Birding is a growing branch of ecotourism and is one of the most popular types of "specific purpose tourism". Surveys in different countries show that usually the educated part of society interested in this particular type of tourism. Unlike other nature hiking branches, such as trekking or climbing, people with less physical abilities can also easily participate in bird watching programs and closely follow the flow of life in nature.
Birding is one of those leisure activities that requires peace and silence. Consequently, it is also useful for concentrating and even relaxing the saul. Many psychologists recommend bird watching in nature for mental relaxation and spirituality.
Watching the birds and listening to their life's songs, photography, recording all the beauty and effort of accurately identifying the species of birds you see is a unique scientific and recreational tourism that, if it ever happens, keeps people away from repeating everyday boring city life.
If you enjoy the beauty of seeing colorful feathers of a red chestnut or hearing the marvelous song of the nightingale or the singing of a woodpecker in the heart of nature, you can easily be a birdwatcher!
People interested in nature, can easily start bird watching in Iran. In fact, many people in the world practice this profession with different specialties for many years, a healthy recreation that requires no specialty, Just love nature and birds.
Birding is one of the unknown tourism potentials in Iran. With more than 5 important birding areas, Iran has high potential to become one of the most important birding destinations. Also in Iranian desert attractions such as the Mesr Desert, very beautiful desert birds such as Pleskes Ground Jay can easily be seen.
Fortunately, there has been a growing interest recently in organizing and participating in nature programs (such as bird watching) in Iran. However, Iran's share of the billions of dollars from this field is almost zero, while US revenue from the industry last year was just over $ 5 billion.
Promising signs such as naming the first Thursday of every December as National Bird watching Day, expanding the activity of birding institutes and the availability of magazines such as Podoces and Balaban herald a growing future. Bird hunting in most areas has been banned and bird protection groups have been established to protect some endangered bird species which are in the red list.
Totally 523 bird species exist in Iran.
The best time for bird watching programs in Iran is spring and autumn. The first half of spring, especially in May, is when birds begin mating, nesting, and caring for chicks, resulting in abundance. In the fall, not only migratory birds enter Iran, but the population of birds also increases. Offspring born in the spring are now grown and joined.
It is noteworthy that most of the known species in Iran are migratory birds (approximately 70%) and do not come to Iran during their breeding season in Iran. But in the fall, many of them travel to Iran to avoid the cold season in their homelands. Of course, the observation of migratory birds in Iran presents some challenge:
First, due to the harsh weather conditions, most of the birds hide themselves in their refuges, and secondly, many of the birds enjoy their winter camouflage and look far away from their beautiful summer coats - This makes them harder to spot.
Therefore, the distinction between autumn and spring is due to the arrival of migratory and winter migratory birds and, consequently, the possibility of seeing more species of birds. Wading birds, such as sandpipers are also best seen during this season.
If you are interested in watching chickens that hatch from eggs, sign up for bird watching tours in Iran in the spring. Even migratory birds sometimes lay eggs in Iranian wetlands. If you are interested in watching birds grow and their life cycle, spring is a good start for you. The atmosphere of lagoons and lakes is also very pleasant and refreshing.
In Iran, most birdwatchers go to West Azerbaijan province to see more birds. Other provinces still need to do more work and more birding tours. As more people become familiar with this field of nature hiking, the number of birdwatchers is increasing and our collective information on bird species in our environment is growing.