About a year ago I downloaded an app called Merlin. You can let it listen and it’ll identify all the birds around you by their calls. I’ve found myself rushing outside with my phone if I hear an unusual bird while I’m in my study. Then I look at myself and wonder, who the hell is this?
then I look at myself and wonder, who the hell is this?
Someone with passion for the world they live in! I have the same experience with the Merlin app after a friend suggested I download it last year. It’s so fun seeing real time identification of multiple birds at once
As a kid I adored being indoctrinated by my bird fanatic grandmother. I’d spend so much time looking through her Audubon’s Guide to Eastern Birds (US), and she would help me identify anything that came to the feeder.
She died several years ago and that was the one thing of hers I asked for. Now my four-year-old daughter likes to look through it with me. I even bought her a brand new copy the book’s western counterpart, since I live in western Canada now. I’ve even converted my wife who was once so ignorant of bird-related lore that she asked me one time if birds have ears.
Well don’t leave me hanging!
Do birds have ears?
Yes, they do have holes at the sides of their heads that are used to capture sounds. They usually skip the meat flaps we have around them though, in favour of some magnificent fluffy feathers
My cockatiel absolutely loved it when I scratched his ear feathers.
Wholesome.
A couple bald eagles sent me into a camera hobby, they fucking ruined me those birds. I’m broke as shit and my lens still isn’t long enough.
The only reason I didn’t impulse buy a teleconverter to tack on my impulse bought 600mm is that it would just get me (more) underexposed pictures. But the urge is real, and we don’t even have bald eagles around here.
Cmon, a long lens with 2.0 aperture is only 4-6k. Totally worth it.
Why settle when I could get a 800mm 5.6 for a mere 14k?
Damn. I though i was just getting in to a nice new hobby, but apparently I’m just getting old.
It was all over as soon as I bought a camera. I even live right next to some wetlands. Didn’t stand a chance.
110% it started with some light fun making about birds not being real. Looking at superbowl pics and researching different tits.
Now I regularly visit Greggs for a baguette then sit and feed my army of starlings in town while tempting other birds to me.
I plan on visiting the South of my city to see some wood parrots this weekend. 🐦
… Look Raymond, a yellow crested warbler.
I need everyone to catch up. Soon it will be cool that I was a thirteen year old running around the neighborhood with a pair of binoculars. My friends are going to be so jealous that I got such a head start.
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Roseate Spoonbill. That’s the end of my bird knowledge
Neat birds. They’re pink because of their diet like flamingos, and iirc while they’re kinda monogamous, the ones I’m most familiar with had all kinds of soap opera style drama. They also don’t smell great.
Source - I worked next to the roseate spoonbill enclosure at Animal Kingdom for a few years.
The sandhill crane is probably my favorite bird though. There’s something extremely dinosaur like about them.
Sandhills are my favorite too. They have a super recognizable call and their courtship dances are neat to watch.
They eat flamingoes?
Don’t let Brennan know this one, he’ll become unstoppable
When my grandfather passed, I got his bird call clock. I thought it was an innocent item to remember my grandfather, but apparently it’s a time bomb.
When you like looking at animals, birds are one of the easiest choice. Birds and insects are the only two categories that you’ll encounter pretty much anywhere.
As expected birds are more popular.
Nice I just saw some yellow rumped warblers
I just noticed during a work meeting today that the birds near my window become extremely weary when I look into them. To the point that one behaved like that Super Mario ghost that only moves when you are not looking.
Well, yeah. They are not real. They are drones operated by the government to spy on you. And it seems they suspect you are onto them.
I’ve always lived in high migration pathways, so I had a mild interest from that. Then I picked up Wingspan in Switch which has tons of interesting birds in it. I noticed even Target sells the original tabletop game, but the Switch version is a great way to learn the game.
