Inside/In: How To Be A Backyard Birber

With so many of our favorite outdoor activities currently off-limits, we’re look for accessible ways to explore the magic of the nature from the safety of our homes our neighborhoods. This is the first in a series of short episodes for families and individuals who want to discover how, even when we’re stuck inside, the natural world ties us together.

Prefer to color birds? Download and print our bird templates!

Prefer to color birds? Download and print our bird templates!
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There is a kind of bird watching, or birding, where people travel all of the world to see as many types of birds as possible. It’s basically a sport, and it takes money, and time-off, and a lot of bird know-how to do. 

[Note: If you’d like to learn more about the sportier side of bird-watching, check out our episode The Early Birder Gets The Worm.]

But there’s another type of bird-watching that anybody can do, from the comfort of a backyard, or even a kitchen window, without any special tools or bird expertise at all. All you need is your ears and/or eyeballs, a notebook, and maybe a couple of cardboard toilet paper tubes.

If you listen to this story, and decide you’d like to try a little backyard bird watching, here’s a look at the free app that Bird Diva Bridget Butler suggested you use to try and identify the birds you see. And to learn more about the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s citizen science programs, click here.

You might also like With schools closed, teachers and students look to the outdoors.

Credits

Outside/In was produced this week by Taylor Quimby and Sam Evans-Brown, with Justine Paradis.

Erika Janik is our executive producer.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, and Taylor Quimby

Special thanks to Phineas Quimby.

If you’ve got a question for our Ask Sam hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.