A Guide to Bird Watching

This still-relevant book is the Pete Dunne How-to guide of its era. The focus of this book is not identification or how to be a better birder in the manner that we usually think of it. Rather, it encourages you to go beyond finding and identifying birds to truly studying them and their lives. In the preface Hickey discloses that he is writing for both the novice and the veteran. In the first chapter he will tackle the problems faced by beginners and in later chapters describes “the many methods by which they can explore the mysteries of bird life.”

For those just getting started in the hobby Hickey gives tips on everything from how to remember bird songs to picking out optics. Fundamentally everything covered here still applies today, but naturally many of the details are a little out of date. But that’s not too surprising for a 60+ year old book. For beginning birders today I would recommend a more modern treatment because they may not be able to filter out the out-of-date from the still-applicable information.

The remainder of the book explores activities that birders can partake in that will further the knowledge of bird life. Included are migration studies, hawk watches, bird censuses, studies in distribution, and banding. Hickey points out many gaps in the knowledge of even the most common birds, and he urges birders and bird clubs to help fill in those gaps. For instance, what are the feeding territory sizes of different species? At what heights do different birds sing? Some of these questions, for at least some species, have surely been answered by now. But there are many that have not. Bird study such as this is not solely the realm of professional ornithologists and grad students. Amateur birders and groups can still contribute much to science.

For bird book fanatics the appendix “An Annotated List of Bird Books” is a treasure. The author lists and comments on dozens of the various books available at the time, from field guides to biology to conservation. Some books and information that were NOT available was just as interesting as what was. For example, at that time there was no comprehensive checklist for the state of Georgia.

Although the book definitely shows its age it is still very informative. There is a ton of information and many great anecdotes by the author. Additionally, it was fascinating to compare the advice and information against modern literature. Much has changed, but an amazing amount remains the same.

The main theme of the book is still relevant today, probably even more so than when it was written. There is a great temptation to focus more on lists and rarities than on the birds themselves. I know that I myself can be guilty of that. Hickey summarizes:

Birds are scanned, but it scarcely can be said that they are watched-especially when one has an eye incessantly searching for a rarity in the next tree.
Bird watching is much more than this. It is the art of discovering how birds live. Through it the naturalist can cross the frontier of knowledge and explore an unknown world. His reward is more than a mere check on a field card; although personal and intimate, it can still be a contribution to science.

That simple reminder and challenge makes this book well worthwhile.

(I just want to make it clear that I don’t think lists and rarity chasing (twitching) are bad things. It’s just that there is more to birding than those aspects alone.)