I really wish fighter jets weren't incredibly expensive engines of death and destruction, because purely as examples of human ingenuity and design they are rad as hell
Houk the Namebringer on
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MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
I had mentioned that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology had an experimental bird song ID program they were working on. It's now released as part of the Merlin Bird ID app, free to download and use. It does require some additional downloads to get ID packs for your region (they have a lot of regions, not just the US but internationally).
I just tested it out the last couple days when I heard familiar bird songs that I recognized. Chipping sparrow being chippy in a tree? It IDed it correctly. Song sparrow? IDed that and also a passing crow cawing by. Red eyed vireo? Same. Can't wait to try it when I next hear an unfamiliar song.
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MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
So I've been playing around with Merlin a bit more, and finally used it on a bird call that I absolutely didn't know. I mean, I recognized it; I hear it in the woods around here all the time. I knew it was from a thrush, but couldn't figure out which species exactly - trying to listen to a bunch of recordings of different species just confused me. It's something I'm really bad at.
But the app identified the singer of what I was calling Techno Flute: the hermit thrush. And now that I had that confirmed, I could listen to recordings to really cement that in my brain.
Anyway, here's the Techno Flute of the hermit thrush:
Birds have voiceboxes that are branched, so they can make two separate sounds at once.
It's called a syrinx, and not all birds utilize it to its fullest, but some can harmonize with themselves, and/or make the ethereal sounds of many thrush species.
So I've been playing around with Merlin a bit more, and finally used it on a bird call that I absolutely didn't know. I mean, I recognized it; I hear it in the woods around here all the time. I knew it was from a thrush, but couldn't figure out which species exactly - trying to listen to a bunch of recordings of different species just confused me. It's something I'm really bad at.
But the app identified the singer of what I was calling Techno Flute: the hermit thrush. And now that I had that confirmed, I could listen to recordings to really cement that in my brain.
Anyway, here's the Techno Flute of the hermit thrush:
Birds have voiceboxes that are branched, so they can make two separate sounds at once.
It's called a syrinx, and not all birds utilize it to its fullest, but some can harmonize with themselves, and/or make the ethereal sounds of many thrush species.
Birds are cool.
As I was reading and listening to this post some bird was starting to sing outside our window. We'll I guess now I know we have thrushes here in the city.
Probably just a common blackbird though.
Sidenote? Why are new world blackbirds even called blackbirds? They are so colourful!
honovere on
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MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
Sidenote? Why are new world blackbirds even called blackbirds? They are so colourful!
There are a lot of new world birds that were named after not at similar or related old world species because whatever dude shot them first thought they resembled some species from Europe. Orioles in the Americas for instance are named after old world orioles, except that New World orioles are icterids (New World blackbirds)
(example: Baltimore oriole, icterid/New World blackbird)
and not at all closely related to Old World orioles - they just also happened to be orange/yellow and black.
(example: Eurasian golden oriole, in the actual oriole family)
Same with European robins
(Passerine/songbird, most closely related to old world flycatchers)
and then American robins
(Thrush, and also notably larger and a different shape and really the colors don't match all that much and I am really just extremely confused as to how they called this sucker a robin)
and then Australasian robins, which at least are slightly more closely related to European robins than thrushes, though not by much:
(Pink robin, which is also at least a similar size and shape)
Tl;dr: Bird naming conventions are often really stupid.
LowHitPointsSword of the AfternoonMichiganRegistered Userregular
My son reading our hens a book about haircuts. 2020 was a weird one...
To bring this back to birds, backyard chickens are the best. Fresh eggs, on site pest control (turning over an ant hill is like breaking open a pinata to them), and endless fun for the kids to chase. While very common, chickens are A+ birds.
Hey, fianlly got out my telephoto camera lensand I want to start doing bird pics.
We've got a good sized yard but I'd like to get a freestanding bird feeder, any recommendations?
If just one, one with sunflower seeds. Do you have a lot of squirrels around? Something to baffle 'em if they are. Also, place it nearish some cover like trees and bushes because birds don't like venturing out too far from safety.
Hey, fianlly got out my telephoto camera lensand I want to start doing bird pics.
We've got a good sized yard but I'd like to get a freestanding bird feeder, any recommendations?
If just one, one with sunflower seeds. Do you have a lot of squirrels around? Something to baffle 'em if they are. Also, place it nearish some cover like trees and bushes because birds don't like venturing out too far from safety.
