Each bird species has its own behaviour patterns, which are different from the others, making them so diverse and interesting !

The mating behaviour of birds itself has so much variety. The peacock's dance is indiscriminate to impress the female for mating; the Indian Roller tumbles and turns somersaults in the air in a series of clever antics before a watching female, the Parakeet postures and poses ludicrously, standing first on one foot and then on the other and so on.

The migration of birds is another strange ornithological phenomena as it is still an unsolved mystery and watching of migratory birds too is interesting. Twice in a calendar year— in the spring and autumn—millions of birds migrate across continents, oceans and even from one region to another within a subcontinent.

Generally, migration takes place from the northern to southern hemisphere and reverse, from higher altitudes to lower altitudes and even from cold region to warmer region within a subcontinent, to escape extreme winter for breeding and to search for food.

For bird watching, no special education or training is required. It only requires personal interest, lots of patience, practice and perseverance. The first step for bird watching is the ability to recognise the common birds of the locality. Therefore, one should be familiar with the external parts of the body and plumage of a bird. One should observe the colour of different parts of the body and plumage, the size of a bird in comparison to very common birds, where a bird is seen, shape of the beak and tail, what it eats, the way of eating, type of flight/walk, type of call, whether found in flock/pairs/singly, type of nest, availability of the particular species in a particular season/throughout the year, etc and accordingly one should note down the details characteristic of a bird and then consult a field guide.

The second step is the practice and experience to recognise a species correctly. If possible, one should accompany an experienced bird-watcher to master the art of bird-watching.

In order to acquire the basics of bird watching, it is necessary to have three main things—a binocular, a bird-watching field guide and a notebook with pen. The suitable size of binocular for bird-watching is 8 X 30 or 7 X 50. The numeric indicates the power of lens. The first numeric (8 or 7) zooms an object 8 or 7 times bigger and the second numeric (30 or 50) brings an object 30 or 50 times closer .

A few good bird field guides are—The Book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali; A Pictorial Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Salim Ali & S. Dillon Ripley; A Field Guide to the Birds of South-east Asia by Ben Kind Collins; Collin's Hand Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent; A Field Guide to the Birds of India by Krys Kazmierczak; and the Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent..