How to Bird
Below are links to information and birding tools that will get you started and build your birding skills. One of the best ways to learn about birding, however, is to get out in field with experienced birders! YVAS field trips are an excellent way to meet birders, find the local “hotspots,” get gear recommendations, and practice both your visual and listening birding skills.
Gear for Birding
Guide to Bird Watching from your Window – info on binoculars
Finding Birds – see Where to Bird here.
Books
Birds of Yakima County Washington, Andy Stepniewski Inklings Bookstore Yakima Area Arboretum
The Sibley Guide to Birds, David Allen Sibley
Sibley’s Birding Basics, David Allen Sibley
National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America
Photographing Birds
10 Tips for Photographing Birds
Bird Photography Tips and How Tos
Bird Photography: 17 Expert Tips for Breathtaking Images
How Three Bird Photography Experts Taught Me to Photograph Birds
Accessible Birding
How to Make Enjoying Birds More Accessible
A Movement to Make Birding More Inclusive and Accessible
Birding with Kids
How to Start Birding with your Kids
Birding Etiquette
American Birding Association Code of Ethics
Bird Chat Groups and Social Media Groups
Tweeters rare bird alerts cover the entire state of Washington. (Sign in is required to post.)
Inland Northwest Birders is a Facebook discussion forum that covers eastern Washington and parts of Idaho.
LCBirds 2 covers the Lower Columbia Basin in Washington and Oregon. (Yahoo sign in is required.)
BirdYak is specific to Yakima County. (Sign in is required to post.)
Washington Birding is a Facebook discussion forum.
Western Washington Birders is a Facebook discussion forum.
Birding on the Tieton River Trail, photo: Sarah Shippen
Spotted Towhee, photo: Vernon Johnson
House Finch, photo: Jeanette Tasey
Killdeer, photo: Lewis Scharpf
Swainson’s Hawk, photo: Roxanne Stone
“You can rush to consult your Nature guide
And inspect the gallery inside,
But a bird in the open never looks
Like its picture in the birdie books-
Or if it once did, it has changed its plumage,
And plunges you back into ignorant gloomage.”
~ Ogden Nash
Ruddy Duck, photo: Mick Thompson