its sheer difference from what you
are accustomed to seeing. And the
skills of quick observation and study
you put into the common birds (see
the first tip) will allow you to much
more quickly look and assess this
new species.
I’m sure some of you are saying,
“The hotline or online discussion
group is teeming with all sorts of
lifers for me within a couple hours’
drive. Why stay local when I can go
see all of this new stuff?”
ALVARO JARAMILLO
Good point, and going out and
mixing things up a bit with a rarity
chase can be fun and exciting. It
is a trade-off, however. If you are
trying to become more proficient
at bird identification, then spend-
ing more time close to home—and
less in the car!—and paying atten-
tion to the common birds is key. So
head out to a special place or chase
a special bird here and there, but
leave a majority of time for home
patch birding. As you meet and talk
to the birders who find many of the
oddball rarities, you will come to
learn that they spent a lot of time
looking at common birds early in
their birding days. You aren’t likely
to identify a vagrant ash-throated
flycatcher in the East if you have not
paid sufficient attention to the local
great crested flycatchers.
3. Prime yourself for the season.
Some things in the bird world
happen like clockwork. Where I
live in coastal California, birds start
to sing much more readily in late
January than they had earlier in the
winter; this happens every year with
little variation. By early May in the
East, you can be assured that some
warblers will be moving north. September and October are great times
