There is no one right way to get into birding, and bird watchers get interested for a variety of reasons.
Some want to go places, others want to experience nature, still others enjoy the search for things difficult to find.
Regardless of the reason, the Harford Bird Club can help foster that interest, President Matthew Hafner says.
The main object of the club, which meets throughout the year for trips and meetings, is to promote and celebrate bird-watching in Harford County and in general, he said in a recent interview.
"There are many aspects of birding, and there is no bad way to get into birding. If you find a way to get into it that interests you, that's fabulous," Hafner said.
The club has field trips just about every weekend that are open to the public and usually are free, unless they involve an admission fee to a particular venue.
Organizers try to appeal to as many members as possible. Most of them are half-day walking trips, though some will be destinations that include driving tours of bird refuges in the state.
"We try to mix it up for a variety's sake so hopefully people can find something they enjoy and that they're interested in," Hafner said.
Gull, eagle watch
One of those events is Saturday, when Harford Bird Club will host a gull and eagle watch Saturday at the Conowingo Dam.
"It's a morning long vigil at Conowingo Dam, where we're mostly looking through the gulls and counting and enjoying the eagles," Harford Bird Club President Matt Hafner said.
Thousands of gulls - ring-billed, herring and the great black back - fly around the lower portion of the dame.
"There are thousands of those. We try to find other species that are only present in one or two. It's a needle in a haystack search for us," he said.
That's part of the attraction of birding, he said, to search for something uncommon "that maybe shouldn't be there."
"Eagles are always there, they're always crowd pleasers. Some people might start to get strained staring at thousands of gulls, but you can always enjoy the eagles," he said.
Sharing their interests
The club's meetings, which are held throughout the year and draw 40 to 45 people typically, can feature guest speakers or members of the club sharing their birding experiences.
Some presentations include pictures from someone's trip or information from environmental groups, among others.
"It's changes all the time," Hafner said.
At its most recent meeting, a bird club member shared pictures and stories from a recent trip to Texas.
"The sharing shows people what's out there. Some people may never have been to Texas, some may be interested in going, some may be just getting into birds have no idea what's out there," he said. "We can show what's out there. When I watch a presentation like they that, they may think, I could do that. I could drive around Texas for a week, that seems like fun."
Hafner, who has been a member of Harford Bird Club on and off since he was 15, said it's a good way to foster someone's interest in birds.
"As far as interest, we help encourage it. When I was in school, not a lot of my friends were into looking at birds. It's nice to know there are other people who do it. Hearing some stories, seeing photos, that gave me the drive to say 'oh yeah, I could do that,'" Hafner said.
Hafner, who is in his 30s, wants to get more younger people involved in the club. He has been president for the last two years after serving as vice president for two years.
"We have younger people birding, but they're not always active in our club. We'd like to change that," he said, joking that the median age of most birders is "retiree."
One of the club's younger members, who attended a camp in Maine over summer with a portion of the tuition paid for by the club, recently gave a presentation about the camp.
Bird counts
Harford Bird Club runs several bird-counting events throughout the year, including the Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by the National Audubon Society.
During that count, club members and other volunteers count "all the birds in a specified area," Hafner said.
They also do a May count, a fall count and a mid-winter count, but those are less official than the Christmas count.
One of the attractions of birding is its accessibility, Hafner said.
"Right now there are 50 birds at my bird feeder in my back yard," he said from his Forest Hill home.
Other animals aren't so easy to find.
"Nature is full of wonder whenever you take time to sit and watch something; there's always something to marvel at in nature, a bird in backyard, a worm on sidewalk," he said. "Birds often more accessible than many other animals. Birds are everywhere; you see birds in the city, in your yard, on vacation. Other animals you can't just go see anywhere."
For someone interested in nature, birds are "a very logical first step to enjoying the wonder that is the natural world."