ROGERS — A hawk caught Scott Branyan’s eye as it flew through the forest Saturday morning.
Branyan, a fly-fishing guide who lives in Rogers, ventured out into woods glazed with snow with a handful of people attending a beginning bird-watching class at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area, located 10 miles east of Rogers on Arkansas 12.
Branyan has feeders at his home that attract cardinals and house finches. He took up bird-watching as a hobby during unsuccessful deerhunts, he said.
“I like taking pictures of cardinals in the snow,” said Branyan, who had snapped photographs of male and female cardinals in the snow on his smart phone. About 400 native and migratory species of birds can be spotted at Hobbs State Park, Assistant Superintendent Jay Scheider said. Migratory birds found at the park in the winter include eagles and the red-breasted nuthatch.
Bird-watching is a fairly easy, inexpensive hobby to start, said Rachel Diersen, a park interpreter who led the class. Bird-watchers,also called birders, need binoculars and a field guide, she said.
“You can do it anywhere, even from a parking lot,” Diersen said.
Bird feeders offer an easy starting point for beginning bird-watchers, Diersen said. Though some will come and go, such as skittish chickadees and the tufted titmouse, birds will generally stay around a feeder long enough for beginners to catch a glimpse of their feathers and beaks, she said.
A dark-eyed junco pecked at bird seed around the base of a bird feeder Saturday morning behind the park’s Visitor Center while class members watched with binoculars from inside. Juncos are a sign of winter because they migrate to Arkansas during the colder months of the year, Diersen explained.
A common strategy for identifying birds is by the color of their feathers, Diersen said. Birds also can be identified by their beaks, behavior and calls.
Eagles and other raptors,such as hawks, have hookshaped beaks, Diersen said. Cardinals’ beaks are made to crush seeds, while blue jays and robins have pointed beaks.
Knowing the behavior patterns of birds is helpful, Diersen said. Around a bird feeder, cardinals, mourning doves and juncos tend to pick up seed on the ground. Finches, chickadees and the tufted titmouse stay up high.
Diersen took an interest in birds while in high school in Virginia, she said. Her biology teacher required her to learn 50 bird calls. She said she compares bird calls to English phrases to help her remember the differences.
A Birdsong Identiflyer can help in learning various bird calls, Diersen said. The portable, battery-operated device plays calls through a small speaker.
The call of a barred owl sounds like someone saying, “Who cooks for you?” she said. Woodpeckers differ by the speed of their calls, with the red-headed woodpeckerhaving a high-pitched, rapid call, and a pileated woodpecker having a loud call that sounds like laughter. Prairie falcons have high-pitched, rapid calls.
Denis Dean, a Rogers resident and frequent Hobbs Park volunteer, took a tip from Diersen on Saturday that could help make identifying birds a little easier: learning five bird calls at a time.
“Birding is something I’ve tried to expand my knowledge of,” he said. “To me, it’s very difficult.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 12/30/2012