Birding Safety Tips

While strolling through the park one day, I came across a troubling sight: five teenagers had been locked on an eco-trail! My fellow birders, I’m sure, are familiar with this type of path: a boardwalk that goes through a wet area (in this case, a salt marsh) and has various signs describing the plants and animals you might see. I have birded on this path, many, many times, and I have also been thrown off this trail many times at closing time. Usually, a county employee comes by with a truck and warns all the stragglers to exit the property before locking the gate. Apparently, that didn’t happen this time. According to one of the teens, some adults walking dogs were also imprisoned on the nature trail. One of the teens called the police, but they were in no hurry to respond. I suppose being locked on a nature trail on a warm night didn’t seem like much of an emergency.

Fortunately, the kids escaped by climbing over or under the fence (showing, if nothing else, how good this fence is), and nobody was hurt. But the incident scared me.

We don’t like to dwell on it, but birding is a hobby with some danger. No, it’s not like, say, sky diving or mountain climbing where you’re more or less risking your life. But it’s not like playing bridge or chess, either. You can get injured. You do two things that are a little risky when you bird: you go to uninhabitated areas and you walk on uneven terrain. Both can lead to problems. I was injured once birding. I slipped on an algae-covered rock on an abandoned beach, as I was trying to get a better look at a duck in the bay. Fortunately, my rather large breasts blocked my fall (had I been a man, I’d probably have been hospitalized. Sometimes, it’s better to be a woman!) For a couple of weeks, I had the indignity of having blue mammary glands. That’s how bad the bruise was.

So, how can you minimize birding-related injuries? Here are some suggestions.

1. Never go birding alone. If you have no friends who share this hobby you can either take a guided bird walk (offered at many nature centers), limit your birding to popular areas when there will be other people around, or bring a dog. Don’t allow the dog off the leash in sensitive nesting areas, though. You want the dog to scare off the wild animals and criminals, not the birds.

2. Bring a cell phone.

3. Wear sturdy shoes, preferably with non-slip soles. Stay on all marked trails. Don’t trespass on private property.

4. Don’t forget your bug spray and sunscreen. Also, if you’re going to be walking a while, bring a flask of water.
If you see any shiny plants with three leaves, do not touch them.

5. Don’t look directly at the sun with binoculars. Especially not if there is an eclipse!

6. Bring ID and your health insurance card, in case you fall and have to get rushed to the emergency room. Carry some cash, but not too much.


7. Make sure your keys are in a safe place--preferably on a lanyard. Don’t let them fall out of your pocket or purse. Twice my mother lost her car keys while birding. Once we were three blocks from our house and the walk home was simple. Once we were at a creepy, graffiti-filled industrial site, over a mile from civilization. (There was a tern colony there, believe it or not.) That was scary!

8. If you see signs of large predators or criminal activity, think twice if this is a place you really want to be. Examples of this would be tracks and scat of bears, wolves or wildcats, drug paraphernalia (crack vials or needles, for example), or any kind of threatening graffiti. Some of the less-frequented areas that attract birds also attract some unusual people, who may or may not be completely harmless.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something. Let me know if you can think of any other birding safety tips.

Happy and Safe Birding.