One thing I’ve figured out since we moved out here? We are nature ignorant…or at least we were. We are on a path to change that.
And that’s surprising to both of us because one of us grew up in Washington state camping for vacations, and the other grew up in upstate New York hunting in the woods.
But nature ignorant we have been!
Although we’ve been learning about native trees and shrubs, which was the first indication that we didn’t know our surroundings as well as we thought we did (which is particularly shameful for me since I grew up in western Washington), it wasn’t until I put the Merlin ID bird app on my phone that I realized just how ignorant I had been…for decades.
Now, I know some birds. Just living on our small farm and paying attention, I could identify a fairly good list, I thought. By sight or sound, I could identify the following birds:
- American robin
- black-capped chickadee
- varied thrush
- American goldfinch
- purple finch
- junco
- towhee
- Nothern flicker
- belted kingfisher
- great blue heron
- bald eagle
- barn owl
- Stellers jay
- scrub jay
- Canada jay
- black-headed grosbeak
- evening grosbeak
- song sparrow
- Pacific wren
- killdeer
- American kestrel
- barn swallow
- tree swallow
- red-tailed hawk
- western tanager
- Anna’s hummingbird
- rufous hummingbird
- red breasted nuthatch
- brown creeper
- harrier
- turkey vulture
- pileated woodpecker
- redheaded sapsucker
- downy woodpecker
- white-crowned sparrow
- golden-crowned sparrow
- bushtit
- mourning dove
- banded-neck pigeon
- Great horned owl
- American crow
- Raven
- Red winged blackbird
- Brown headed cowbird
- Cedar waxwing
- pine siskin
That’s 46 birds! (I don’t include starlings or house sparrows since they are invasive. By sound, I can also identify a barred owl, although the barred owl is also invasive.)
Are you impressed with me? I was impressed with me! Until I installed the Merlin ID bird app on my phone and started to identify birds by sound.
Walking in the woods behind our property, I was shocked to discover how many birds I was hearing! If you’d asked me, I’d have guessed a handful. In reality, it was many more than that. Since installing the app on my phone, I’ve learned of a whole world of migrating birds that spend time in my neck of the woods quite literally. I could probably list another 50 birds here, but suffice to say I’ve heard all kinds of warblers, vireos, flycatchers, kinglets and more. My previous deafness to all this music is mind boggling to me.
I’d never heard of a Swainson’s thrush before but it turned out they’d been in the woods the whole time. Golden-crowned kinglets became the background noise of my morning walks with the dogs. I could recognize an evening grosbeak with ease if it landed on our bird feeder, but they hang out in our woods too and I didn’t know. Turns out we have both chestnut-backed and black-capped chickadees, and I never knew. I could go on and on.
Then once I was more in tune, I realized I was hearing unusual birds closer to the house too. The common yellowthroat was my favorite new discovery, and couple of them hung out in our garden in the fall before heading south.
I’ve also learned the difference between calls and sounds. For example, I could recognize a song sparrow song with ease, but didn’t know the chit chit chit noise was also a song sparrow noise.
One of the coolest experiences? I heard a juvenile Great horned owl calling for food one evening while locking the chickens in. Without the app, I’d never have known what I heard.
Another time I woke up at 2:00 a.m. to a strange noise, grabbed my phone to start my bird app, and heard a Northern Saw-whet owl for the first time. I didn’t even know we had them around here!
Then there are the mysteries. Last summer for a few nights in a row, I’d hear a bird calling in the dark and used my app to learn it was a nightjar. But those are rare around here now as their numbers have dwindled, so was it really? Could that be a good sign?
I started recognizing mini zones where I’d hear one bird and not another. Crossing over the creek at the back of our property, I’d hear willow flycatchers call “fitz hugh,” but at the creek deeper in the woods, I’d hear Pacific slope flycatchers. I’d identify Savannah sparrows in the pastures and only in the pastures.
Learning to identify a bird by sound would help me spot the bird too, because I’d know what I was looking for.
Using the Merlin ID bird app has been life changing for me. I’m serious. So much nature has been going on around me my whole long life and I didn’t know it. I was too ignorant to even realize I was ignorant! It slows me down, tunes me in, centers me. Plus it’s fun to learn!
It’s not just about the birds, although they are a precious and beautiful gift. It’s about getting more in tune with all of the natural world around me and noticing the nuances, the subtleties, the life buzzing and flitting and singing and chitting…and falling in love with it all.
You can’t love what you don’t know, and you won’t save what you don’t love. So I say knowing more about the natural world around you is a critical life skill, because until you know it, you won’t change to save it.
Please put the Merlin ID bird app on your own phone and see what happens.
Photo by Andrew Patrick: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-warbler-bird-16936707/
