Possible resources to identify birds while outdoors (preferably in the Indian subcontinent)?
I get to travel a lot in the richly biodiverse western ghats of India. While hiking, one of the most difficult tasks I face is to identify birds that I come across. I'm not a professional or even amateur bird watcher. However, my curiosity to know more about the birds that I come across makes me wonder if there is a handy resource which allows for identifying birds on the go. I own the "Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" field guide. This however is a super heavy book which is impractical to carry on a hike.
The alternative would be to click a pic and come back and research on the same. I would like to know what the members here do when it comes to identification of birds.
PS: I'm not looking for google as a possible solution. I want to know if there are field guides which are handy to carry. Or is it all based on click-come-back-and-identify?
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There several apps for phones that would help a person,
eBird by Cornell Lab (This one is supposed to be worldwide)
Birds of India Specifically for birds in India
The Audubon Bird Guide App (Limited to North America)
Merlin Bird ID App (North America and Europe, will also help identify the bird from a picture)
Websites,
Beyond that you could look for small easy to carry books for the region you are going to.
Finally, the members on this site are really good at tracking down what species an animal is or what type of object something is, so if you take a picture and write a question here, I bet we could figure it out after the fact.
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I highly recommend the Pocket Naturalist Guides from Waterford Press. I have no affiliation with the company, and I don't purchase directly from their website. I'm recommending them because we use them for birding and learning about nature both in the backyard, and in our travels.
I think they easily meet your criteria. They're folded to give you a good amount of information in a small space. They're only approximately 3 in x 8 in, and open to about 22 in. They're extremely lightweight, not more than a few ounces. They're laminated, so they're durable, and water-resistant.
They have pictures of the birds, with names and short descriptions. These aren't in-depth like your larger field guide, but can definitely assist you with identification, and give you something to research more when you get home.
The guides cover areas all over the world. This one includes 140 birds in India. On the back it has a map and some pointers as to where to find some excellent birding areas. Here are some pictures of it from that source page. Click on them for a larger view.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/18897. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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