Whether you are traveling or staying home in your neighborhood you can find excellent bird watching spots.  All you need to remember are a few general guidelines.  Like humans, birds are creatures of habit.  In other words, you can count on certain birds to always show up in certain places.  Knowing this will help you locate and view birds. This is great information for bird watching for beginners.

As urban sprawl eats up wooded areas it is often difficult to find a place to bird watch, especially in the city.  You may, however, find that there are city and neighborhood parks with enough woods to attract birds.  These could be good spotting sites, as could the fringes of any wooded areas that still remain near your home.

Those who live along the coast are blessed with sightings of seabirds, ocean, and swamp birds.  Early in the morning you can find the best spots to park and hike for bird watching all day.  Depending on the particular habitats along your coastline you may be able to spot sandpipers, plovers and a variety of other shorebirds.  Herons and egrets generally live near coastlines as well, although you may find them in bogs or lagoons.

People who live near marshes, bogs, or flooded areas get tired of mosquitoes and bugs.  The good news is that where there are bugs there will be birds.  Mosquitoes and other insects make great food for birds.  In these areas look for birds like bitterns, blackbirds, wrens, sparrows, flycatchers, and warblers.

There are also some man-made areas that are excellent for bird watching.  If there is a dam near your home, scout it out during the winter for non-migratory birds.  The flowing water around dams is alluring to birds.  When all else fails and you still haven’t found the birds you are looking for, get outside and look some more.  Often, you may spot a prize bird in the least expected location.