One Last Bird

As 2022 wound down, I added one last bird to my yearly bird-watching list.

During one of my jogs this month, a birding calling from the top of a tree caught my attention. I'd never seen the species before, but after collecting enough visual and auditory evidence, I was able to return home and identify it through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds site.

The bird was a Townsend's solitaire. It was the 82nd and last species I sighted this year and the only addition to my life list that 2022 brought.

This year of birding certainly ended on one good note.

A Big Leap Day

What's one more day? This year, it means February sightings of violet-green swallows and a northern saw-whet owl.

If this had been a normal year, my last February addition to my yearly birding list would have been a pine siskin on February 27. Not too bad. Pine siskins are an understated bird with a fun song and a flash of color for those who look closely enough. This being a leap year though, last month ended in an unusually spectacular fashion.

A violet-green sighting in February would have been enough to merit recognition for February 29, 2020. I was shocked to see the birds on my jog. They were two weeks earlier than I have ever seen their species before. That alone made the day a major birding moment. It even seemed fitting because earlier in the month, I marked the very rare universal calendar palindrome of 02//02/2020 with an addition to my yearly birding list. That day, I saw a big group of bushtits (also on my jog), forever commemorating a calendar event that hadn't happened in more than 900 years.

A northern saw-whet owl I sighted in June 2014.

Leap day apparently wanted to make sure it went down in history too though. Sitting at my desk around 9:30 p.m., I heard a long series of low "too" sounds like a faraway, old train whistle. At first, I thought it came from some alarm, machine, or device in the distance. After considering it a while longer, I thought it might be a northern saw-whet owl, so I went outside and tried to call it in with recorded saw-whet sounds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Within a few minutes, an owl flew over my head, eventually landing in a tree in the yard. It was my first sighting of the species since 2014. While watching the bird in the yard, I also heard another farther away. What an exhilarating end to an unusual month!

February 2020 certainly made its extra day count for a lot on my birding list.

Staying Power

Life for endangered streaked horned larks poses many risks, but one member of this subspecies of horned lark continues bringing hope to conservation efforts aimed at protecting the birds, returning to his nesting site in western Washington year after year and lasting longer than even the identification band that gave him his name.

Photo of a horned lark (not Pinky though).

Born in 2009, Pinky the streaked horned lark keeps showing the tenacity of his subspecies. Last year, South Sound Prairies, an organization that promotes conservation, restoration, and preservation of native prairies in the South Puget Sound region, announced that Pinky had returned (still sporting his pink identification band) and built a nest at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord military installation.

Considering that the oldest horned lark on record was about eight years old, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds site, and that fewer than 1,000 streaked horned larks remain in the wild, the news brought great excitement. Over the winter, I thought about Pinky occasionally and hoped 2017 would bring equally happy news about him. This year, the venerable Pinky returned again, sporting a slightly different look. Now eight years old, he'd lost his trademark pink band, but that didn't keep him from nesting in his familiar spot.

I learned this year's good news about Pinky while birding at the Glacial Heritage Preserve on Prairie Appreciation Day last month. The ornithologist who told me about Pinky couldn't hide his excitement and pride. That's understandable, especially given the endangered status of the subspecies and the powerful symbol of hope Pinky has become.

With that, I'd like to wish Pinky another great year with safe travels. Stay pink, my friend!

The Changing Face of Birding

Let's face it--identifying a bird's species isn't always easy. (Ever tried to distinguish between the various types of flycatchers?)

For novice bird-watchers, the struggle of identification sometimes becomes an obstacle to getting to know birds. Professional bird-watchers have the skills to make quick identifications, but the rest of us can spend hours consulting field guides and online resources, and even then, we may not confirm the species.

A new, free smart-phone app promises to make bird-identification tools more available, giving a greater number of people the chance for full engagement in birding. Birdsnap uses facial-recognition software to identify birds. All a person needs to do is take a picture of the bird in question. The app then uses the bird's physical characteristics to make the identification. For a more detailed discussion of Birdsnap, check out this article by Chelsea Harvey of Audubon Magazine.

In recent years, technology has made the avian world more accessible to us. From nestcams to Web sites like the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds, we have a growing number of opportunities to engage with and learn about birds. With its innovative technology, Birdsnap represents another important contribution to birding.

Thanks to technology, birding might look different than it did twenty years ago, but the changes have turned more bird species into familiar faces.

Playing the Hero

Heroes usually possess special powers, and the heroes of bird-watching have the ability to make identifications without actually seeing birds.

While identifying birds by sight takes a degree of skill, some of the best birders know each species by its songs and calls. Such identification is far from easy, but it brings with it the superpower of seeing the bird world through sound.

Luckily, the special power doesn't come from radioactive spider bites or the gods. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has developed a game that helps in matching birds with their songs. Bird Song Hero uses visual representations to break down species' songs and asks the person playing the game to select the correct source of the sound. To see a demonstration, watch the video below:



Bird Song Hero truly makes sound a second sight. When sight fails to help, birders must turn to sounds, and the Cornell Lab's game gives those sounds a visual quality. Here's the link to more information about it.

