Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!mizar.usc.edu!burhans
From: burhans@mizar.usc.edu (Mustang Sally)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Car Birding
Message-ID: <31546@usc>
Date: 2 Apr 91 19:34:55 GMT
Sender: news@usc
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
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Nntp-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu
Originator: burhans@mizar.usc.edu

Just got back from a trip to Bakersfield. On the two hour drive up I
tried "car birding" for the first time. Am looking for tips on how to
do this. For me it went like this: Oh, look! a Raven.  Oh look, a
bunch of Brewer's blackbirds...and OH! a flock of something.
Hey..there goes some kind of hawk and a whole bunch of somethings. Oh,
hey! a big bird with black on the back and a white underbelly! From my
husband, helpfully, "A penguin?" Ooh, ooh, an egret like we see in the
L.A. River, kinda! From my husband, more helpfully, "look up any
egrets associated with farms"

It was fun and frustrating both as you whiz past a bunch of birds and
they whiz past you. The egret was a cattle egret doing just what the
Peterson's field guide said it would...hanging out by the highway and,
although quite common, still a lifer for me. I actually saw a Raven
come in for a landing on the side of I5 at eye level and gained an
appreciation of how big they really are. I still am bad at guaging
size (my friend keeps saying its easy...Ravens are a LOT bigger than
crows...but unless they are standing next to one another I can't
tell). I also saw a bird perched on a highway sign; the bird was
brown, stripey, and had a long tail...female ring-necked pheasant?

But anyway who can give me tips on car birding. Should you avoid it if
you are the driver? Should you use binocs? Should you point them
forward or out the side window? Should you avoid yelling Look! Look!
to the person trying to drive and avoid the other crazed maniacs on
the road or what?

Thanks! 

Bonus question for movie birders: What kind of analysis has been done
regarding the birds in the movie The Birds.
-- 
Jackie Burhans (burhans@usc.edu)          
Data Stylist, USC Student Affairs