By Judith Roberts
“Mom. MOM. Mom. Where are my headphones?”
My elder daughter was standing in front of me, and I leaned around her to peer out the window. “Oh, wow!” I exclaimed. “Look! Both hummingbirds are eating from the feeder! And they’re not fighting!”
She turned, looked, and nodded, appreciating the beauty of nature – but only for a fleeting moment. “Headphones?” she repeated.
I have officially reached the age where birding is a social activity for me.
It started in COVID. I had a first grader and a preschooler, and we did our best to stay active, entertained and educated during quarantine. One of those activities was birding – my kids learned how to identify birds (science), draw the birds (art), and count how many of each bird came to eat at our feeder (math). Birding was a huge part of our COVID quarantine experience. In fact, even though my introduction may indicate differently, my daughters both enjoy watching the birds in our yard. They recognize our regulars and know the sound a cardinal (the bird that wakes us up at 5:45 a.m. daily) makes and the different colors between a male and female cardinal. They have been on morning trips to see birds and enjoy spotting ones they don’t see in their own backyard. They appreciate these little creatures, and I do believe part of their love for birds came from our COVID bird adventures.
However, while they are not as intense as I am, I thoroughly enjoy watching the birds and seeing all of them.
Over time, through other friends becoming bird watchers and getting me even more involved in birding. In fact, I have a friend I texted last week during our vacation to Mexico about all the different birds I saw. Grackles were very common – they’re a blue and black bird that most resembles a crow, though I don’t think they’re actually a crow (at least according to Google). And then on our way for our excursion, I spotted two white ibis birds eating on the ground during the morning. A white ibis is, obviously, white, except for bright red legs and a bright red face and long, narrow bill. I spotted a couple of Yucatan jays at Tulum and nearly lost my tour group because I was struggling to take pictures of those bright blue and black birds. I saw two hooded orioles flying from tree branch to tree branch in the Mayan ruins.
In other words – it was incredible.
And I am not an expert by any means. I need to specify that. We know birding experts, and I am not one of them. I am 100 percent amateur, but the great thing is – that doesn’t really matter. Not only can I just appreciate the fauna of the area I’m visiting or my own backyard. Plus, I have a couple of helpful tools that can assist in identifying and appreciating birds.
First is Merlin ID. This is my best friend in identifying birds. You have three different ways of finding the bird you want to identify: either by describing it, taking a picture of it, or even recording it chirping. It’s a free app, but it does take off a lot of space in your phone. But it’s so worth it – I have never found a bird I haven’t been able to identify through Merlin ID.
The next app is a new one for me, recommended by a friend, Big Year Birding, where you can add the birds you’ve seen over the year. It’s basically Pokemon for adults (or just for birding enthusiasts because I know a lot of adults who love Pokemon, but I digress). Instead of collecting Pokemon, collect bird sightings.
So chirp chirp. Go ahead and collect them all.
