Binoculars

You need to adjust the aperture of your binoculars according to the distance between your eyes. When you go out for an observation, first off all, adjust the eyepieces separately so as to balance the sight of your both eyes. Note this adjustment by looking at the markings on the edge of the eyepieces for future observations. Determine to which direction the focus wheel is turning when looking for a nearby bird. After a while, you will spontaneously get used to determine it and it will help you focus on the birds you may see for a short time. If possible, create support by adhering your elbows and, if you are crouched down, knees to your chest. By this way, you will reduce the vibration of your binoculars to some degree. Before putting your binoculars on your eyes when trying to detect a bird, detect prominent points nearby with the naked eye. Do not try to look for birds with binoculars on your eyes. The ability to use binoculars to detect birds improves with more observation. Be patient. Seek help from experienced observers. Always be on your guard. Look at every movement around. Scan the fields, fences, trees, sea and sky with your binoculars. Be sure that you will see many bird species this way.

Guidebook

We can of course best learn about birds directly with our own eyes. However, guidebooks give us the opportunity to instantly verify the birds we see in the field. A guidebook containing descriptive information on species that can be confused with each other, especially in identification, is the greatest reference resource for birdwatchers.

Notebook

A notebook should be carried around for all observations and should be easy to use. A small and durable notebook is suitable. Details such as place, date, time, participants are primarily written in the notebook during the observation. The species and the numbers of each species observed during the trip are noted. We can also write in detail a sound that we see or hear for the first time. This helps us to learn the sounds and images of birds better, and also makes it easier to describe the birds that we cannot identify. If information about various behaviours of birds such as breeding and nest building can be obtained during observation, these can also be recorded in the notebook. You can obtain the information on how to take notes for difficult to identify species from www.kustr.org