Birding 101
Identifying birds can be hard, but it can be a fun challenge if you’re up for it!
There have been 293 bird species seen in Kent County. From the smallest hummingbird to the largest eagle, each species has a role to play in our local ecosystems. Knowing how to differentiate all of these species takes time and practice, but it’s through practice and visiting these birds in their natural habitats where things begin to get easier!
West Michigan is blessed with a lot of public parks available to explore, but since birds fly, you don’t even have to leave your own backyard to see some amazing species!
Equipment
Birding is one of the most accessible hobbies out there - all you need are your eyes or ears and to take time to pay attention to the world around you. But there’s some equipment available that may make it a little bit easier to understand what species are around you.
Binoculars
These can be as cheap or expensive as you like. Buying binoculars can be a bit confusing. They are usually listed as two sets of numbers separated by an X. The first number is the power of magnification they provide, and the second is the diameter of the lenses to look through. The higher the magnification number, the closer objects will appear when you look through them. With the lens diameter, the wider the lens, the more light is let into the binoculars for you to see things in bright, beautiful color.
We usually recommend 7-10 magnification and 30-45mm lens size. If you’re still not sure, other birders will gladly give you recommendations if you ask. We also usually have a few extra pairs available at our field trips if you’d like to borrow them. There’s also an article from The Audubon Society that reviews a couple of different pairs that you may find helpful.
Field Guides
There’s plenty of guides that have been produced over the years and each person has their own preferences to help them figure out what they’re looking at. Some of these have illustrations, and others have photos of each species. People tend to find the illustrated guides more useful as they highlight the distinguishable features of each species to help you see these field markings while trying to separate between two species. Birds are a lot like people, no two are exactly the same - so illustrated guides are the most recommended for beginner birders. It also doesn’t matter if you get a brand new guide from a bookstore, or an old copy from a garage sale - these guides haven’t changed enough in the past 50 years to be rendered useless.
Apps
One of the best things to help you out, no matter where you are, is a good ID app. We usually always recommend Merlin from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This app has many different photos of each species that is common in our area, along with a map of the typical range of where these birds spend their time. One of the best features of Merlin is the sound ID feature that helps you identify bird songs. Bird songs and calls are hard to separate, so having an app available to help you out is an indisputable resource right in your pocket.
eBird
Most birders record their findings by submitting them to eBird. These reports get added into eBird and submitted to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to help track bird species and prioritize the conservation of areas where the largest amount of birds and variety of species are found. You can also use eBird to find specific species that you have been wanting to find, confirm the species you think is in front of you has recently been seen in the area, or even a new favorite park that’s just waiting to be explored.
Finding the Right Place to Bird
Sometimes knowing where to go birding is the hardest part of getting out there and finding new species. By looking for places to visit on eBird, you have a great resource right at your fingertips. You’ll be able to find the species that have been seen at each specific ‘hotspot’ to help narrow down the species you’re looking for. To help get you started, we went and put together a map of the Top 6 Parks for Beginner Birders in Kent County. These parks are accessible, have great observation opportunities and have some of the most diversity of species that have been seen at them.
1 | Reeds Lake - Waterfront Park
230 total species seen
The shrub-lined boardwalks and trails of Reeds Lake provide some of the best up-close viewing of a wide variety of species in the Grand Rapids area. As the largest lake for several miles, this park is a great spot to view migrating waterfowl and other wetland birds.
2 | Millennium Park
222 total species seen
Over 1,400 acres of ecosystems are available to explore within Millennium Park. This Kent County Park has a little bit of every ecosystem available for birding, with paved trails offering accessible opportunities to find lots of new species.
3 | Roselle Park
206 total species seen
Running along the Grand River in Ada is a gem of a park that offers some of the best birding in the area. The large wetland is lined by tall trees and shrubs that border the river. Each ecosystem offers some great opportunities to see some great birds.
4 | Huff Park
188 total species seen
This mixed wetland offers a wide variety of opportunities to see the variety of species that are drawn to it. The boardwalks that extend out into the marsh offer a unique opportunity to see these more secretive marsh birds up close.
5 | Blandford Nature Center & The Highlands
167 total species seen
These two birding hotspots are connected by trail and offer great birding opportunities on the westside. Blandford has some excellent deciduous forest and swampy habitat, while the Highlands offers opportunities for many different grassland species.
6 | Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve
160 total species seen
This preserve owned by the Land Conservancy of West Michigan offers one of the most unique birding experiences in Kent County. The native prairie attracts many different grassland birds, while the birds utilizing the bog are observable from two platforms that extend into the bog.