Want To Learn More About Who Is In Your Back Yard?
Maybe you guys have already heard of the new APP called
Merlin Bird ID. Basically this is Shazam (an app that records
sounds and tells you who is making that sound) for Birds in your
yard. All you have to do is download the FREE app through your
phones App store. Just as a heads up though, when you type in
"Merlin Bird Id" it WILL more than likely show you a different
app that you have to pay for! This is not the correct app. It's
basically a sponsored ad. You want to scroll until you find the
app that says "Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab" It is a Completely
FREE app. How it works is Amazing.
While you are hanging out in your yard gardening or just sitting
on your front porch swing you open that app and press the Green
Sound button and the app immediately starts to listen for birds
chirping in your yard. As it hears those birds it "identifies" them
for you in a list. These lists get saved on your phone to go back
and look at later. The even better part of the app is that below each
bird that it identifies for you it will give you several examples of
how that particular bird sounds in different seasons (mating versus
non-mating season) to help you figure out if that is the correct
bird. And say you maybe aren't comfortable with the recording
side of things, then you can take a pic of the bird and send it into
the app for help identifying!!
The reason I have grown to love this app so much is that I want
to get better at birding by ear and not just by sight (as my eyes
don't work as well on the other side of 50 years old) and this app
shows me not only "Feeder Birds" but also NON Feeder birds
such as Warblers, Raptors, Falcons, Water birds etc. I NEVER
knew I had so many different birds in my yard because I only see
the ones that come to my seed feeders. Some of the coolest birds
I have been able to find in my yard using the Merlin App are the
following Yellow Billed Cuckoo, Eastern Bluebird, Spotted and
Eastern Towhee, Pileated Woodpecker, Owls, Summer and Scarlet
Tanager, Osprey, Wood Thrush, Brown Creeper, Brown Thrasher,
Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-PeeWee
etc etc. So exciting!! Please note that this Free app doesn't always
get it right. Therefore use it as a Tool and not as something that's
100% correct all the time!!
Also last but not least by the time you read this I believe your
Orioles will finally be nesting and raising babies (and staying away
from the jelly for a bit) so it's time to start putting out live/dried
mealworms to help support them while they are nesting. And
keep your hummingbird feeders filled with fresh nectar as these
guys are in full swing now!
Thanks once again for tuning in and we hope we have done
our job of helping you connect with Nature this month!!
Crinda Williams (For The Wild Birds)