Birdwatching blog and resources

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Using Merlin to Produce an Expected Species List for a Specific Location, on a Specific Day

If you ever head to Texas…

Posted 7/13/2024

The state of Texas has broken down it’s vast land into 9 wildlife zones, and then created ‘trails’ within each one. Each trail is a series of places to stop within one area. On the map on the left, you can see the trail areas for the Lower Texas Coast area in dark green. The dark blue areas are trails within the Central Texas Coast area.

I had such an enjoyable trip to Corpus Christi in March that I’m feeling drawn to return and explore a different area of the state. A good friend always says to me, “Donna, you never know how many May’s we have left!” And with that, I’m considering driving down to the Lower Texas Coast in the winter soon, and this resource is invaluable for planning. This guide, combined with eBird’s hotspot map, is about all you need to ensure a successful first visit to any area in Texas. On a return trip, you may want to head off the beaten path a bit more, at least I would, but for my first visit to this part of the state, this helps ensure I don’t miss anything amazing!

CO TREX!

Posted 6/22/2024

CO TREX is a relatively new tool created from a partnership between Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and Natural Atlas. It’s free, easy to use, and provide a lot of valuable info about back roads and trails. I wanted to do some exploring, but the CO TREX helped me realize the area I was looking at was also used a lot during the summer by off-highway vehicles. I wanted to find out which areas there might be more off-highway vehicles. Notice in the top left corner of the photo, I chose OHV, and then could avoid those areas! I can also choose Hiking, and then see local trails. Colorado has a lot of different types of outdoor recreation, and it’s great to have a lot of information in one place to help with trip planning!

So Many Planning Resources

May 27, 2024

I’ve been wanting to check out some neighboring states, and found this great resource on the Nebraska Birding Guide site. They have a lot of detail, including listing their top 20 birding destinations, sorted by habitat. I started there, but then wanted to see where they were so I could determine which might be day trips, and which would require a few days. There are a lot of choices. I’m eager to head out there!

main page

bird-specific page

All About Birds

All About Birds is a site run by The Cornell Lab and is the best place to get an overview of any specific bird. At the top are tabs for an Overview, ID Info, Life History, Maps, and Sounds.

Free Raptor ID app from Hawkwatch International

This is a fantastic app. It contains more than 1000 photos and detailed descriptions of different raptors and how to ID different aged birds, subspecies, and morphs. The website gives you all the details on downloading the app as well as other great resources.

Sibley v2 app

There are a few things I really like about this field guide. First, it’s only $20. Second, you can download it to your phone so even when you don’t have any service, it’s still available to use. Third, it does a great job helping you know which characteristics of the bird to focus in on for an accurate ID. And finally, it has a button so you can compare two similar species side by side when they are very similar.

Free Merlin Bird ID from Cornell

Merlin is a powerful app that helps you ID bird calls, a bird in a photo, or narrow down an ID using colors and other characteristics of a bird. It was created by Cornell, the same people who made eBird. The video on their website gives you a quick overview of its capabilities. When the sound ID feature first came out, it felt a bit like cheating. And while it’s not 100% accurate, it’s a great tool for improving sound ID by offering confirmation or a suggestion of a call or song you are hearing.

Facebook Groups – Colorado

There are several Facebook groups that I find provide valuable information about birding in Colorado specifically:
1 – Colorado Field Ornithologists Forum
2 – Denver Field Ornithologists
3 – Broomfield Bird Club
4 – Colorado Bird Photography
5 – Colorado Rare Bird Alert

Facebook Bird ID Groups

I find it very helpful to read the experts’ explanations for how they knew a certain bird was one species instead of another. I notice I’ve gotten a lot better at some of the tricky ones after seeing many photos and analyses:
1 – Advanced Bird ID
2 – Raptor ID
3 – Flycatchers of North America
4 – North American Warbers/ Warbler
Crazy
5 – North American Gulls

Facebook – Other Birding Groups

Here are a handful of other groups I follow and have interesting and useful information related to birding and being a better birder:
1 – ABA Rare Bird Alert
2 – eBird Community Discussion Group
3 – Pelagics. Seabirds birding worldwide

Scott Rashid on Small Mountain Owls

Scott is the Director of the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute, a non-profit he runs. CARRI focuses on research and rehabilitation of birds, particularly raptors. Scott does extensive banding and research in the Estes Park area, as well as paintings of birds. In this video, Scott talks about his work and shares his knowledge about small mountain owls. It’s conversational, local, and insightful!

© Donna Stumpp 2024 …………….. donna.stumpp@gmail.com ………………… All rights reserved.