This is part 2 of a 3 part series. See also: Record keeping 1: On Keeping Field NotesRecord keeping 3: Seasonal Field Diary When you’re just starting out on the bird language path, it can feel pretty overwhelming. Each time you start listening your ears are assailed by a veritable menagerie of calls, and eachContinueContinue reading “Record keeping 2: Bird Identification Sheets”
Author Archives: andrewturbill
Record keeping 1: On Keeping Field Notes
This is part 1 of a 3 part series. See also: Record keeping 2: Bird Identification SheetsRecord keeping 3: Seasonal Field Diary It was all very well living through the cosy Holocene period when the global climate was by-and-large just peachy and relatively unmenacing, but these days, in the thick of an unregulated energy pulseContinueContinue reading “Record keeping 1: On Keeping Field Notes”
Andrew’s Story – How I became a bird nerd
Part 1: beginnings When I was very young, perhaps 8 years old my dad brought me my very own binoculars. I don’t remember the specs but although they were terrible quality, they rarely left my reach. I also acquired an old tape recorder and used to sneak down into the lantana to record the crazyContinueContinue reading “Andrew’s Story – How I became a bird nerd”
You were once a Bird Language Samurai, and can be again
We are hard wired to listen carefully to birds. To listen and learn. Hard wired in the head literally. Our brains are the top-shelf product of millions of years of neurological tinkering for maximising survival fitness. Every single one of my (and your) ancestors lived to breeding age, going back to the time when animalsContinueContinue reading “You were once a Bird Language Samurai, and can be again”
How to trick young people into paying attention to bird language
Kids and Bird Language: How to trick get young people into paying attention to bird language So how do we get people (young people especially) motivated to pay attention to bird language when: 1. there’s absolutely no real survival consequences if they don’t, and 2. the social cost / benefit ratio of knowing stuff aboutContinueContinue reading “How to trick young people into paying attention to bird language”