DIY & Birding

Like clockwork, once the weather starts warming up and we shove winter out the door, I take time to write a blog post about birds. Because like migrating birds, I have moved out of my office to enjoy writing in the fresh air. As I write this it is 8 am on Sunday and I am outside because we are 17 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for this time. When I woke up at 6:56 am it was already 63 degrees and the high is expected to be 85.

In late summer or early autumn of last year, I downloaded a new bird identification app called Merlin Bird ID. It’s free and I highly recommend it to any bird lovers out there. My favorite feature is the Sound ID. Stepping out of my house bright and early, there was a cacophony of birds already chirping, singing, and carrying on. I turned on Sound ID and just let it run. It quickly began filling up with different bird identifications: Eastern Meadowlark, American Robin, Blue Jay, House Sparrow, House Finch, Hairy Woodpecker, European Starling, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and on and on it went. When I finally hit stop on the recording I had 22 total bird species and I realized I didn’t know my small brown birds as well as I thought I did because Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, House Wren, and Carolina Wren were all identified species.

Now I had a half dozen small brown birds hanging out at my bird feeders at the time and I’d figured they were all house sparrows (who nest in my gutters since the Starlings tore out the gutter guards in 2022) in various life stages. Then one of them started to make noise and I quickly started a new recording: Chipping Sparrow. Another bird let out a squawk and House Wren popped up on my list. I’ve decided tomorrow morning, I’ll try to familiarize myself a little better with “small brown song birds” and try to separate them out of the “house sparrows of various sizes and life stages” category.

I’ve gotten in the habit of when looking at the Audubon app while using Sound ID in Merlin. I have a passable knowledge of my song birds, but once in a while one will pop up and I’ll be like “uh, what is that?” This morning it was an Eastern Kingbird. I pulled it up on Audubon and realized the strange black bird that I’d assumed was a Red Wing Blackbird (it was probably 300 feet from me in a tree and all I could really see was that it was a bird and black) was probably the Eastern Kingbird because it moved it’s head in time to the calls Merlin was picking up.

Of course there are definite times when I can hear the bird but not see it when Merlin identifies it. This is particular true of the Eastern Meadowlark. I’ve learned to identify a few of it’s calls using the app and as a result, I hear it often, but I’ve only ever seen it once and I was the car and it flew across the road in front of me as we traveled along the rural highway next to our house. But the spot where I saw it is close enough to me I’m sure it’s the same bird.

I don’t think identifying birds by their calls will ever serve a practical purpose in my life, but it’s been interesting. This morning I realized the strange high pitched trilling I occasionally hear is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker. I also have a Northern Mockingbird which must nest close by, because I hear it often, but I’ve never seen it (or if I have I didn’t know what it was) and it like the meadowlark and Red-Bellied Woodpecker make some very distinct noises.

I also know the app on occasion makes mistakes. For instance yesterday while I was outside I watched a Blue Jay standing on my fence make quite the racket. Merlin brought up Blue Jay first and then brought up American Crow. Jays are members of the crow family, but I didn’t hear or see a crow. Then again Blue Jays are loud and noisy, so I guess it’s possible Merlin did hear a crow and I didn’t because the Blue Jay had my complete focus with his commotion.

I’m once again considering making my own suet cakes. I have three suet feeders and the woodpeckers will go through a block a day at each feeder if I keep them refilled. Now, I don’t get just woodpeckers at the feeders, sparrows, finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Starlings also like the woodpecker suet. But at 3 blocks of suet a day, it gets expensive very fast (even buying in bulk) and I feel if I made my own it would be a lot cheaper. I’ve tried a few different recipes and none of them have turned out very well. They melted in the feeders and eventually the ground birds like the Mourning Doves got all of it. Also the woodpeckers didn’t seem to like it much.

The side effect of feeding all these birds is that my fence line, where my bird feeders are set up, tends to grow corn and milo every year. One of the first years I put out feeders I had a cluster of seventeen milo plants that came up under one the largest tray feeder. Two years ago I had a huge corn stalk that grew on the outside of the fence for a while (it’s chain link) and then about half way up, it came through the fence and continued growing. J cut the stalk at the base and we still had a fight getting the stalk out of it’s laced up configuration through the fence. As I type these last sentences a Brown-Headed Cowbird has shown up at my feeder and chased off all the starlings, which is nice of him. I hate the starlings. They are destructive (see comment about gutter guards) and bossy. They will chase away the smaller song birds like the black-capped chickadees, finches, and tufted titmouse(s). The sparrows ignore there bullying, but I dislike the house sparrows too since they are nesting in my gutters. So when a bird shows up that can chase the starlings off, it’s always a good thing. usually it’s catbirds, they are merciless when fighting with the starlings. But the cowbirds will also go after them.

For the record, I am working on books. One I’m hoping to make a new series called Crime Stories of Stranger County (CSoSC). I haven’t decided if the other will be a stand alone or not. I’m hoping to get a D&R book published this summer and I have a Nephilim Narrative finished and waiting.