Binoculars are probably the single best piece of equipment a birder can have. For this section, we’ll assume you have binoculars and are ready to learn how to use them. (If you are looking for binoculars, watch Equipment.)

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has two videos on  using binoculars: All About Binoculars and the older  How to get crystal clear focus with your binoculars.

There are two main situations in which you might want to use binoculars while birding:

You’ve seen the bird without binoculars and want to get a closer look. In this case, notice landmarks around the bird that you can use to adjust your aim once you’re looking through the binoculars. If the bird is flying low, it might be wise to wait until it lands before using your binoculars. Then, keep your eyes trained on the bird and bring the binoculars up to your eyes without moving your head or eyes. If you do this well, the bird should be immediately visible within the field of view of the binoculars. Now, adjust the focus of the binoculars until the bird is in focus. Once you are familiar with your binoculars, you’ll remember which way to turn the wheel to focus farther away or closer in. When in doubt, just start turning the wheel and notice if the bird is becoming more in focus, or less and adjust which direction you’re turning the focus wheel accordingly.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Ellicott City
May 6, 2020
Annette Allor

American Goldfinch
Centennial Park
March 29, 2012
Harry Fink

You aren’t yet sure where the bird is. Maybe you heard a bird, or saw some motion, or for some other reason have a general sense for where the bird is. You have a much wider field of view without binoculars, so it is often best to narrow down the location of the bird before using the binoculars. However, sometimes you will need to scan an area with binoculars. To methodically scan the area, pan the binoculars from one edge of your view to the other, then repeat lower down, until you’re scanning across the ground or water. Keep in mind you might need to adjust the focus of the binoculars while you scan to keep the view in focus. Another technique is to scan different depths of focus by keeping the binoculars pointed at one area but rolling the focus wheel. Depth scanning can help you see birds hiding in bushes by bringing them into focus while blurring the leaves between you and the bird. Another helpful aspect of binoculars is that, when using binoculars to look into a bush on a bright day, your eyes dilate since the view through the binoculars is darker which can help you see better within the dark interior of the bush.

Binoculars can get annoying to carry by hand and should be protected from drops. Both problems are solved with a neck strap or harness. Most binoculars come with a neck strap which is often sufficient for light binoculars or short trips. If the neck strap starts to hurt your neck, a harness can help. Either way, you’ll want to make your binoculars easy to reach so you can quickly pull them up to your eyes while keeping your eyes on the bird.

Some birders walk briskly through an area while listening intently to bird songs and calls, and scanning for motion. Others wait patiently in one spot, scanning the skies or landscape. Regardless of your approach, it is often very helpful to slow down, and periodically stop completely to focus more on the environment. Let yourself get quiet. Quiet your body. No footsteps, heavy breathing, rustling of clothing, or conversation. Quiet your mind. Stop thinking about the roots on the path ahead or the next thing you have to do and pay attention to what’s around you. Focus on what you’re hearing and seeing. Try to identify every sound you hear. Scan the area with your eyes looking for motion or bird shapes. Let the animals around you relax and become active again. You might be surprised at how much is going on around you in what might have seemed like empty woods just a few minutes ago.

If you do hear or see a bird and want to observe it more, this is another great cue to slow down or stop. Walking briskly or directly toward a bird is likely to make it fly away or hide. Your glimpse of motion or snippet of sound might open a small window of opportunity for you to be close enough to the bird to learn more about it. If you pull up your binoculars or camera, do so slowly. Keep a small profile from the bird’s perspective and don’t make sudden movements. Note whether the bird stays relaxed and keeps preening or singing; or suddenly turns away from you preparing to fly.

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Ellicott City
April 12, 2018
Jeff Culler

When you are on your own or with a patient partner, slow down and stop for interesting movements or sounds. Spend time staying still when small flocks are found, trying to see as many individuals as possible. When you are on Howard County Bird Club field trips, the leader will usually ask if there are new people or beginning birders. Don’t be shy in announcing that you are. You will find that people are willing to help you find a bird and identify its characteristics.
Get in the habit of looking for movement and listening for potentially interesting sounds and stopping to investigate. If you walk the same route often, you will start to get a sense of the places along the route where it is worth pausing to look and listen. The interesting places often change with the seasons!

European Starling
Waterford Farm
Nov 5, 2013
Richard Orr

There are a few different ways you’ll first become aware of a bird while you’re out in the field. Here are some tips for how to narrow down their location and describe it to others.
Seeing motion: Your eyes are finely tuned to detect motion in your peripheral vision. Keep your eyes scanning all around you, including the sky, high in the treetops, on lower tree branches, in bushes, and on the path ahead while you walk. Notice any motion around you. When you do, stop and look in that direction. Scan for bird shapes, continued motion, or colors that contrast with the background to find the bird.

Hearing a bird: You might hear a birdsong, a call, a quiet rustling in the leaves. Stop, listen, and look. Your ears have excellent direction-finding capabilities that will often accurately indicate where the sound came from. Turn to look in the direction of the sound and scan for motion, bird silhouettes, or contrasting colors. Keep listening and updating your sense of where the sound is coming from until you have the bird in view.

