DIY CLB ID

It's been no secret that Tammy and I both enjoy hearing, seeing and recognizing the wild birds that make the Genuine Faux Farm their seasonal home.  There are even a few wild birds that appear to consider this place their year-round home too.  

We feel as if our farm has been getting an increasing amount of variety over the years, largely because we have been allowing some places to be wild and we have added a little more diversity in the landscape around us.  But we also need to be truthful with ourselves that some of the added diversity might simply be because we did not know enough to identify some of the birds.

We still call many of the smaller wild birds "CLBs," which stands for "Cute Little Bird."  These critters are often hard to spot, and when you do, they are often backlit so you only see a silhouette.  Or, even more likely, they move so much amidst the leaves that you aren't going to get much more than a glimpse of them.  So, unless they are extremely bright and have an easy to spot characteristic that identifies them, we're not going to be sure what we have just observed.

photo from wikimedia commons

Tammy added the Merlin Bird ID app to her phone recently and we've enjoyed just letting the audible identification system give things a try.  We recognize that the microphone has limited abilities to pick things up and the app itself may have a tough time picking out one song out the clamor that often fills our ears in the mornings around here.  That might be because we have birds like Mr. Wren belting out his tune so often and frequently that it is difficult to hear anyone else in the choir.  Between him and the Common Sparrows that like to try and nest near the windows of our house, it is a wonder that the app picks anything else up.

We've also been going to the Sweet Marsh Wildlife Area to view the birds there.  Of course, we give ourselves the chance to see Sandhill Cranes, American White Pelicans and Trumpeter Swans when we go there.  Of those, only the Sandhill Cranes have been spotted near the farm unless it is a flyover during migration.  These are often just short trips where we sit in the car or truck with the windows down and enjoy the sights and sounds.  We don't quite get into it like Kip Ladage, who captures so many amazing bird images.  Both of us are fascinated by Belted Kingfishers, so I grabbed this image from Kip's site.  In a very real way, his willingness to put these photos on the web can help with our own bird ID too! 

One CLB (Cute Little Bird) that we were pleased to identify on our farm with the help of the Merlin Bird ID app is the Yellow Warbler.  We certainly have decent habitat for them, but they aren't going to put themselves right out there for you to see them like a Goldfinch, for example.  It turns out that these little birds might be a bit like a slightly shy House Wren.  Why?  Well, they sing... and they apparently sing a LOT.  Below is a photo from Kip's site (once again, I encourage you to visit!).  And, yes, the bird is singing in that picture.

We're still trying to get some of the songs for newly identified birds into our heads.  This is a bit tougher than you might think - especially when there are so many different birds vying for our attention.

There are some birds that the two of us have known for much of our lives.  The songs of Robins, Cardinals, Killdeer and Blue Jays are imprinted into our memory banks along with their names and how they look.  Other birds have songs that just seem to stick with you once you get it identified, such as the Common Yellowthroat.  Others are pretty insistent that you learn their song, like the Dickcissel, and yet others are so different that you don't have much choice but to remember once you figure out who it is - like the Ring-necked Pheasant.

But, bird song can be fairly complex and we would be mistaken to think that each bird knows only one tune.  Yes, it is true that they have their favorites, but even Reeeechard (the Dickcissel) will vary his tune a bit - as we noticed this past morning.

Over the past year or so, we can say, without exaggeration, that we have confirmed sightings of 45 to 50 different birds on the farm and found evidence of another five to ten.  This does not count the "fly-overs" of birds like the Great Blue Heron that often uses our place as a marker to go from point A to point B.

But we still have yet to lay eyes on the elusive Yellow Warbler at the farm.  That CLB is out there, we know it!  But will we be able to spot one at the farm this year?  Who knows?  But, I wouldn't be surprised if their mouth is open when we do.