International Migratory Bird Day

i did get a picture, tried a few times, didn't like how the first batch of pictures came out the second batch i tried something different, worse, so perhaps tomorrow i'll sit out there for a break with the camera and umbrella and a comfy chair and be close enough that perhaps i can get a better picture. the one i have now is ok, but not as clear as it would be nice to have. pretty birds. it was watching me take pictures of itself as it was wondering what i was doing and if i was dangerous or something. no i'm not dangerous to nice little birdies like that one. i hope they come back next year to nest again. perhaps they also eat all the hornets or other bees that live inside that pot belly stove. :)
 
My sister-in-law has an app on her phone where she records bird songs and it tells her what bird it is. I don't know what it's called but with your expertise you should be able to find it. She demonstrated it last week with a white eyed vireo and a prothonotary warbler. I was impressed with how well it picked out even a faint song.
 
Identifying small birds can really be difficult. Little Brown Jobs, LBJ's as Lady Bird Johnson and others have called them :D.

It may be more than ironic that we saw a Flycatcher on that recent trip to the garden. I had just read a somewhat silly story in the local weekly newspaper LINK. The story was about "citizen scientists" trying to identify flycatchers as separate species with almost nothing separating them in appearance and only songs as distinguishing one from the other.

Well, that leaves me out. But, what I am wondering is if this "Cordilleran" Flycatcher is an expanding population and becoming more commonly seen. Honestly, I think the garden visitor was a different species in the group. I didn't notice any "yellowish underparts" but who knows what it was?. And, it's been decades since I kept a list of species seen (or, imagined ;)). That ended when I lost my then bird ID book and list on an expedition and had to buy a new one. All very much pre-internet ...

Steve
 
i've just had some fun watching a killdeer family wandering around the North Garden. two parents plus three babies. in watching them i was able to finally see some behaviors i'd not seen before like the Momma (i'm assuming) calming down and squatting on the ground and then the three babies would all run towards her and hide under. without the window being open i couldn't hear if there was a specific call that she was making at that point or not or if it was a posture driven reaction.

i did get some pictures of her with them underneath or nearby, but none of the pictures are nearly as good as i'd like them to be, but as a reminder of the event they are good enough.
 
We saw the first Goldfinch in the garden. Well, I was in the garden and he was busy pecking seeds out of a weed about 12 feet away. Then, he moved closer, then closer still. With me just standing there, he was about 6-8 feet away :). I tried to get his picture but I'm not used to capturing anything but "still lifes" and "something in the distance" with the phone.

I was expecting to see some birds down on the river for lunch after our stop at a grocery store. Too short a stay but we weren't disappointed with a House Finch showing up. It was easy to make a positive identification.

Nothing at all unusual about these birds but the House Sparrows are too numerous at home and the House Finches will only show up to sing from a high location - and leave after rendering a few verses. And with my hearing, there's no way for me to ID them that way. And, since they are singing so briefly - I couldn't possibly make a recording and use @Ridgerunner 's app suggestion.

The Goldfinches are sometimes in Great Numbers in the garden but this was the first of this season :). I hope the Pine Siskins will be there. With "exceptional drought" one step beyond "extreme drought" wild plants developing seed by late summer 2021 was minimal. This year should be different and all birds may be able to benefit, seed eaters & insect eaters ... predators as well, I suppose. Plants on fallow ground, forests and prairie benefited from the June rain now the birds that rely on them can benefit.

Steve
wearing hearing aids in the garden this morning and the crickets were outrageous!
 
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We get plenty of migratory birds here in winter. The Robins will be back sometime in October or November. Geese and Waxwings too. I used to know the names of most of the different ones but can’t remember now. We have wrens by the front door and Phoebes in the carport. The wrens just left the nest with batch #4 and will probably have at least another 2 before the end of the summer. The Phoebes left the nest with #3 a little over a week ago and will probably have a 4th before summer’s end.
 
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