By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
It's one of the most inexpensive and easy-to-do hobbies you can have.
Birdwatching.
Hays resident Diana Pantle has been enjoying it close to 20 years and now wants to share her hobby with other people.
A new chapter of Audubon of Kansas, Sunflower Audubon, is being organized by Pantel and a small core group of birdwatchers in Hays.
The coverage area, however, extends much further than the city limits.
Pantle is working with Jackie Augustine, Audubon of Kansas executive director in Manhattan, who saw a need for the chapter to cover a regional area, including Ellis, Trego, Rooks, Russell, Smith, Osborne, Phillips, Graham, Norton, and Russell counties.
For now, Barton and Ness counties will also be included until a former chapter for that location is reinstated.
"I foresee that if we can get some interest, we can go up to Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge, maybe Wilson Lake and Cedar Bluff Reservoir," Pantle said. "I'm very open to taking bird walks outside of the Hays area. Since we cover such a large number of counties, I'm open to going anywhere with like-minded people."
Her own interest in bird watching stems from being a gardener and putting up bird feeders in her yard.
Pantle moved to Hays almost six years ago from Colorado where she lived close to Barr Lake State Park just outside the city of Brighton. There she was able to enjoy a multitude of birds and wildlife and go on many bird walks.
The Hays area has a multitude of birds as well, she found, and more than those ever-present house sparrows. There just weren't a lot of bird walks.
"The prairie chickens make their home around here because they need those shortgrass prairies," Pantle said. "They don't like a lot of trees because that allows predators access to them, so they like the prairie, and many birds do, including probably our most famous resident, the meadowlark.
"It's a very good area for a different type of birding."
Birders themselves are also of a large variety, Pantle said.
"It's age-friendly for everybody, including kids. You can see a bird anywhere. ... The only equipment you need is a good pair of shoes," she said.
The hobby gets people outdoors, which is where Pantle said she prefers to be, but you don't even have to leave your home to watch birds.
"It's not difficult. It's an easy activity that anyone can do it," she said. "Someone who's housebound can birdwatch from their window. It's not limited to somebody who's going out for a walk."
You also don't have to have binoculars unless you want a good closeup view of a bird.
"Toilet paper rolls held up to your eyes will block your peripheral vision and allow your brain to really see something right in front of you. It trains your eye how to use the binoculars," she said.
"Maybe you won't get a closeup of a downy woodpecker, but you'll know it's there. You'll hear it sing.
"If you want to invest in a pair of binoculars, fine, but it's not required to go birding. And, there's usually someone with you that'll allow you to use theirs," Pantle said.
Pantle has been birding long enough she's gone from using printed books with pictures to identify a bird to downloadable computer apps now available for her Kindle.
Sunflower Audubon will host an informal organizational meeting for interested birders at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct 24. at Professor's Classic Sandwich Shop, 521 E. 11th, Hays. Co-owner Amy Jensen is one of the group's original members.
A bird walk is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History Dr. Howard Reynolds Nature Trail.
The group also hopes to be part of the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count in December.
More information is available by contacting Pantle by email at [email protected].
Sunflower Audubon also has a Facebook page, which will soon be made public.
"I think people have the impression you need to know what kind of bird it is to enjoy seeing it. You don't," Pantle said. "Go out and listen to the symphony of nature. ... It doesn't have to be about knowing how many birds you saw today."