this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2025
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birding
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Welcome to /c/birding, a community for people who like birds, birdwatching and birding in general! Feel free to post your birding photos or just photos of birds you found in general, but please follow the rules as outlined below.
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This should go without saying, but please be nice to one another. No petty insults, no bigotry, no harassment, hate speech,nothing of that sort! Depending on the severity, you'll either only get your comment removed and a warning or your comment will be removed and you will be banned from /c/birding.
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This is a community for posting content of birds, nothing else. Please keep the posts related to birding or birds in general.
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When posting photos or videos that you did not take, please always credit the original photographer! Link to the original post on social media as well, if there is one.
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Absolutely no AI-generated content is allowed! I know it has become quite difficult to tell whether or not something is AI-generated or not, but please make sure that whatever you post is not AI-generated. If it is, your post will be removed. If you continously post AI-generated content, you'll be banned from /c/birding (but it's obviously okay if you post AI-generated stuff once or twice without knowing you did so).
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Please provide rough information location, if possible. This is a more loosely-enforced rule, especially because it is sometimes not possible to provide a location. But if you post a photo you took yourself, please provide a rough location and date of the sighting.
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With eBird this is easier than ever. One centralized and publicly available database of bird sightings means you can find out exactly where and when a species was last spotted.
Thanks to the ebird map I was able to pinpoint the exact spot I needed and saw a whole family of bearded reedlings last week! It's truly amazing. A few other things I recommend:
Merlin app (free) - Shazam for birdsong. Also has helpful photos for ID, and can narrow down birds to the ones most likely to be in your area
Sibley birds app (paid) - digitalised bird ID book for birds in the Americas. Saves you from having to lug a heavy book around
Collins bird guide app (paid) - similar to the above but Europe focused
Birdingplaces website (free) - helpful if you're looking for recommended spots to find birds. Each entry usually indicates recommended routes.
Bird journal mobile/desktop app (free) - you have to sideload this one on mobile, and it hasn't been updated in years. However, I find it's the easiest to use if you want to make a record of the species you've seen.
Edit: I would be remiss if I didn't also share guidelines for ethical birding:
https://birdlife.org.au/how-to/ethical-birdwatching-guidelines/
Tl/dr: Don't get too close (especially around nests), don't make too much noise, don't mess with their habitat, don't feed wild birds or use playback to attract them.