Birding Field Guides
The Audubon web site has recommendations on what bird guide is best for you. As you get more into birding, you probably want to consider more than one field guide since different guides contain different features. Typically there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” guide. Click here to go to the recommendations from Audubon:
On-line Birding Guides
All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/. This site is from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, an excellent source of birding information.
Merlin: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org. This is an app for smartphones, with versions for both Apple and Android. It’s free, with over 4,500 birds of North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Audubon Bird Guide: https://www.audubon.org/app. Audubon’s bird guide, also free. It covers 800 species of North American birds. Also for both Apple and Andoid.
iBird: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ibird-pro-guide-to-birds/id308018823. Fee of about $15. Compatible with iPhones and iPads. Expanded version of iBird is completely updated for the 2018 American Ornithological Union (AOU) Supplement.
Birding Binoculars Reviews and Ratings
Binoculars are the indispensable instrument for productive and fun birding in the field (and you may at some point want to consider a spotting scope for far-away birds). The most useful binocular ratings will compare binoculars within various price ranges. Generally, the more you spend the better quality of binocular. However, you can get some excellent optics in the $125 – $450 range, while also considering superb quality in the $2,000+ range. Although quality ratings are useful, it’s important that the binoculars are comfortable both in terms of hand grip, focusing ease, and weight. Unfortunately, there aren’t many places where you can try binoculars. If you’re in NYC, you can visit several stores, such as B&H Photo or Adorama Camera. New Jersey Audubon has a store in Cape May that carries a good selection of optics. Otherwise, make sure the place you order them will accept returns if the binoculars don’t work for you. Redstart Birding, for example, allows a 30-day trial period so you can test your product. They also provide an optics guide to assist your product choice.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/finding-the-best-binoculars-for-birding/. Cornell Lab: From Cornell, and comprehensive overview of what to look for in birding binoculars, with ratings by different price categories. While it may seem somewhat dated (from 2013), most models are still available and this is still a good resource. More recent rating guides can be found at:
https://www.audubon.org/gear/binocular-guide.
https://www.birdwatchersdigest.net/downloads/RedstartBirdingOpticsGuide2020.pdf
Keeping track of birds you see
eBird: Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a free app, called eBird, that allows you to record all of the birds that you see. Learn more at https://ebird.org/home
You can use the app either on your desktop or load on your smartphone, where you can take it with you to keep track of the birds you see by creating bird lists. What’s nice about this is that, if you choose, you can share your observations with others and it can be used by ornithologists to research bird behavior and population trends. Cornell offers an free on-line course to introduce you to eBird and all of its features. Check it out at: https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/product/ebird-essentials/
It’s a self-paced course that is about 3 hours total, but you can break it up to fit your schedule and come back as often as you like. You will need to establish an account with the Cornell Lab (free).
Tips on counting birds
eBird allows you to enter the number of each species that you see. If you decide not to count birds, you can put an X by the species that you see (don’t use 1 since eBird interprets that as you only saw one of those species. Should you decided to count birds, here are some resources to help sharpen your skills:
This article, again from Cornell, describes techniques for counting birds.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service provides some resources on how to count waterfowl, such as Geese, Ducks, and Swans, especially in flight. https://www.fws.gov/waterfowlsurveys/forms/counting.jsp?menu=counting