Mimics

     Have you ever had trouble distinguishing a Mockingbird's imitation of a bird with the real one? Here are a few tips to help you sift out the confusion. Mimics can include anything from Jays to Thrashers but the most notorious one is most likely the Northern Mockingbird. The name fits very well. They can usually imitate a good 50% of the bird sounds in your yard. While they cannot imitate Warblers, mimics such as the Mockingbird can cause some confusing situations. The first and most simple tip is this. When you hear the bird sound that you are uncertain of, keep listening, until the song keeps going or it changes to a different song. If it changes to a different song within a few seconds, it is most likely a Mimic. A second tip is, when a Mimic imitates something, it is either louder or softer than the real thing. They are usually not perfectly in tune with the original sound. Although they are very skilled in imitating other sounds, this flaw is one that is easy to recognize sometimes.

Brown Thrasher (Mimics very often)

     Probably the most confusing imitation is that of the Blue Jay which takes on the sound of a Red Shouldered Hawk very often. If Blue Jays are not around where you bird, well, they aren't a problem. But for those who do have them and hear this often, here is some info about that. When the real Red Shouldered Hawk calls, it is very energetic and is constantly calling. Also, usually, when these Hawks are calling, they are flying. This makes it easier to see them. When a Blue Jay imitates it, they are softer, more hoarse, much less powerful, and they only call for a short amount of time. But the real Hawk can calls continuously for a long time.  One you begin to distinguish them on a regular basis, you will get the hang of it soon. Hope this helped with all those confusing imitations! Thanks for reading and happy birding.

Banding Codes

     While birding in the field, banding codes can be a tremendous time saver. If you are trying to write down bird species but need to get it done really fast so you wont miss birds, use banding codes. Here are some examples. The banding code for " Carolina Chickadee" would be "CACH." Why? Codes are rather simple once the basics are established. You take the first two letters of the first word, and the first two letters of the second word to make "CACH." However, that bird has a two word name. Other birds have three or even four word names. If the bird has a three word name like " Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker" the banding code would be "YBSA." Because for three word names, you take the first letter of the first word, the first letter of the second word, and the first two letters from the third word. This makes "YBSA." For a four word name, you simply take one letter from the beginning of each word. "Black and White Warbler" would simply be "BAWW." Thats it! A simple way to speed up your writing while in the field. One last example is this Yellow-Throated Warbler on the left. Its banding code would be "YTWA." We hope this helps you to be more efficient and to get more birds while in the field. Happy birding!

Posted by John Mark Simmons for TB

Eagle Optics Binocular Harness Straps

     Everyone needs some of the stress of their neck for awhile. But if you want to keep birding and your neck hurts cause of that itchy and irritating neck strap, how can you? These Eagle Optics harness straps can help to fix that. These straps put the weight of the binoculars on your back. They have two hooks that are easily attachable to your binocular's rings. As you can see in the photo, the design is specifically made to keep the stress off of your neck. After years of birding with a regular neck strap, the stress can really start to become apparent. Also, these straps are extremely comfortable and much less irritating than a neck strap. The weight is spread around as the the flexible straps mold to your body somewhat for a more custom fit.
     When wearing these straps, it is easy to put a DSLR camera strap over it. This does not impede the harness's flexibility and it allows you to easily access your camera for a quick bird photo without getting tangled up in a regular neck strap. While some companies have come out with neck straps that have a soft cushion integrated in them, these harness straps offer much more freedom of movement, comfort, and flexibility.

Be sure and comment below on what you think about the harness straps. As always, Happy Birding! -TB

Bird Songs and Calls

     Some birds make a variety of different sounds. For example, the Carolina Wren makes at least five main songs, plus, all the little chirps that it makes. It may take a while to memorize every combination of sounds that a bird has. In fact, it takes many years to memorize all the different sounds. Then after that, when you venture to foreign areas of the country or to other countries entirely, its like starting over. Don't be discouraged over this. Everyone has their area of expertise when it comes to bird sounds.
     Once you memorize a bird's song, you have to work on its call next. This is best accomplished by not just listening to a recording but going out and spending time watching the bird your trying to learn about. The more time you spend with the bird, the more familiar you will become with its sounds. A bird's call is usually made after it sings its song several times from its prominent perch, and is then moving to a more covered area. Once it is in a well covered area it then begins to call. Some birds have more than one call also. Calls are usually a small "chip note", which, to beginners, can get very confusing because so many birds make chip calls. Just spend more time working with the birds you want to learn.  Learn it yourself.  Listen for something, if you don't know what it is, then go find it!  It is extremely different from having someone else teach you. If you figure out the bird by yourself, you will then easily recognize it once you hear it. Hope this helps those who are struggling somewhat with bird sounds.

Thanks for reading everybody, and be sure to leave a comment!

Posted by John Mark Simmons

Canyon Towhee by John Mark Simmons

Active Birding

To find more birds you need to do more than sit around and hope for a good report of birds in your area. Get out and find the birds yourself. Active birding will increase your chances of getting more birds and you can have lots of fun in the process. After all one of the most fun things in birding is getting to go to cool places to find them. If you use more active birding tactics you can get more birds and see more cool places. You can car pool with birding friends to help with transportation! It is a great way to save on gas. I guarantee that if you do this rather than sitting at the computer hoping for a report, go and make the report yourself. Someone has to make the reports, and it might as well be you. Thanks for reading our blog!
Posted by John Mark Simmons

Eastern Wood Pewee

Photo Tip: White Balance

Here is another tip using our cooperative Red Shouldered Hawks again. This time hunting in my garden. It was a very cloudy and rainy day so the lighting wasn't that good. I first took a few photos with my white balance on AUTO. Then I took the rest of the pictures with my white balance on CLOUDY. I want to know your opinion on this. Does it look better with or without the white balance on cloudy. If you set your white balance correctly it usually makes the lighting look nomal. But sometimes it doesn't and ends up making it worse. My shutter speed was low and I didn't want to raise my ISO to much to fix it or else it might be too noisy. So I shot with ISO 400. There might be some barely noticeable blur and that is because of the shutter speed. But my main point is about the white balance. So leave a comment down below and say what you think looks better. Thanks for reading everybody! Please help spread the word about Two Birders and Binoculars.
John Mark Simmons for TB

With white balance on CLOUDY

 With white balance on AUTO.

Depth of Field (DOF)

Here is a quick tip about depth of field. This photo that I took in Colorado was at the F stop 5.6 Most people just say F5.6. You will probably notice how blurred everything else is except the head. This is because of the depth of field F5.6 creates. Especially at 300mm. The LOWER the f stop number is, the higher your shutter speed is and the shallower your depth of field is. The HIGHER your F stop number the lower your shutter speed is and more things will be in focus. When it is a higher number like F8 the depth of field will not be so shallow. More things will be in focus. Many landscape photographers use high F stops like F22 or higher because it gets the whole landscape in focus. But for wildlife photography, it is usually best to shoot with as low of an f stop as possible. Because it increases the quality of the photo and makes the subject stand out more. If this lizard photo had been taken at F 8 or higher, I probably wouldn't like it so much. Because usually when more is in focus, the more boring the photo is. This is a principle of bird photography, I  do not speak for other forms of photography. Although this a is a pretty general rule.
Posted by John Mark Simmons