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Birding 101: Don’t Forget to Look Down!
Many birds stick close to the ground.
If you’re trying to spot a bird, you should look up — right? While it’s true that there are many beautiful birds to see in the sky, plenty of species are easier to find by keeping your eyes and ears to the ground. You may encounter towhees using their powerful feet to kick up leaf litter beneath dense underbrush. American Pipits and small shorebirds often look like clods of mud before they start running across a roadside field. There are even some colorful warblers who prefer to skulk!
BirdNote®
Birding 101: Don’t forget to look down!
Written by Ariana Remmel
This is BirdNote.
If you’re trying to spot a bird, you should look up — right? While it’s true that there are many beautiful birds to see in the sky, plenty of species are easier to find by keeping your eyes and ears to the ground.
For birds like this Spotted Towhee, the forest floor is like a grocery store stocked with protein-packed insects and fatty berries ripe for the picking. Like many sparrows, the towhees use their powerful feet to kick up leaf litter beneath dense underbrush.
[Spotted Towhee]
If you come across a roadside mudflat or crop field, check to see if any of those scattered rocks are on the move! These open habitats are great stopover sites for migratory shorebirds looking for rest and a meal. Songbirds like these American Pipits are also frequent visitors.
[American Pipit]
Their tan brown feathers help them blend into the background as they scuttle about, often bobbing their tails as they go. Pipits are so well suited to traveling on foot that they’ve got extra long claws on their back toes to keep steady on rough terrain!
Even some colorful songbirds prefer to skulk. You might think this Kentucky Warbler’s bright yellow throat would be easy to find in the swampy woodlands it calls home, but he’s happy to sing to the high heavens with both feet on solid ground.
[Kentucky Warbler song]
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Spotted Towhee [ML187098] recorded by B. McGuire; American Pipit [ML126269331] recorded by P. Marvin; Kentucky Warbler [ML453604061] recorded by J. McGowan.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote August 2025
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# birding-39-2025-08-11 birding-39
Ariana Remmel
Writer NarratorSights & Sounds