Adding to the good advice, in my experience, hardware store will have better prices on like a huge bag of sunflower seed than the grocery store will. Also screw squirrels, they are unconquerable menaces if you cant put the feeder truly out of reach. I swear ours developed a taste for the cayenne pepper I coated the (still in the shell) sunflower seeds in. A couple days of them wiping their paws in the grass followed by them either learning a trick to be more careful or just becoming spice perverts like humans. I wouldn't have done it at all but they eat SO. MUCH. SEED. compared to the birds. I finally gave up and shelled out for one of these: (link in spoiler cause big)
and it actually worked quite well to deter the squirrels. Then they learned they could leap on it which would disturb things enough to spill the seed and that was that really.
If you are pondering more than one feeder, I think bang for the buck wise it would go: Sunflower seeds, then either finch feeder (with nyjer seed) or suet feeder, depending on if you have/want finches or jays/woodpeckers more, and then the other one. I feel like hummingbird feeders are kind of their own deal due to the extra cleaning required, though they aren't all that bad if you keep up with it.
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valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
I have done everything I can to keep squirrels off my feeders. They always find ways around it.
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
My great/great aunts had one of those! Right outside their sliding glass door. They were an amazing, older duo, literally the comedy set up of one going blind and the other going deaf, I helped care for them for a while as a shitty teenager. They had TONS of feeders, and the one loosing her sight could identify just about any bird song (they had a CD with a couple hundred on it, I could hit random and she'd hit about 90%+.) and the sighted one obviously had things a little easier being able to see the feeders, though I couldn't check her as easily. Anyway, they both were brought great joy whenever you'd hear or see the *WHUMP* that meant a squirrel had gone for the seed again and been tossed into the glass door. I didn't love cleaning the streaks but such is life. That thing did eat batteries but it was also early 2000's, could have come quite a ways since then.
Hey, fianlly got out my telephoto camera lensand I want to start doing bird pics.
We've got a good sized yard but I'd like to get a freestanding bird feeder, any recommendations?
If just one, one with sunflower seeds. Do you have a lot of squirrels around? Something to baffle 'em if they are. Also, place it nearish some cover like trees and bushes because birds don't like venturing out too far from safety.
Adding to the good advice, in my experience, hardware store will have better prices on like a huge bag of sunflower seed than the grocery store will. Also screw squirrels, they are unconquerable menaces if you cant put the feeder truly out of reach. I swear ours developed a taste for the cayenne pepper I coated the (still in the shell) sunflower seeds in. A couple days of them wiping their paws in the grass followed by them either learning a trick to be more careful or just becoming spice perverts like humans. I wouldn't have done it at all but they eat SO. MUCH. SEED. compared to the birds. I finally gave up and shelled out for one of these: (link in spoiler cause big)
and it actually worked quite well to deter the squirrels. Then they learned they could leap on it which would disturb things enough to spill the seed and that was that really.
If you are pondering more than one feeder, I think bang for the buck wise it would go: Sunflower seeds, then either finch feeder (with nyjer seed) or suet feeder, depending on if you have/want finches or jays/woodpeckers more, and then the other one. I feel like hummingbird feeders are kind of their own deal due to the extra cleaning required, though they aren't all that bad if you keep up with it.
Also, just in springtime so a little late to try this year (assuming northern hemisphere), you could try half an orange stuck through a branch. It can attract a wide array of birds that don't normally visit a seed feeder, though on a more temporary basis. Of course, it's also a lot less infrastructure to set up.
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valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
Not birds, but these guys eat more of the seed than the birds. And we use those seed blocks. We used to use loose seed, but they would throw it on the ground faster than this stuff.
Doves have multiple sets of offspring in a year? I had no idea.
Depends.. In germany, there's the rock dove, and these are basically offspring of escaped pets and breeding animals..
And these breed ALWAYS. Like, they breed as often as they can. They tried cutting food supply in some cities, but it turned out they breed the about same amount, only the young go hungry...
Then there various wild dove types, and those seem to breed way less, some just once or twice a year.
Posts
Also love this vibe
I really wish fighter jets weren't incredibly expensive engines of death and destruction, because purely as examples of human ingenuity and design they are rad as hell
I just tested it out the last couple days when I heard familiar bird songs that I recognized. Chipping sparrow being chippy in a tree? It IDed it correctly. Song sparrow? IDed that and also a passing crow cawing by. Red eyed vireo? Same. Can't wait to try it when I next hear an unfamiliar song.
But the app identified the singer of what I was calling Techno Flute: the hermit thrush. And now that I had that confirmed, I could listen to recordings to really cement that in my brain.
