Bird Brain

We have hard-core winter this week. A giant snowstorm with ice and COLD temperatures (near zero) befell much of our country over the weekend. It’s not warming up and it’s supposed to get even colder over the next week. Yet, I am grateful. We did not lose power at all. I fully expected for a tree to fall on a powerline and prepared us for the worst. It could still happen and who knows when? Ice damages trees. We now have a propane heater (and propane), a working carbon monoxide detector, candles, batteries for the flashlights, water, and a few other essentials. We can survive.

Beautiful ice in the sunlight - photo doesn't do justice

I also bought extra food for the birds. I feed the birds year-round so that I can watch them from my desk as I work. It’s delightful! They delight me – everything about them. I put out several different blends of bird seed and suet because it attracts different birds to our yard. I’m not great at identifying birds, but over the years, I’ve learned to recognize some of our most frequent visitors by their shapes, colors, and songs.

The Merlin app has been a huge help in my bird education (thank you, Sarah, for telling me about it). Once downloaded, it quickly became one of my favorite phone apps. Merlin uses AI to “listen” and identify birds. One of my favorite things to do is to step outside at daybreak when the birds are just waking up, and turn on Merlin. The bird diversity in our yard is amazing. Merlin also identifies when a bird is rare in my location, which is particularly exciting.

Some of these birds detected by Merlin on my phone (in alphabetic order) in or near our yard are:

Acadian Flycatcher
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Redstart
American Robin
Baltimore Oriole
Blackburnian Warbler
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Blue Jay
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brown Thrasher
Canada Goose
Cape May Warbler (rare)
Carolina Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing
Chimney Swift
Common Grackle
Common Merganser (rare)
Common Yellowthroat
Cooper’s Hawk
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Field Sparrow
Golden Crowned Kinglet
Grasshopper Sparrow
Gray Catbird
Great Blue Heron
Hermit Thrush (rare)
House Finch
House Wren (rare)
Indigo Bunting
Louisiana Waterthrush (rare)
Mallard (rare)
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Orchard Oriole
Pileated Woodpecker
Pine Warbler
Purple Martin
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-eyed Vireo
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (rare)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Scarlet Tanager
Song Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-breasted Chat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Vireo
Yellow-throated Warbler
Tufted Titmouse
Warbling Vireo
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-eyed Vireo
White-throated Sparrow
Wood Thrush

I have this list because if Merlin detects a new bird for me, I screenshot it. Merlin doesn’t get all the birds though. We have barred owls and great-horned owls that hang out in the woods behind our house. I sometimes get to see them, but usually only hear them (at dusk or night). Sometimes I hear an unfamiliar bird but other noise (dogs, traffic, etc.) makes Merlin incapable of defining it.  

Two rare birds captured by Little Sandy River

Perhaps it’s an old-people thing to care about birds. My grandfather fed birds – his favorites were the crows. He said they were clever and had distinct personalities and behaviors. My dad loved cardinals. I have always loved hawks and owls, but the calls of mourning doves and wood thrushes transport me to another world.

Looking through my list, I could probably identify 30 of those birds on sight reliably. I’ve never seen an indigo bunting with my eyes but it was so exciting to hear one and know it was close. I love the bluebirds and have worked hard to attract them – they are here rarely. I have no idea why Starling is not on my list – we have them daily. They must leave when I am outside with the Merlin app open on my phone. I can fully understand why people become passionate birdwatchers. 😊