The above photo is a northern cardinal – Photo by Patrice Bouchard – from unsplash
I’ve been thinking of late – since spring weather has arrived – that I really like hearing birds chirping, and watching flowers come into bloom. Being in nature has always been my happy place and that’s a good place for me right now – and it might be a good place for many of us!!
This morning when I was out with my dog, I heard a lot of birds. I did not see them even though the trees don’t have leaves yet but with the dog around, they stay pretty far away like on the neighbor’s property. But I hear them – and I’m beginning to recognize the sounds of the different birds. Many are new to me!
Here is a recording from this morning.
I use the Merlin app [https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org]  which identifies by sound or photo and it told me those sounds today came from:
Northern cardinal, Carolina wren, European starling, Dark-eyed Junco, Tufted titmouse, Red-winged blackbird, Blue jay, White-breasted nuthatch, Red-bellied woodpecker, and Cedar waxwing/// WOW!!Â
On my phone, when I replay the sound recording, it shows a picture and gives the name of the bird making the sound. It does that also while it’s recording, but this way I can listen afterwards and match sounds with pictures because occasionally I do see the birds – when I don’t have my dog out there with me.Â
And a few hours after hearing the birds, my tulips started blooming.
I love Tulips and listening to the Birds is so fun I will have to check out the app you use to identify the Birds we hear which would have been a wondaful tool when we were Homeschooling.
Yesterday it was snowing here with the temperatures around freezing. The roads were very slippery. It rained most of the night and the air warmed gradually through the night. By Noon the sun was shining and the temperatures had reached 15c (60F). Some of the early travelling birds like the robins, juncos and red wing blackbirds have arrive back for the summer.
The blue jays and cardinals stay through the winter. We used to have a bird feeder that attracted them to the yard but we were told that does not help the birds so we removed it. We have found that there are fewer mice around the property now so it was probably attracting them too.
Don’t know where you are. I’m in Virginia and not that long ago. It was below freezing. We had a lot of snow this winter but it’s warmed up enough that the birds are here and the flowers are blooming. Thank you for your comment. I don’t do birdfeeders because I usually have cats my old cat died last summer and I haven’t gotten another cat yet but cats and birdfeeders don’t mix – and like you, I’ve heard there are issues with feeding the birds.
I love seeing the birds, too. Today, I saw an osprey, a great egret, a few turkey vultures, a canvasback duck, red winged blackbirds, northern cardinals, and a few more. And nature, for sure, is my happy place. One of these days, I’ll get that merlin app. Right now, I just have a plant identification app, which I’m pointing at every flower I see. Which means I’m not using it much because very little has bloomed here. Maybe later. I’m just excited to see green things pop out of the ground. But there’s still ice floating in the river. The spring is very young.
I have a plant ID app as well and I point it at everything – it’s sometimes wrong – more wrong than the Merlin app. Merlin takes up a lot of real estate on your phone, but it’s really a good app. Thank you for your comment. I enjoy being outdoors as we had a rough winter. I don’t mind snow but this year I minded it. It reminded me of when I lived in New England and finally got tired of snow. My dog liked it, but I got a little bit annoyed with the amount and the length of time it was on the ground as well as the very low temps – so I’m really enjoying spring right now.
It makes me happy to hear the birds sing, too. Too early for tulips here but happy to see nice photos of them.
the tulips surprised me they bloomed. I knew they were blooming, but they popped open very quickly this morning so I took the picture. Other things are beginning to pop up too. I’m sure by the middle of summer when it gets very hot I won’t enjoy being outside, but until then, I will be there as much as possible. Thank you for your comment.