Anyway, here's the Techno Flute of the hermit thrush:
Birds have voiceboxes that are branched, so they can make two separate sounds at once.
It's called a syrinx, and not all birds utilize it to its fullest, but some can harmonize with themselves, and/or make the ethereal sounds of many thrush species.
Birds are cool.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Tch, figures.
As I was reading and listening to this post some bird was starting to sing outside our window. We'll I guess now I know we have thrushes here in the city.
Probably just a common blackbird though.
Sidenote? Why are new world blackbirds even called blackbirds? They are so colourful!
There are a lot of new world birds that were named after not at similar or related old world species because whatever dude shot them first thought they resembled some species from Europe. Orioles in the Americas for instance are named after old world orioles, except that New World orioles are icterids (New World blackbirds)
(example: Baltimore oriole, icterid/New World blackbird)
and not at all closely related to Old World orioles - they just also happened to be orange/yellow and black.
(example: Eurasian golden oriole, in the actual oriole family)
Same with European robins
(Passerine/songbird, most closely related to old world flycatchers)
and then American robins
(Thrush, and also notably larger and a different shape and really the colors don't match all that much and I am really just extremely confused as to how they called this sucker a robin)
and then Australasian robins, which at least are slightly more closely related to European robins than thrushes, though not by much:
(Pink robin, which is also at least a similar size and shape)
Tl;dr: Bird naming conventions are often really stupid.
One of our Swedish Flower Hens getting ready for the day.
My son reading our hens a book about haircuts. 2020 was a weird one...
To bring this back to birds, backyard chickens are the best. Fresh eggs, on site pest control (turning over an ant hill is like breaking open a pinata to them), and endless fun for the kids to chase. While very common, chickens are A+ birds.
We've got a good sized yard but I'd like to get a freestanding bird feeder, any recommendations?
This explains so much about how the local oriole (black-naped) has like zero physical resemblance to orioles in the US
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
If just one, one with sunflower seeds. Do you have a lot of squirrels around? Something to baffle 'em if they are. Also, place it nearish some cover like trees and bushes because birds don't like venturing out too far from safety.
Adding to the good advice, in my experience, hardware store will have better prices on like a huge bag of sunflower seed than the grocery store will. Also screw squirrels, they are unconquerable menaces if you cant put the feeder truly out of reach. I swear ours developed a taste for the cayenne pepper I coated the (still in the shell) sunflower seeds in. A couple days of them wiping their paws in the grass followed by them either learning a trick to be more careful or just becoming spice perverts like humans. I wouldn't have done it at all but they eat SO. MUCH. SEED. compared to the birds. I finally gave up and shelled out for one of these: (link in spoiler cause big)
If you are pondering more than one feeder, I think bang for the buck wise it would go: Sunflower seeds, then either finch feeder (with nyjer seed) or suet feeder, depending on if you have/want finches or jays/woodpeckers more, and then the other one. I feel like hummingbird feeders are kind of their own deal due to the extra cleaning required, though they aren't all that bad if you keep up with it.
My great/great aunts had one of those! Right outside their sliding glass door. They were an amazing, older duo, literally the comedy set up of one going blind and the other going deaf, I helped care for them for a while as a shitty teenager. They had TONS of feeders, and the one loosing her sight could identify just about any bird song (they had a CD with a couple hundred on it, I could hit random and she'd hit about 90%+.) and the sighted one obviously had things a little easier being able to see the feeders, though I couldn't check her as easily. Anyway, they both were brought great joy whenever you'd hear or see the *WHUMP* that meant a squirrel had gone for the seed again and been tossed into the glass door. I didn't love cleaning the streaks but such is life. That thing did eat batteries but it was also early 2000's, could have come quite a ways since then.
I didn’t realize they were so ravenous. I’ll probably stick with one and get the bulk sunflower seed from the hardware store.
That feeder with the rotating base is hilarious.
Also, just in springtime so a little late to try this year (assuming northern hemisphere), you could try half an orange stuck through a branch. It can attract a wide array of birds that don't normally visit a seed feeder, though on a more temporary basis. Of course, it's also a lot less infrastructure to set up.
If you rotate the image 180 degrees you will see that it is in fact a squirrel
Sibling not pictured.
This is momma dove's 3rd pair of birds this summer in that nest.
Depends.. In germany, there's the rock dove, and these are basically offspring of escaped pets and breeding animals..
And these breed ALWAYS. Like, they breed as often as they can. They tried cutting food supply in some cities, but it turned out they breed the about same amount, only the young go hungry...
Then there various wild dove types, and those seem to breed way less, some just once or twice a year.