LOTRO Birding Hobby How-To Guide

As it’s been a bit since I wrote about the concept of the new LOTRO Birding Hobby, I wanted to make a more concise how-to guide. See it as my attempt to zero in on the practicalities of how to do birdwatching in the Lord of the Rings Online. I’ll add any extra information elsewhere on the blog.

So, let’s stop my waffling and get going.

How to Start Birding in LOTRO

1. Find a Hobby-master in Middle-Earth. There are loads of them, especially in or near larger towns.
2. Learn Birding (from the Hobby-master!)
3. Equip your Birding Kit

Hunting Log – do the jobs/classes need adding to the H1? Or the subtitle?

That’s it! In this guide, I’ll try to lay it out simply, but follow it up with detailed steps for those that need it.

Skip Detail →

1. Find a Hobby Master

You can train for birdwatching with any of the Hobby Masters across Middle-Earth.

That link takes you to the Wiki’s list of all of them. Go find one near where you are questing at the moment.

Pssst: there may not be birds your area yet, though. See: Where Do I Go to Find Birds?

2. Train in Birding

The Hobby Master will give you a brief run-down of (kinda) how it works.

Press that “Train” button to officially learn the new LOTRO Birding Hobby.

3. Equip Birding Kit

Now you have your Birding Kit, right-click or drag it to your main-hand slot to equip it.

You are now ready to venture forth and discover birds.

4. Make the Birding Skill Easy to Access

You should also drag your Birding Skill to a quickbar. It will make the rest easier.

Where is the Birding Hobby Skill? I hear some of you ask. You can find it under Character → Hobby.

The Birding Kit Is Your Weapon

Just a brief note here. As is true with the Fishing Hobby, you equip your birding kit in your main hand weapon slot. With fishing, you’re generally fine swapping to your rod to fish, then picking up your weapon to go questing.

But that’s near lakes and rivers, where you are often safe. Birding can be (and is) anywhere on the landscape. So, what I’m trying to say is, survey the nearby enemies first, if they have non-grey nameplates/floaty names. Then equip your birding kit.

Where Are Found Birds Recorded?

There are two places you will find your discovered feathered friends:

1. In Collections under the nice, new tab.
2. Deeds All birds fall under at least one deed and some progress at least two.

You may find it handy to use the Deed Tracker Plugin alongside Collections.

Birds in the LOTRO Collection Panel

How Do I Find Which Birds I’ve Already Seen?

1. Load the Collections Panel (I think the default keybind is Shift+C).
2. Hit the Birding Tab (the bottom one).
3. Check the box next to “Discovered” and make sure the box next to “Need” is unchecked.
4. Make sure your “Search” box is empty so you’re not accidentally “over-filtering” the list.

How to do the Birding Part!

Now we have those things down, let’s see how you actually go and find birds. And also what “finding” actually means.

How to do Birdwatching

1. Equip your birding toolkit.
2. Go somewhere. Pretty much anywhere on the landscape to start off with. “Open towns” like Bree or Michel Delving count. It looks like you’re fine anywhere that’s not indoors.
3. Use the Birding Hobby Skill to make a call.
4. When/if you see white feathers at your feet, use the Hobby Skill again.
5. When/if you see green feathers over your head, use the Hobby Skill again.
6. If your character has not cheered or hung their head in defeat, repeat from step 3.

This is the spyglass you briefly see between steps of the spotting process.

As I’ve already talked about equipping the toolkit, let’s pick up from step 2.

Skip Detail & Go to Rarity →

Where Do I Go to Find Birds?

The current regions are:

• Angmar
• Bree-land
• Cardolan
• Dunland
• Enedwaith
• Ered Luin
• Eregion
• Evendim

• Forochel
• Lone-lands
• Misty Mountains
• North Downs
• The Shire
• Swanfleet
• Trollshaws (includes the Angle of Mitheithel)

Watch Smarter, not Longer

While it’s true that you can go anywhere, you can be smarter about it. The Collections panel tells you which regions you can find the current set of “collectable” birds. It also points out the kind of environment where you’re more likely to spot them.

You can also filter Collections to show only “Need” and find out whether you have yet to find wild feathered friends in a particular region.

How You Find Birds

Once you’ve equipped your birding kit and headed into the wilds (or just into Bree-town!), here’s the detail from the above steps.

1. Initial Beird Call

This is what it looks like when you make your first Bird Call.

Use your slotted Birding Hobby Skill. This will make an initial “call”.

It’s not the same sound all the time either (not like summoning your non-warsteed mount). Turn off the background music and make sound effects 100%.

2. Watch for White Feathers

If a bird can be discovered, white feathers appear around your feet.

Hit the Birding Hobby Skill to use your spyglass (a small telescope).

The position of the hands is wonky for some race-gender combos. Bug report those you find.

Watch for Green Feathers

Green feathers

When you get green feathers, you tapped in time, and your character will call again. Guess what? If you don’t find one and you get white feathers, punch that Birding Hobby Skill and see if you get a bird.

There are one of three outcomes:

1. You find a bird: your character /cheers.
2. You don’t: your character hangs their head. (it might the /sigh emote, but without the sound effect).
3. Nothing/feathers: repeat the call until you get white/green feathers again.

What Happens When You Spot a Bird?

A few things, yet also not enough (yet).

The Simple Birdy Rarities

When you first spot a bird in a region you will trigger the “Common and Uncommon” deed. That gives you a list of birds that are definitely one of those two classifications.

As in the real world, not all birds are common in Middle-Earth. Now, as far as I know, there is not initially a way to know ahead of time if a bird is rare or not.

