Gurl.....ya know..............It's raining at MY house. There's a Hummingbird flitting around....everybody else is hiding out...keeping the babies warm.

Nicole, we could use your rain! It’s been pretty dry here. We had a a short downpour in the middle of the night, but that’s been it. I think it perked up the birds! The sun is out and everything is glistening.

Roxol — WHAT bird ID-er?! I want one.

I know a lot of calls and songs, but there are many I don’t know. And in the earlt spring and summer I get fooled by certain frog calls.

So what is that ID tool and how do you use it? Do I need a parabolic microphone? ;)

Nice nesting box, nicole. A few days ago, in pouring rain, a hummer stopped at my window. I wanted to let him in. I don’t know how they manage in days of cold rain.

Petalique, it’s an app on my phone. It’s called Merlin Bird ID. I’m sure there are others.

No special equipment needed.

I like to use it early in the morning and in the evening just as the sun is setting.

It showed me the difference between a Canada Goose and a Cackling Goose. They almost look identical!

Petalique, we once had a snowstorm in late May right after the hummingbirds showed up. The hummingbird feeder froze solid and I thought that would be it for the poor little things. Nope! They were fine. Apparently, they go into torpor, wait it out, and are good.

I love birds well I love most animals and wildlife for that matter, but birds are really something.

We live in the woods around a lot of wetlands so there’s a lot of birds of different sorts. And unfortunately, I had the silly idea of removing a couple of large red oaks that were close to the house Because I didn’t think I wanted all of the acorns to drop and be feeding the deer mice and rodents that the black legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) gets started on. That was maybe 15 years ago and in those days it seemed like I was constantly pulling deer ticks off me and even had some positive titers.

So I wish I had not cut the oak trees down because the birds would come almost into the upstairs windows, and it gave the west and south southwest side of the house a lot of shade, which no amount of air conditioning can make up for.

Well, I have these recordings on my iPhone or a cap recorder and one of them was of a bird. I never got to see called an indigo bunting.

I played the recording of the bunting from the bathroom window overlooking the oak tree. I am always looking out the window at the woods in the yard and gardens. The next day, when looking out the window, there was this candy-blue bird which I recognized as an indigo bunting. I really was impressed with myself and with that bird. I saw them a few times and once you see a bird or a mushroom that you haven’t recognized before, it’s easy to see them from then on. I had heard of indigo buntings and was always waiting to encounter one and used to ask people what sort of a habitat did they relish. So I was delighted when one came to the tree just feet from the window.

I sure wish I could have those oak trees back. As for the impact on mice and rodents, it might’ve helped had we not continue to feed the birds black oil sunflower (BOS) seeds. Acorns or sunflower seeds the squirrels or mice don’t care.

Below: male indigo bunting — Passerina cyanea

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indigo_Bunting,_male.jpg

🔸https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/indigo-bunting