I am not a birder. I live with a bird, I consider myself a Piper expert, but I know nothing about other of his kind. Two friends told me about the app, Merlin Bird ID By Cornell Lab. It will identify birds you see and hear; I have only used it for their sounds, for obvious reasons. You simply open the app, then hit the record button. Sound waves will appear on the app followed by the name of the bird or birds it has recognized.
In Boothbay Harbor, Maine, the app named the following types of birds in a week:
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Glaucous-winged Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Great Crested Flycatcher
Herring Gull
Northern Cardinal
Red-eyed Vireo
Song Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
Yellow-legged Gull
One feathered soul that is not known by the Merlin Bird ID By Cornell Lab is the orange-fronted conure. Once home from our trip, Piper began squawking one day, alerting us to the people he saw out the window exiting a car in front of our house. I opened the app, capturing his darling, soothing decibels that only a mother could love, but nothing was found in their library, not even “Parrot”, “Spoiled” or “Precious Screaming Angel.” Imagine that.
You can download Merlin Bird ID wherever you get your apps. It adds a layer to travel you might never have considered. My husband was really hoping to spot a moose or a whale awhile we were in Maine. We cannot forget, however, about the winged residents of an area. Take it from someone who knows, birds provide the soundtrack to our lives.
#sisterrain #birdmom #adoptdontshop #parrotsofinstagram #conure #ahelpingwingparrotrescue #merlinbirdidbycornelllab #wheresabirdtokeepitsid