What are the Rarity Types?

1. Common (White)
2. Uncommon (Yellow)
3. Rare (Purple)
4. Rarest (Teal)

Common

Uncommon

Rare

Rarest

Avoid Headaches with Homework

Yes, yes, I know. Homework causes headaches. However in Birding, if you’re early on you could end up trying to collect birds you physically cannot just yet.

If you cross reference the Collections panel with your “Common and Uncommon” deed, you’ll be able to see which birds are Rare or Rarest. Come back when your Hobby Level is higher to try and get those.

Tips and Pointers

Birding Character Frames and Titles

There are a few beautiful character frames and quirky titles you can earn. These are tied to Proficiency in the Hobby.

Four of the Five here are provided by @EldasEscape – as is much of the deed info. I’m really grateful to her for enabling this guide to be as good as I can make it without my needing to do 100% of it!

Proficiency 10

• Title:
  Bird-brained
• Frame:
  A Little Bird

Proficiency 30

• Title:
  Fair Fowler
• Frame:
  A Brace of Birds

Proficiency 50

• Title:
  Unwavering Warbler
• Frame:
  Dulcet Trio

Proficiency 70

• Title:
  Wing-spotter
• Frame:
  Birder’s Delight

Proficiency 100

• Title:
  Bird-tamer
• Frame:
  A Flock of Feathered Friends

Deeds

There are a whole lot of deeds goin’ on in Middle-earth birdwatching! Each region has its own set.

• Birds of <Region>: Common and Uncommon
• Birds of <Region>: Rare
• The Rarest Bird in <Region>
• All the Birds of <Region>

Some birds count for more than one deed (as they can be found in more than one region), and there are meta-deeds too.

Birding Deeds on the Wiki

My site is not a Wiki, and it’s not meant to be. LOTRO-Wiki will soon have all the deeds listed for you. I don’t see a need to duplicate what their hard work already gives you.

These are found in the Hobby tab, not the region's one.

All Birding deeds can be found in-game in the Hobbies section of your Deed Log, not under each region.

Tracking Birdwatching Deed Progress

Just as a reminder, you can track progress for each region in three main ways:

1. Deed Log:
   Hitting “Track” on that deed’s entry in your deed log. It will go as one of the ten in your quest tracker. You may want to pin it.
2. Using Collections
   While this is currently trickier, you can use Collections. You cannot filter per region, but you can search by a bird’s name to see if you’ve found it already, or not.
3. Deed Tracker Plugin:
   One of the excellent player-created LOTRO Plugins is called Deed Tracker. It does what it says. So give it a go!
4. Spreadsheet: @currentlybaking created a Google Sheets document. If you create your own copy, you can track your progress that way.

Other Rewards

Even with the best will in the world, there’s only so much we can gather during public betas. I’ve managed to make quite a few changes since the new hobby went live, too.

But if this a “first version”, keep reading patch notes to see if other changes are slipped in among other “big things”.

Cosmetics

As well as the character frames and titles I’ve already mentioned, some deeds grant cosmetic outfits too. As/when I have them, I will add shots here. What we’ve seen so far:

Birding Garments | Birder’s Hat | Bird in Hand Emote

Birding Garments

As with Forester Event and Hard Tack, there is one similar outfit in a range of colour schemes. But these are awarded from deeds with Birding – you don’t need to barter for them.

(Angmar) Orange and Black

(Bree-land) Blue Birding Garments

(Ered Luin) Blue and Gold

(Swanfleet) Orange and Blue

(Trollshaws) Blue and Black

As and when I or the Wiki can unlock previews, I will add them here – and improve current shots. Over time I’ll add a couple of other race previews too.

Birder’s Hat

Though the description only says “Hat” it also comes with a neckerchief, which makes the top of the Birding Garments look much better!

How to Get the Birder’s Hat
You need to complete the deed The Rarest Birds in Eriador (15 Rarest Birds, in fact!).

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If you want your own hat but a neckerchief-like cosmetic, look at the Ascot Scarf.

LOTRO Birder's Hat Cosmetic from two different angles.

Bird In Hand Emote

You can unlock a new emote called “Bird in Hand”. You’ll never guess what happens next?!

No, you don’t “see two in a bush”. You stand with a bird…in your hand. Okay, I think it sounds neat, especially for Lore-Masters. You earn that by completing the deed “All the Birds of the Shire”, which means all common, uncommon, rare and the rarest bird.

I have only just managed to earn this so I’ve finally been able to upload it!

Similar As…

To anyone thinking “hey, this looks like those from Hard Tack“, you are correct. Apart from the fact you’re holding birds, it is the same initial action as prospector2 and hauler emotes.

LOTRO Bird In Hand Emote

There are two different birds that can appear with /birdinhand, too.

TL;DR Head Off to Wander Some of Middle-Earth with the new Birding Hobby

A new Hobby has been a long time coming to LOTRO. And it sounds like this iteration is only the first “installment” of it, too. Once you get the hang of the button presses, it’s very chill.

Just pay attention to the habitats and when it’s time to move regions. You can fit the Birding Hobby in with almost every other LOTRO activity. Waiting at festivals, doing LOTRO Deeds, taking a complicated Horse-Taxi route and even Bingo Boffin.

So head over to your local Hobby Master, get your toolkit and enjoy the new Birding Hobby!

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About the Author

Fibro Jedi

I have been playing MMOs for about ten years and began writing guides to The Lord of the Rings Online in 2017. I've only been creating content about Final Fantasy XIV since 2022, but I am glad for the mix. My current games include LOTRO, FFXIV and the occasional Palia session too.

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