What are the objectives of bird watching?

While looking at birds, with experience, you should be able to do the following:

• Identify the bird accurately
• Identify the sex of the bird
• Identify whether the bird is adult/ immature/ juvenile
• Tell if a bird is a resident, local migrant or summer / winter migrant from other countries
• Tell how the bird ranks in the IUCN red list.
• Tell about its flying, perching, hunting, fighting, feeding, mating and nesting habits.
• Know about its taxonomy.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best-known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Species are classified by the IUCN Red List into nine groups set through criteria such as rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, and degree of population and distribution fragmentation. Also included are species that have gone extinct since 500 AD. When discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term "threatened" is a grouping of three categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable.

• Extinct (EX) – No known individuals remaining.
• Extinct in the Wild (EW) – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range.
• Critically Endangered (CR) – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Endangered (EN) – High risk of extinction in the wild.
• Vulnerable (VU) – High risk of endangerment in the wild.
• Near Threatened (NT) – Likely to become endangered in the near future.
• Least Concern (LC) – Lowest risk. Does not qualify for a higher risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.
• Data Deficient (DD) – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction.
• Not Evaluated (NE) – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria.

Reference:

1. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iucn_redlist
2. IUCN Red list : www.iucnredlist.org