Choosing a Birdwatching Guide

Now that the spring migration is around the corner, it's time to start thinking about how to identify birds. I think the first thing to talk about is your field guide. We will work on bird identifications in the next few blogs.

Sheila Buff in "Complete Idiot's Guide to Birdwatching" has a section on field guides. I wish I had known some of the things I learned from her before I jumped into bird watching. I hope this helps you newbies and gives you old hands a new idea or so.

In the beginning

First a little history. While the idea of identifying plants and animals is older than the Bible, field guides for birders didn't exist until Roger Tory Peterson published A "Field Guide to the Birds: Eastern Land and Water Birds" in 1934.

Peterson's book only covered birds of the eastern portion of North America. He organized the book by bird families so it covered all the birds in a systematic, concise way with illustrations pointing out the most important identification clues. The book was small enough to carry into the field and cheap enough for anyone to buy.

There are now Eastern and Western editions of Peterson's book with the dividing point located east and west of the Rockies.

Another popular book is A Guide to Field Identification: Birds of North America by Chandler S. Robbins, Bertel Bruun and Herbert S. Zim. It is published by Golden Press and is often called the Golden Guide.

My favorite field guide is National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. It has the best drawings and descriptions and room for note taking. But, as Sheila points out, it is bigger than the others and doesn't fit into a pocket. It is also more expensive.

Guides with Photos

All the books I mentioned above have drawings of the birds. I also have "Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region" by Donald and Lillian Stokes. I got this book after getting their CDs of birdcalls. There are fewer birds in this book, the pictures are photos that usually give only one view, but the Stokes' deliver more "personal" information on the birds.

I also like "Smithsonian Handbooks Birds of Texas" by Fred J. Alsop III. While this book has only one bird per page and it's a photo of a bird at that, there is also a page worth of information including a shadow picture showing the size of the bird in relation to the book. Clever.

Digitally enhanced photographs, a smaller-sized field guide with about the same information as the much larger "National Geographic" is Kenn Kaufman's "A New Focus on the Field Birds of North America." Kaufman does have a slightly different way of organizing the birds into groups. This is a good, if also expensive book.

I recommend any of these books. It would be a good idea if you are at all serious about birding to take a look at these different books and see which one you think would be the biggest help to you. A good field guide is worth its weight in gold.

Photos or Drawings-You Decide

Sheila suggests going with the books containing drawings rather than photos. Within any bird species there will be variation in colors and markings. Paintings average out the differences and give a slightly idealized version. I do tend to use my National Geographic more for this reason. But I also use Alsop a lot, too.

Which do you prefer?

Bird Aviary Guide

Whether you enjoy watching birds in the park on a Sunday morning or you like to research them yourself in depth, a visit to a bird aviary should be number one on your list of priorities. Also known as "flight cages", these beautiful creations are typically structured like a green house and their main purpose is to provide a large living area for birds. You will find several different species of all shapes and colors, and are likely to run into a few that you have never even heard of. A visit here is similar to going to your local zoo, and can be a wonderful idea for a bonding experience or learning opportunity for you and your family.

If you have never been to a bird aviary, you should prepare yourself for an amazing, garden-like atmosphere as well as a moving experience walking amongst the birds. In these structures the birds fly freely so you must also prepare any small children you may bring as they may be frightened at first. You will be astonished by the variations of plants and flowers inside and I highly recommend bringing a camera to capture this truly remarkable experience. Before departing for your trip to a local bird playground you may want to go online or stop into your local library to find the nearest one in your area, get driving directions and check entry fees.

When packing for a fun family trip, or even a relaxing day alone in an aviary you should try to bring the essentials and limit unnecessary items. You are probably going to want to bring a video or regular camera in order to capture your adventure, so you can look back on it in the future and share it with friends and family. I also recommend bringing a few bottles of water and some snacks of your choice if you want to save money, rather then buying such items in a local gift shop or concession stand. Lastly, you may want to dress lightly because the aviary may be humid and a bit warm inside.

Many bird aviaries will have a specialist on site monthly, weekly or even daily so it is a good idea to plan ahead accordingly if you would like to make your experience more enjoyable. These bird lovers may assist you with any questions you may have and offer insightful and interesting facts on different bird species. You can find out what their appearance schedule is by simply calling the aviary or even checking online on their website.

A Guide to Clam Sizes

All About Clams

Clams are bivalve mollusks, meaning, they are a classification of sea creatures that have shells as their own means of body protection. Clams are usually used as food, as an addition to aquariums, and, way back in the past, as currency. Clams are even worshipped by some tribes in Peru in the past.

Clams, when bought commercially, typically has two classifications: the hard shelled clam and the soft shelled clam. The hard shelled clam are those commonly found in the saltier waters along tidal areas. Many of these can be found along the eastern coast lines of North America, and sometimes, these can even be found 60 feet below water level.

On the other hand, soft shelled clams are not as equipped as the hard shell cherrystone to endure high levels of salinity. Usually, they can be found in estuaries as well as in muddy tidal flats. Soft shelled clams are common in Canada as well as on the eastern coast of the United States, as well as in the Pacific Northwest. Even along the western coastlines of Britain, one will be able to see lots of soft shelled clams.

On Clam Sizes

When buying cherrystone, especially if they will be used for food, it is very important to be intimately familiar with clam sizes. That's because clams these days are largely categorized as per their sizes.

For instance, the hard shelled clams from the eastern coast, which are almost always called as per their size. There are four classifications of hard shelled as per their size. There are the cherry stones, the little necks, the chowder or quahog clams, and then, the button clams. The smallest among these types of clams is the button clam. The rule with hard shelled is that the smaller its size and the younger the clam, the tastier and the more tender its meat will be.

On the other hand, with soft shelled clams, there is commonly no classification at all. Basically the only time when soft shelled clams employ another name is when they are finally cooked by steaming, through which they will be now known as steamers. Aside from steaming soft shelled cherrystone, other wonderful ways of cooking them would be through frying or by using them as an ingredient in chowder dishes.

The Biggest Clam Ever

The biggest clam species is named as the giant clam, belonging to the species of the Tridacna gigas. These clams can reach to sizes of as much as four feet and they typically weigh up to 440 pounds.

But if we are going to ask just what is the size of the biggest clam ever caught in history, well, it is one that has a measurement of 53 inches and a weight of more than 500 pounds.