Is there any hope of meeting younger people who enjoy birding?

lol.
yup
birding is for old ppl.
I mean, I enjoy it but it's not my favorite.
I prefer Entomology and Mycology

>>848208
I can ID decent amount of butterflies and am working on damsel/dragonflies but that's about it as far as the bugs go.

As far as fungi, that's a whole nother level and I have no idea.

Doubt it unless you can somehow convince them they're pokemons.

40 isn't old, it's barely middle aged.

>>848204
Look at the bird/nature photography community, more young people there. Some of them will have a big knowledge and don't mind leaving the camera behind and just going for a walk with binoculars

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>>848210
Fuck off oldfag
>>848209
My natural history/ applied biology/ ecology electives were crawling with kids, mostly girls, who loved that kind of thing. Mushroom hunting is less popular among youth but it's a very legitimate and respected pastime.
>>848208
Wouldn't count on entomology as a pastime but you never know.

>>848210
at 40 you should already have a spot reserved at a graveyard, gramps.

>>848236
mushroom hunting is pretty common where I am, but I go to a very liberal college in the middle of the woods.

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>>848204
my friend and i are 34 yr old and we like birding.
we do it while smoking the weeds
>pic related

>>848204
am 22, probably the youngest in my local group by at least thirty years if not more. still fun though, you'll have more luck bringing your friends than waiting for young people to magically show up

>>848279
>bringing your friends
implying......

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>>848289
?
Implying that you have friends. You DO have friends don't you anon? Because only a complete and total hapless faggot doesn't have friends.

>>848204

. "You don't pick up chicks birdwatching." old Injun saying.

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>>848296
>friends
I only have girlfriends

>>848204
youd have better luck in photography groups on meetup or something
Keep in mind tho that birding was popular in the film days of photography, and the trend didnt really continue into the information age
I dont bird, i collect kodachrome slides from people who were birders tho

>>848204
Last years i did a master degree in environmental science. Of the group of about 30 people 2 or three where mildly interested in bird watching and would have definitely joined if someone would've setup an excursion, probably 3-8 of the 30 would have joined because of curiosity. I think you need to find a group of young people who share a common love for nature in general. Like a nature oriented college class, the young branch of a nature oriented political party, one of the environmental institutions that work a lot with young volunteers, a nature photography group, young hippie subculture... That kind of stuff, and join chosen group, do some activities, get to know the people, and suggest a birding excursion...

>>848511
sorry for the typo's i'm getting drunk. The advantage you have when searching people with a niche hobby is that they are pretty open and accepting to other people, cause they have the same problem. Another advantage is the correlation i've witnessed between people interested in nature and people not giving a fuck about other people's looks, social skills or overall coolness.

I'm pretty cool though

>>848513
AND I CERTAINLY DONT GIVE A FUCK

I really love birds. How do I get into birding? I live in NH if that makes a difference for guide books and whatnot. I want to know this cute little fucks by sight and sound.

>>848766
All you have to do is buy a field guide and some binoculars. For field guide I recommend Sibley's Eastern US since you're in NH. For good budget binoculars I recommend Celestron Nature DX series.

You can check your county on ebird to see recent observations - this will give some clue of good parks and places to go close by. It's also a nice place to log observations yourself if you're into that. Local Audubon also usually have bird lists for certain spots.

As far as IDing by sound, that takes a little longer but you can use the Merlin bird app for help.

It is best to go early in the morning or evening. Walk slow, take stops to scan tree tops and trail-side shrubs, and be patient.

>>848204
Younger birders are few and far between. I grew up in a huge-ass city and in a 10 year period there were only 4 of us under the age of 30 that found one another. Even then there was a big spread in ages.

The other issue with young birders is that most ones who start really young are super-ultra-experts by the time they hit college age, and they want nothing to do with the ones who are just starting out. I got lucky because one of the good ones didn't have a car and I did, so if he wanted to go anywhere beyond walking distance from campus he had to give me a call.

>>848766
1. Get a good guidebook (Sibley or Nat Geo or Kaufman or the like)
2. Study the book to see what's in your area at what time of year it is
3. Go out and look at birds
4. Maybe listen to recordings online to learn songs
5. Maybe meet other birders to learn things from them

Also, thanks for the responses guys. I'm almost through with college, but might look into an ecology course next semester.

>>848778
Yeah I live in a little mountain town, so even the groups I'm in aren't very big. It's actually a great place for birding locally since there are varying environments, but still never met anyone close to my age (25). I only got into it like four or five years ago though.

>>848778
>tfw have autographed copy of Kaufman field guide

>>848204
in heaven you will :)

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sonoma county regional parks offers bird walks one a month during summer
http://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/

If anyone lives on east coast the egrets, herons, and ibis were fucking awesome last weekend.