I've read about this in the past... basically... to be a good birder, one must be able to hear and indentify bird calls. I've found a great site to help practice bird calls :
http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/biology/dmennill/360/360List.html
One call I've recently heard at PPNP is a group of 10+ Great Crested Flycatchers! They passed over me at the "octagon" of the Delaurier Trail at PPNP. I just could not seem to get a decent photo of them, they were so up high, and I would only see them as they moved away from me, not when they were perched ...
I'm pretty familiar with most of the birds in the link above, but I'm still clueless and at the beginning stages of this interesting skill. In particular, it seems like getting to know the calls of the vast number of warblers would be difficult! It's hard to get that field experience when they are so transitory and fleeting.
Possibly one day, when the price of cell phone ownership goes down, I will get the IBird app... until then, I'm going to be referring to the Cornell Birding Website or the Whatbird site.
Good Birding!
Dwayne
Birding by ear is a lot easier than butterflying by ear! ha ha!
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