Notes from a Beginning Birder
by Liz Melville
Note: This is the first blog of Liz Melville’s Notes from a Beginning Birder series. She invites your thoughts and comments.
A Door has Opened
My new Merlin Bird Application that I downloaded onto my phone has opened a door to a whole new world for me. Birding, which before Merlin seemed too hard, is now exciting and accessible. When I am out and about and I see a bird, I open Merlin and click on the big green sound button. If I wait long enough, the bird will call or sing and then my phone will name the bird I am looking at. Similarly, and more often, I hear the bird first. Once again Merlin will tell me what bird I am hearing, and then if I am patient and look, I can find it.
The Merlin application is super user-friendly. I am not great with technology, and I am impatient, so the fact that I have found Merlin so easy to use is a testament to the user-friendliness of this application. Another great feature of Merlin is that it will display more than one bird on the screen at the same time. This may sound confusing, but it isn't because the application will highlight which bird is singing.
Merlin is changing how I approach my walks. I now schedule "nature walks" for the purpose of seeing the birds, the trees and well ... everything. As long as I have warm clothes and something to sit on (a small sled, or a piece of cardboard), I can walk slowly enough and sit long enough to see the micro-world that I have been ignoring all these years.
It is as if I am learning to really listen for the first time. I hear the constant blast of jet planes overhead. I hear dogs barking, deep woofs and high yaps, from all directions. I hear feet clomping. I hear people talking and children yelling, often from a long ways away. And, I hear the squirrels and the birds.
This new exercise of walking or sitting and listening has been as close to positive meditation as I have ever come. In the past in the effort to find quiet and peace, I have taken yoga classes and done meditation exercises, all poorly. I have never stuck with any of these routines because moving slowly, holding a stretch, or being still makes me just want to jump up and get something done. But when I sit and look and listen for birds, I am looking and listening for something ... not just quiet, and my brain is delighted to be learning about something new.
A few of my favorite bird calls are from the Black-capped Chickadee: chick-a-deee-dee-dee, chick-a-dee-dee-dee, chick-a-dee-dee; a California Quail: ca- CAA-ca, ca-CA-ca; and the Red-breasted Nuthatch-Aack, Aack, Aack. I know these birds make other sounds, but these are the ones I remember most.
So, in this month of January when my goal has been to slow down, I have received the gift of hearing my world. May you all find something to listen to: birds, the rustling of the leaves in the trees, children playing, or maybe even the people in your family.
A Few Questions:
1. Where do birds go when it is storming outside? Do they eat and drink on those days?
2. Do birds sleep in the same place most nights? And do mated pairs sleep together when it is not nesting season?
I would love to get answers from seasoned birders.