It’s a fantastic experience when you have been watching your new bird feeder for days and only seen black-capped chickadees, and then when you are least expecting it, you get a brilliant flash of red and your first cardinal shows up for some food.
You are of course excited and want to share it, but with who?
Where do you find those like-minded folks excited about bird watching the way you are?
The bird forums can fill your want to share your experiences and they are probably the best, if not the best, online bird forums where you can share your experiences and join in new ones.
Bird forums are not the only online birding forum, but if you are interested in some of the best, you can’t do any better than BirdForum.
One of the main reasons BirdForum is a great website is the size of the community.
You can find any thread about any topic in relation to bird watching.
There is nothing worse than trying to dive into threads and discover no one has posted in months. This will not be a problem here.
What Makes BirdForum Exceptional?
Let’s just get this out of the way: this is not a boring forum.
Most forums have barely any graphics and the sparse colors they use when utilizing lines are often a muted, pastel blue.
That is not the case with BirdForum.
- Well-organized tabs
- Distinct, bird-like feel
- Threads are categorized
- Threads are informative
- Minimized graphical choices that fit
- Ads are minimal
It is often really confusing when you go to a forum online and you are not sure where to go or what to focus on for specific areas and topics that interest you.
BirdForum has a really simple and easy to use horizontal tab line showing you what you need to see and where to check and find the info you want.
The graphics aren’t anything outrageous, but you still will feel like you are in a bird forum.
Each thread has an orange-colored leaf used as a header. Each section within the thread has a straightforward label based on the threads you will find in that category.
And each thread can actually be informative.
In many other forums, the last user’s comment usually becomes the thread label, so instead of knowing what that thread is about, all you have is part of that random user’s comment.
BirdForum has provided a title for each thread, but the comments are in the thread after you have clicked on the link to the thread itself.
Each subject is also informative to tell you exactly how many threads are within that subject and how many comments are in that thread too.
Even better: There are fewer ads, with virtually no annoying pop-up banner ads and all of the ads are placed where the viewer is not really looking—unlike some other forums—so there are no distractions affecting the experience.
What Features Will You Find On BirdForum?
There are seven tabs across the top of the home screen, each corresponding to a different category, as well as a full drop-down menu to view all available subcategories.
Everything seems to fit within each of these categories and subcategories.
- What’s New
- Reviews
- Forums
- Gallery
- Opus
- Blogs
- Members
- ZEISS
What All Of The Categories Are About
What’s New
The What’s New category features all the new postings – new pictures in the galleries, profiles, comments, reviews on bird-watching products, and last but not least, new actions taken.
Forums
The Forums are pretty self-explanatory and much of that was discussed above.
It’s a very well-put-together forum that’s easy to navigate throughout.
Gallery
The Gallery is just filled with images posted from users and members of the forum.
It’s where you post your bird sightings and talk about them with other users and members.
The gallery is fully broken down into groups exampled by region and type of bird.
An example of this is: the gallery is not just for photography either. You can submit your bird art here as well.
Reviews
Newcomers or those who wish to learn more about bird-watching tools, including binoculars, feeders, seed, and so much more, may find their way to the Reviews section.
All users can add their reviews, and there are several reviews by real users where even more real users are free to comment on.
Opus
The Bird Opus is BirdForum’s custom take on a Wikipedia page, housing just about anything you want to know about birds.
You will find every bird species here, from the most commonly encountered to the most bizarre species that leave people scratching their heads.
Every bird has its own full definition and break down and members of the user/community can read and add to each bird’s Opus as much as they please.
Blogs
In the Blog section you will find many informative pieces on birds and wildlife.
Plus, it is a space that is kept up-to-date with plenty of information on the aviary world.
At this writing, there are 191 written pages of blog articles, so you could literally spend days reading content on your hobby.
Members
Although the Members section does not block other users from viewing the threads in the Members section (so users can read a discussion or thread with topic headings outlined above), you still cannot make a contribution to the discussion or submit a photo.
Luckily, the membership is free, and you can sign up at any time to get in on the Members area discussions.
When you sign up as a member, you are also able to subscribe to the BirdForum email and newsletters to enjoy the latest things when you are not on the forum.
ZEISS
Finally, the ZEISS category encompasses all of the latest advances in the world of optics and optoelectronics.
ZEISS is one of the world’s foremost technology pioneers in the field of optics covering everything from binoculars and cameras to nanotechnology.
In the ZEISS category, you can find the latest ZEISS innovations, participate in ZEISS observations, and engage in the breadth of conservation projects available.
In other words, BirdForum offers something for every bird watcher and bird enthusiast!
All Things Considered
There’s a reason BirdForum.net is so popular, it is the largest internet bird forum in the world.
This forum is a very solid resource with a ton of information.
The best part is how much participation there is where you engage with people in the conversations.
There is a subject for every thread and a thread for every subject.
There’s a good chance if you want to share, learn or experience something or if you’ve simply observed or experienced something, it will exist on BirdForum and best of all, it is 100% free to join & use, forever.