University students leaving their nest may soon find their way back into one.
Bird watching, or birding, has many devoted participants around Baton Rouge and the campus. Jane Patterson, president of the Baton Rouge Audubon Society, teaches a leisure class at the University about bird watching and said there are hundreds of birding enthusiasts around the state.
Civil engineering sophomore Fabiola Campoblanco took Patterson’s class this semester and fell in love with birding. Campoblanco said birding is a good way to relieve the stress of studying and spend time outdoors.
When Campoblanco enrolled in Patterson’s course, she was shocked to learn she was the youngest person in the leisure class and the only student. She said she’s surprised more young people don’t bird watch.               “It’s relaxing but challenging,” Campoblanco said.
She said the hobby is for anyone who likes the outdoors or who is curious and likes to pay attention to details.
But she says the activity can’t be pigeonholed into merely looking at birds.
“It’s not just you go outside and watch birds,” Campoblanco said. “You have to identify them and learn about them.”
Campoblanco said she has learned a lot in her few months spent birding, although some of it may seem like common knowledge.
“I didn’t know they could see color,” she said. “It’s so obvious once you think about it. The males are full of bright colors because they’re trying to attract a mate.”
Campoblanco went on several field trips as part of Patterson’s class, but she hasn’t been on a birding adventure of her own yet.
She said she plans to eventually attend one of the “bird walks” held at the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center on the first Saturday of every month.
Other places to go birding in Baton Rouge include the University Lakes, the Blackwater Conservation Area off of Hooper Road and the Highland Road Park Observatory.
Campoblanco said step one of bird watching is simple. Birders walk around observing an area and listening for the faintest chirp that would indicate a bird’s presence.
Once a noise is made or movement is seen, Campoblanco uses her binoculars to spot the bird. Most birders will then identify the bird using a field guide that illustrates the different species and types of birds.
Campoblanco purchased an iPhone app, iBird Explorer South, which allows her to quickly look up the bird according to its features.
But she isn’t finished once the birds are identified. Campoblanco said one of her favorite aspects is to watch the winged animals behave and observe their personalities.
One day while walking to class, she heard the chirping of a nearby bird. Although she confused the noises with those of other species at first, she then spotted the source of the noise and her own confusion.
“It was a Carolina wren, and it was singing into a tube,” Campoblanco said. “I guess trying to make its song louder. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Patterson said most bird watchers have a “spark bird,” the one that peaks a person’s interest and instigates the birding obsession. For Patterson, it was the White Ibis, which she said looked like it belonged in a zoo.
“If I’m seeing this, what else am I missing?” Patterson asked herself. “Then you start noticing there’s birds everywhere that are different sizes and different colors.”
Campoblanco shared the same sentiment, noting that she used to just ignore birds, observing them only in the background, if at all. Now, she can spit out the names of multiple species of birds she’s seen, including Great Blue Herons, Starlings and House Sparrows.
On her first trip with Patterson’s class to the Capitol Lakes, Campoblanco said she spotted 39 different species of birds.
Because of Louisiana’s tepid winter, birding is a year-round activity, Patterson said. The number of birds peaks in April because different species that are foreign to the state can be seen as they migrate north again.
Ryan Terrill, biological sciences graduate student, said he has bird watched with his parents and friends since he was young.
“You often have to go to remote areas, explore remote areas,” Terrill said.
He said it’s also nice to learn new things about birds and the natural world.
“Louisiana is a great place for birding,” Terrill said. “It’s got an incredible number of birds.”
 
 
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Contact Kevin Thibodeaux at [email protected]