When a fellow birder describes the location of a bird: First, orient on the landmark or direction described (e.g., the tallest tree in front of me, the dead tree with a big branch slanting up and to the right across the river). Keep in mind that the person giving instructions is likely looking directly at the bird, so looking at them first is often helpful. It might also help to position yourself near them so their directions and perspective will match yours. If you can’t understand this first part of the description, look where they’re looking and ask questions to narrow it down. Now you’re ready to follow the next part of the description. Usually, the instructions will have some more specific details. Often this includes thinking of the branches and leaves of the tree as being a clock face (e.g., at 2 o’clock about 3 feet in from the edge). Repeat the steps again to orient yourself on their instructions, get close to their position, and ask clarifying questions if needed. Once you see the bird say “on it” so others know they can stop giving you instructions.
You are describing the location to others: you’re the first one “on the bird” and are trying to help others see it. Start by orienting the others with a major landmark or direction. Then start describing where the bird is in relation to those landmarks or directions. Try to be as specific as possible so others can quickly focus. Keep watching the bird while you describe its location – if it moves and you were the only one who was “on it” you can help others find it in its new location.

White-breasted Nuthatch
Howard County
March 1, 2010
Bonnie Ott

For most of our lives, we’re tuning out a lot of what we hear (and see) as irrelevant. If you’re new to birding, you’re likely also tuning out bird songs and calls. It might not register to your conscious mind at all, it might sound like “nature,” or maybe “a bird” but you might not be listening with a birder’s focus and attention. Birds can process sounds faster than humans, and their songs dance across frequencies faster than humans can appreciate. They also have a syrinx which allows them to make two different notes at once unlike our larynx which only allows one. As a result, bird songs can be very difficult to describe or imitate.

Mnemonics map bird songs and calls to words. For example, an Eastern Towhee is often said to sing: “Drink your tea!”. Some bird names are meant as onomatopoeia in describing their own song such as the “chickadee” which says “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.” Although reading the mnemonic usually doesn’t help a new birder understand what the song will sound like, it does help to put a name to the song, which helps in remembering it. For example, knowing that the Eastern Towhee sings “Drink your tea!” won’t help you identify its song the first time. However, once you hear it and associate it with the Eastern Towhee, you’ll keep hearing “Drink your tea!” each time, and remember that it is an Eastern Towhee singing.

Carolina Chickadee
Mount Pleasant
Nov 24, 2020
Frank Witebsky

Eastern Towhee
Blandair Park
Nov 24, 2014
Photo by Rod Quinio

The direction that you are facing can make a big difference in what you can hear, so practice turning your head to face towards interesting sounds. Using your hands to make “ear cups” and slightly opening your mouth really does assist with hearing. Though it may look a little odd, it is an effective way to enhance your ability to hear faint or high pitched bird song or calls.
In the beginning, focus on hearing the sounds and locating their source—seeing a bird actually sing or call helps with learning the song or call. Next, as you start to learn the songs of more common birds, pause when you hear something that seems different. It may be a variant of a familiar song, or it may be the song of a bird that is new to you. Often sounds can help locate an interesting bird. Listen for the mobbing calls of jays, crows and even smaller birds and try to find the focus of their attention – it can often lead to interesting hawks, owls and other birds.

Dark-eyed Junco
Ellicott City
Nov 6, 2010
Bonnie Ott

Winter: Deciduous trees are mostly free of leaves, which is helpful for seeing perching birds. Many birds thought by some to depart for the winter are present all year long and can be seen easily: American Robin, American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, etc. Some birds over-winter here and are around only during the winter: Winter Wren, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sharp-shinned Hawk, some sparrows like Dark-eyed Junco, Fox Sparrow, some waterfowl. Check lakes and ponds for waterfowl; when most lakes and ponds are frozen-over, look for unfrozen locations where waterfowl may be concentrated. If you have bird feeders, some birds which over-winter here may show up, like Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Spring: Birds that breed locally but migrate south for the winter begin returning: Osprey, some herons/egrets, shorebirds, cuckoos, hummingbirds, flycatchers, swallows, thrushes, vireos, warblers, orioles and others: Many “songbirds” that do not sing in other seasons sing in the spring – at least sometimes! Some birds (e.g., many warblers) have both bright and dull plumages and are in their brightest plumage in the spring. Birds that winter locally start departing: some sparrows, Winter Wren, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sharp-shinned Hawk, some waterfowl. Migrants which breed north may pass though: some waterfowl, warblers, vireos, hawks. For the birds that breed locally, you may be able to hear and see recently fledged or other young birds. However, as spring progresses, it becomes harder and harder to see some birds because deciduous trees are getting their leaves back. Try listening for bird songs and calls and trying to identify them without seeing them at all or only getting short glimpses of them.

Chipping Sparrow
Ellicott City
July 12, 2011
Bonnie Ott

American Robin
Centennial Park
Jan 25, 2011
Bonnie Ott

Summer: Many birders “take the summer off”, at least for local birding. However, summer birding has advantages: Full foliage on deciduous trees requires working on ear-birding. In addition to birds, wildflowers, butterflies and dragonflies are interesting additions to the summer nature-scape.

Fall: Another time for migration, somewhat like “spring in reverse”. Birds that breed locally but spend winter in the south, begin leaving: warblers, flycatchers, vireos, herons/egrets, House Wren, others. However, in the fall, many of the ones that sang in the spring are not singing but may use chip-notes. Some warblers may have changed plumage to the “drab” version.

Consult Birding Year in Howard County for a month-by-month narrative for Howard County.