Now, go become a hero.

Everything and More

We've all had people give us too much information about themselves, but TMI no longer applies when birds are the subject.

My blog entries frequently mention the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds Web site because it provides great information about birds. In fact, after exploring the site, one might think it really has all the bird information ever collected. It turns out, however, that there's more, and the Cornell Lab's latest offering gives us additional insight into the world of birds.

All About Bird Biology, a recently released (they say, "hatched") companion site to All About Birds, focuses on the biological aspects of birds. For example, the first collection of information looks at feathers. The site is interactive and already contains nearly a hundred videos about birds.

Billing (get it?) itself as a resource for birders, teachers, students, and just about anyone curious to learn more about birds, All About Bird Biology moves public knowledge of ornithology up a notch. As someone who once had an entire science fair project dedicated solely to feathers, I love it. To check out the site, click here.

Between All About Birds and All About Bird Biology, we can know birds inside out.

Missed Note

Seeing is believing, but in birding, so is hearing, and a new movie with bird-watching as a theme misses this point.

A Birder's Guide to Everything comes to theaters March 21 and revolves around some teenagers' search for the Labrador duck, an extinct species. Of course, the bird angle caught my attention. However, when I saw the trailer, I couldn't believe my ears. Check it out below:



The issue I had with the trailer involves the way the joke at the end presents a narrow idea of bird-watching. When Ben Kingsley's character says, "Absolutely anyone can be a birder--except for blind people I suppose," he's more than just wrong.

Despite the term "bird-watching," sound serves as probably the most reliable way of identifying birds. Often, birders only have sound to go on when noting the presence of species. With this in mind, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology requires its students to be able to identify birds just by sound. The fact is that a blind person with the ability to hear and knowledge of birdcalls would have an advantage over birders who simply relied on sight.

I don't want to discourage anyone from seeing the movie. Taken as a whole, it might turn out to be great, but the joke about blind people didn't strike me as funny or even accurate.

Seeing birds is certainly a great joy, but it's only part of the birding experience.

A Birder's First Flight

Imagine stepping to the edge of the nest and taking an initial flight into the wider world of birds.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers such an opportunity to high-school-age bird-watchers each year. With its Young Birders Event, the lab gives fledgling birders a full experience of ornithology and provides important networking possibilities for students looking to build a career studying birds. See a video from last year's event below:



This year's event takes places July 10-13 in Ithaca, New York. The competitive application process remains open until March 15. For more information, click here.

The early birder gets the career in ornithology.

Free Bird

This birding app goes cheap, cheap!

The various digital birding apps available provide great resources for both professional birders and people who are simply trying to figure out what bird they just saw. With its latest app, known as Merlin, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has the latter group in mind.

Merlin is a free app. Drawing from the eBird database, it guides people through the identification process and makes suggestions based on factors like size and when and where the bird was seen. Watch the video below to get an idea of how it works:



Merlin doesn't include all the bird species in North America, and it is only available through Apple's App Store for now, but an Android version is coming, and Merlin looks like a great, free option for those who are getting started with bird identification. For more information, click here.

With Merlin, the next time you hear a cheep, you've got a no-cost, handy way of figuring out what made it.

By the Sound of It

Birds are calling, and smart phones are helping us receive the message.

For bird-watchers, one of the most useful skills to have is the ability to identify birds by sound, but it's not an easy thing to do. To develop this skill, people are turning to smart phone applications.

Several apps exist for training to make sound identifications, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has rated them according to ease of use, audio content, expert help, and fun. For more information, click here. Below the ratings, the lab goes on to discuss other apps that help with identification.

Think of the sound training apps as caller ID for calls from the avian area code.

Start the Year on a BirdNote

No day can have enough birds, but there's an easy way to ensure you'll see at least one more every day in 2014.

The 2014 BirdNote calendar, featuring a different bird each month, is now on sale. It contains cool photographs of species like the ruffed grouse and the great gray owl. Pictures were taken by Gerrit Vyn, a conservation photographer from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Along with ensuring you get a daily dose of birds, the calendar helps support BirdNote. For more information, click here.

If you're in need of a calendar for the coming year, give it wings.

Spot On

As if watching and photographing birds weren't cool enough, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is giving prizes for doing those things.

I recently blogged about the upcoming season of Project FeederWatch, a citizen-science effort run by the lab. A connected contest is BirdSpotter. Now through February 12, BirdSpotter participants can upload a photo that meets the weekly theme. Each entry is eligible to win gifts from the lab and Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods. The grand prize is a trip to Oregon. For more information, click here.

All that's left is to get the camera and find a good spot.

Still Watching

It's time to find some winter projects; it's time to find some birds.

Project FeederWatch is gearing up for a new season with a new Web site. I've already blogged about the project here and here. This great bit of citizen science from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology allows people to provide important data on birds while enjoying the sight of feathered friends during winter.

The new Web site lets participants upload bird photographs directly instead of submitting e-mails. It also helps people discover what birds are most prevalent in their region and provides tools to aid in identifying species. To check out the site and learn more about the project, click here.

