Bird & Nature Blog

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Birding with Confidence

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Welcome back to the Entryway to Birding blog! Last week, I had some tips and suggestions for how to get more comfortable identifying the birds you see with the Merlin ID app. But even with a handy field guide like Merlin in your pocket, it can be hard to feel confident in your skills when you’re new. This week, I’ve got some advice about staying confident (even if you’re just confident in what you don’t know!) and a list of some of my favorite non-field guide resources that have helped me feel like a more capable, assured birder.

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt

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Wild Moms Who Mostly Don't Need Our Help (and Some Who Do)

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On May 6 of this year, I was approaching a most gorgeous run and riffle on Gordon Creek with thoughts of trout dancing in my head when a flapping dervish burst out from the bank. A hen wood duck was doing her best "Oh I'm wounded! Chase me, fiendish predator! And leave my babies alone" routine. On she flapped through the riffle, the run, and the nice section upstream for good measure. Is she crazy, I thought, it's way too early for wood ducklings to have hatched. Someone had not explained the calendar to the 6 or 7 tiny ducklings that stuck their heads out of the bank. I left the water to her and the babes and retreated downstream. Goose Pond's Mark Martin confirmed this is indeed an early hatching of wood ducks.

Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

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Dead Birds That Didn't Have to Die

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For over 30 years, my wife Sally and I have been regulars at the Downtown Farmers' Market. We're in the group of early birds, who enjoy an uncrowded walk around the Square, a chance to talk to the vendors, some of whom are now friends, before they get too busy, and buy some great food before it sells out. Last fall, Sally and I discovered that other early birds were not so fortunate. On multiple Saturdays, we found a freshly dead warbler that had collided with one of the tall, newer glass buildings on the corners of the Square. That made for a somber walk to the car.

Birds hit windows. That comes as no surprise to most of us. This happens because bird vision is not evolved to see glass — really, no one’s vision is evolved that way, which is why there are slews of YouTube videos of people running into glass doors. Birds don’t have the benefit of communication and warning, and when approaching a large pane of glass, often see the reflection of sky or habitat. Even worse, birds fly quickly and are small-bodied, meaning that most of the time when they collide with a window, it is fatal.

Photo by Beth Workmaster

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Celebrating and Mourning Earth Day

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Although the timing was fortuitous, Madison Audubon celebrated Earth Day in an especially wonderful way. We agreed to buy land that will dramatically improve one of our smaller sanctuaries.

Otsego Marsh is a mostly wonderful 80 acres that Madison Audubon owns in Columbia County, about 15 minutes north and east of Goose Pond. It contains a nice marsh and upland woods. Madison Audubon has worked to improve the woods, most recently with some tree-planting last year. A path runs through the woods, enabling you to see some nice spring ephemerals right about now.

Photo by Graham Steinhauer

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A Beginner's Guide to Bird ID

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In this week’s Entryway to Birding blog, I’m going to share some simple and practical tips to help you ID birds in the field—especially when you’re out there on your own. It may feel intimidating without a field trip leader or fellow birders beside you to help you out, but don’t let that hold you back from trying to improve your skills. I’ll show you how to use the Merlin ID app to help give you a great place to start with your IDs.

None of my advice is new or groundbreaking, but I hope it can give you a little more confidence if you’ve been flustered by an overwhelming amount of birds (it’s really a good problem to have!). When you’re birding solo as a beginner, you may not be able ID everything you see, but if you keep at it, you’ll find you improve with each and every attempt.

Let’s get started!

Photo by Caitlyn Schuchhardt