A Fledgling Birder

I'm not a birder. Let's just get that out of the way right up front. I'm just a guy who likes birds.

That said, I hope to become a birder, and I hope to document that process here.

Here's what I'm starting with. I live in Long Beach California by El Dorado Regional Park. I have a small yard with a bird feeder, and sometimes I hang suet cakes. I've got a couple of bird field guides - gifts from friends and family - and the iBird app on my iPhone. My camera is my iPhone.

So my plan is to start photographing and identifying the birds in my immediate enviornment. From the finches and sparrows that eat my seed, to the Coopers Hawks that eat the sparrows and finches, to the waterfowl in the park.

This first picture is a Snowy Egret and a Canada Goose on the duck pond in El Dorado park, taken on March 7, 2010 at about 4 p.m. on my iPhone. These, I knew what they were - but I verified on iBird.