What is Birdwatching?

Birdwatching or Birding is probably one of the weird outdoor activities. While

birdwatching is a popular activity in the United States and Britain, in Indonesia it is very
uncommon. Birders usually come from many profession in the United States and Britain but in
Indonesia, most birders are either students or someone who have an interest in birds. There are
many varieties of birds in Indonesia, so some of the birders doing this either as the casual
weekend activity or a perfectionist who wants to see a species of bird they never saw before.
Now probably some of the people ask “What is the appeal of birding?”, “Why do you like
this activity?”, “Out of the thousand many activities, why would you watch birds?” etc. While
some think it is a very weird activity, I think all will agree that birding is just the same as many
other outdoor recreations. And birds are very aesthetic. Birds are beautiful and their dazzling
colors can be very appealing to the eye. And another interesting part about birds is their behavior
and their sounds. Every bird has their own unique behaviors and the sound that birds make can
be very calming and pleasing to the ear often use in the ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian
Response) video.
Birds can be found in many places and both night and day. Birdwatching is something
you can do while doing other things, like tending the garden, walking or jogging in the park,
relaxing on your balcony, and many more. Birds can brighten up the day and break the boring
routine. A person can birdwatching while walking alone. It is a perfect way to get out from your
daily life full of hectic things. But, you can also birdwatching with your family, with your
husband and your children, or with a large group of people.
More than that, birdwatching actually don’t need to waste a lot of money to enjoy it. All
you need is a field guide book and either a pair of binoculars or a monocular. The common field
guide book in Indonesia is “A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali: The
Greater Sunda Islands” (English version) or “Burung-Burung di Sumatera, Jawa, Bali, dan
Kalimantan” (Indonesia version) written by John Mackinnon & Karen Phillip, mostly it cost
somewhere between 170.000 IDR to 250.000 IDR. While binoculars cost between 400.000 IDR
to 7.000.000 IDR depending on the optics, spotting scopes, and the brand. And the monocular
cost between 75.000 IDR to 1.000.000 IDR also depending on the optics and the brand.
Birding for some reason has its own kind of sporting aspect. Whenever a group
birdwatcher travel to birding sites, often they will make their competition by listing as many
birds as possible in one session. Sometimes there’s even a real competition about birdwatching
with huge prize pools ranging between 5.000.000 IDR to over 10.000.000 IDR. Birding as a
sport is not resulting in a negative impact on the environment, in fact, it has a positive impact on
the environment.
Birdwatching is one of the best ways to get in touch with nature, experience the awe and
mystery that nature has. While birding you are also seeing many other things like trees,
wildflowers, butterflies, dragonflies that share the environment with the birds and appreciate how
all of them can fit into whole schemes of things. And you can track a bird seasonal movement as
indicator that the season has changed.
 Identifying birds is not an easy task. While it is very fun and interesting, it is not easy.
You need to practice and improve your observation skills and hand-to-eye coordination skills.
These skills can be improve by reading books or journal about the birds and go to the field, as
your keep trying to improve your birding skills you will start to learn a way to identifying birds
fast without a help of field guide books.
Amateur birdwatchers actually play an important part in helping scientist to gather
information about birds. This information can be useful because it could be as an evidence that
there may be a possible damaged environment. It can help the scientist to protect the birds from
extinction. As an example, In Indonesia an “Asian Waterbird Census” project take place in the
2nd and 3rd weeks of January each year. Over 50.000 people in Indonesia watch birds in different
wetlands location and list the birds they found. The aim of this project are to gather information
yearly about waterbird populations in wetlands to use as a basis for evaluating important location
and for population monitoring, and to grow and support community interest in waterbirds and
wetlands and their conservation efforts.
All birders have a code of ethic to abide, that is “Birders are always reminded how
important it is not to disturb the birds. This is particularly important in the nesting season. If
birds are nesting on the ground in fields or reedbeds one should never go anywhere near them.
Some birds get used to humans being near, but others may be very shy of humans”
(Wikipedia.org)