Many birds leave for the winter, but with a feeder in the backyard, there's always something to see. Add to ornithological data as you watch.

Stamp of Approval

When it comes to environmental issues, conservation is often common ground.

Although people have different opinions about the environment, many of them can get behind the idea of conserving resources. The Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (better known as the Duck Stamp) is a great example of conservation's broad appeal.

For almost 80 years, the Duck Stamp has been a popular program that allows hunters and bird-watchers access to places where migratory birds congregate. Additionally, the money raised by the program supports conservation by providing funds to buy and set aside land.

The 2014 version of the Duck Stamp is out now and costs $15. To learn more about it and find out where to buy it, click on this story from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's blog, Round Robin.

While many environmental issues are contentious, conservation is something that many people support in one form or another. I think a big reason for this is that our connection with the environment is strong enough to help us see the need for such actions.

The Duck Stamp lets us enjoy and maintain that connection. That's why it continues to receive great support.

Sound Buy

Bird sounds have something special about them.

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, one of the works that helped propel the modern environmental movement, took its name from the unnerving quiet that came from DDT's devastating impact on bird populations. An art exhibit in Sydney, Australia, plays the songs of birds that used to inhabit the city. Then, on a personal level, the song or call of a species I am familiar with is enough to give me a smile.

Bird sounds are also important for identification purposes, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a great collection of songs and calls from North American species. The lab is now making the complete set available for purchase as MP3 files. A smaller, less expensive collection is also available. Both can be purchased for a limited time at a discounted rate. For more information, check out this entry from the lab's Round Robin blog.

Bird sounds occupy an important place in our world, and getting to know them makes their impact all the more meaningful.

Learning on the Fly

The study of birds isn't just for ornithologists.

Because we interact with them so frequently, birds offer a lot of things to learn about our environment.

One of the best teachers about all things feathered is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The lab provides online courses and webinars on birds and bird-watching. Its newest offerings include webinars on waterfowl identification and tutorials for beginning birders. For more information about this online instruction, click here to read an entry from the lab's blog, Round Robin.

With resources like these, the next time a bird flies by the window might be the start of a lifelong study.

How I See It

I've found that pictures don't always match reality. This is especially true when it comes to using the images in bird field guides to identify a species I've see in the wild.

Many times, I've struggled over identification because the bird I saw seemed to have significant differences from the ones in the book. Now, I think I know why: The still images on the page capture the birds from an ideal perspective, unobscured with key identifiers in plain view, while the real-world encounter is usually brief and from a tricky angle.

As this entry from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Round Robin blog suggests, help is on the way for bird-watchers. Birder and photographer Richard Crossley is taking a new approach to bird guides by providing many images of each species from different angles and distances against a more natural backdrop. The pictures even present the species at different stages of its life.

Guides like this represent a great advance in bird identification. I wonder if e-books will be able to take it further by including motion.

Seek and Report

Fulfillment is doing what you love and having it make a contribution to the world.

For bird-watchers, doing what they love is pretty easy because birds usually aren't too far away. However, technology is even making it easier to find birds, and that same technology is providing birders with a chance to add to science by reporting their sightings.

BirdsEye is a bird-watching app for Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It is the work of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is dedicated to providing birders with resources that help them do what they love. Through the lab's eBird program, which collects information about bird sightings around the world, BirdsEye allows bird-watchers to find places where birds are congregating. Birders who want to share their sightings can purchase the BirdsEye companion app, BirdLog.

For more information on these apps click here and discover the potential of using and contributing to the science of bird-watching.

Fledgling Birders

Nature or nurture? When it comes to our connection to nature, nurture helps.

I've probably always had an interest in birds. My family has recordings of my dad reading field guides to me when I was about four.

Still, bird-watching is something I've only recently taken up. In fact, I didn't really start to figure out just how much someone could do with bird-watching until a few years ago. Before then, I simply had not been made aware of that world. As I grew up, my family gave me plenty of chances to connect with nature. However, beyond our bird books, we didn't have a lot of access to bird-watching information.

That's why I think the latest offering from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is such a great thing. As explained in a blog post on Round Robin, the lab is working with the Black Swamp Bird Observatory to connect aspiring bird-watchers through the Young Birders Network.

The network gives students in high school a chance to start or join bird-watching clubs, share bird sightings, and learn about college and career opportunities related to birds. This is the kind of thing that gives wings to childhood interests.

For more information, visit the Young Birder Network on eBird.

Look What We Found

Technology certainly creates some challenges for the environment. It often leads to new machines and devices that use up and level nature, and spending too much time with technology can keep us from connecting with the natural world.

However, technology can also benefit the environment. In the past, I have blogged about using smart phones and Web sites to connect with and help nature.

Now, TreeHugger reports a very cool story involving technology and the environment. To summarize, a picture on Flickr led to the discovery of a new species of insect. That's really awesome.

TreeHugger talks about how the story shows the increasing value of technology in things like citizen science. (Another example is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird project making its 100 millionth observation.) I think the insect story also provides proof of the power of people connecting around environmental topics. That connection can be aided by technology.