird you sighted with information about the particular bird.
Over time I am hoping others who love bird watching and being outdoors close to nature will join the Blue Jay Feathers club and share their experiences by making comments here. This is a great way to come together, to share the joy you experience in being close to nature, and helping preserve and protect one of the worlds most important forms of wildlife, birds of the world.
Also, if you travel, please keep records of your sightings. You are also encouraged to learn to identify wildflowers, trees and insects and to also report your finds and observations in this regard. This may include taking photographs of interesting habitats you visit and sharing these photographs with others to help educate and inform everyone about the habitat where particular birds live.
Bird watching is a great way to get close to nature and to learn about all aspects of the environment, ecology and how these relate to the welfare of humanity. This is particularly important at a time when bird populations are dwindling, being decimated by the West Nile virus, indiscriminate usage of pesticides and herbicides, deforestation and a general disregard for preserving the environment and its wildlife.
By being a Blue Jay Feathers club member you can do a small part to make a BIG difference. This is a way everyone can come together and help to make the world a better place. To those who join Blue Jay Feathers and participate in the dialogue let me thank in advance! Our slogan shall be, "Birds of a Blue Jay Feather flock together!" May being part of the Blue Jay Feather experience bring much happiness and wonderful experience to your life!
Light Dancer
Essentially you will need a good field guide (none is better than Roger Tory Peterson's Birds of Eastern and Central North America, which I highly recommend). Of course if you live elsewhere you need a guide that covers your area. Another good guide is Kenn Kaufman's Birds of North America.
You will also need a good pair of binoculars. I carry a pair of 8x25 ultra compact fold-up Nikon pocket binoculars. These have a diopter adjustment which enable me to correct for right-left eye vision imbalance, given I wear glasses. Also these have a close focus of 8.2 feet which enable me to also observe butterflies or hummingbirds. They are water resistant, have quick central focusing, bright multi-coated optics, turn & slide rubber eyecups and an ultra wide viewing field.
Also I have other larger binoculars for use when it is not inconvenient to grab them off a shelf or out of a pack. But what is so wonderful about a small pair of mini binoculars is that they can slip into a pocket and be handy whenever you are outside and a bird happens by. I fitted my binoculars with a wide, foam padded neck strap for comfort.
A notebook is also necessary to record and list birds you observe. It is important to make accurate and complete observations. I prefer a small, hard covered notebook which has large enough pages to also make sketches, given I include drawings in my field observations.
Generally when I'm in the field these days I like to carry a small pocket digital camera. It is surprising what kind of pictures you might capture on the spur of the moment. The picture below is of two doves in courtship flight.
This picture was taken simply by holding a digital camera up to a compact pair of binoculars. About a hour before sunset Eurasian Collard-Doves (Streptopelia decaocto) were observed courting. A male and female were observed in near-by trees roosting and I saw a male mount a female. Shortly after observing this mating behavior, the picture above was taken. This demonstrates how with just a little patience and very simple equipment one may get reasonably good photographs of bird behavior.
Eurasian Collard-Doves were introduced into the United States, arriving in Florida from the Bahamas some years ago. They have rapidly spread and are now common in central Alabama.
Eurasian Collard-Doves often nest under eves on porches and are a quite docile species. Given the West Nile virus was only recently introduced into the United States, I have often pondered whether or not terrorists may have used doves to introduce the West Nile virus which has killed a number of people over the last few years and decimated some bird populations?
There is a very good review of the Eurasian Collard-Dove as it relates to the invasion of Georgia entitled March of the "ECD's." Apparently this species invaded south Florida in the late 1970's and has worked its way north and west. It was in the USA long before West Nile virus was first discovered during the late 1990's in the northeast. So it is probably not likely that this species was responsible for bringing West Nile virus to the continent unless terrorist infected birds and introduced them someplace like New York City. However, because the Eurasian Collard-Dove lives in cities and urban areas in close proximity with man, it may be a vector for the West Nile virus, since mosquitos pass the virus from birds to people.
According to Alabama Birdlife vol. 39 no. 2, the first report of the Eurasian Collard-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) in Alabama was made in 1992 by Jim Holmes, who observed one ECD. Lawrence F. Gardella, observed three ECD in Montgomery, Alabama the same year.
The following links are provided to help you get started in your bird watching.