Ken Kaufman's top birding experiences

Expert birder and bird book writer, Ken Kaufman, when asked listed his top ten location experiences that American birdwatchers might want to add to their life list. Following are the ones in the US.

1. The Platte River in Nebraska where the Sandhill Cranes stop in their northern migration. You may see half a million of the loud croaking and very large birds. Only problem it happens in March and it’s c-o-l-d.

2. Take an owl prowl in the dark calling owls out or playing a recording of their calls. You won’t see much, but is a great experience.

3. Take a boat trip offshore to see pelagic birds that seldom come near land. Monterey Bay in CA is a good place for such a trip, you may see a Black-footed Albatross.

4. For great hawk watching, and a test of your species identification, visit one of the raptor migration spots, like Cape May, NJ: Hawk Mountain, PA; and Duluth, MN.

5. Check for rare bird alerts on various bird web sites, and jump in your toad and go see it. It has been described as a road rally as birders come from all over to mingle and talk birds.

6. Big Day birding is seeing how many species you can identify in one day. As Ken says, it has no redeeming value but is lots of fun if you do it with a group of your same skill level.

7. Take part in a Breeding Bird Atlas project in an area like a county or a state that's been divided up into blocks for surveying. The idea is to look at a little plot carefully and ask: how can we prove whether Red-winged Blackbirds or meadowlarks are breeding here? It puts you in a position to look at the birds in a completely different way. You might ignore Common Grackles unless you're trying to prove if they're nesting. You look to see: are they carrying nesting materials? It's the opposite of a Big Day. It's such a fascinating kind of birdwatching, an excuse to go out and be self-indulgent and spend a lot of time watching these birds and contributing to scientific knowledge.

Read more about Ken Kaufman on his nature Web site.