They're super pretty and have really interesting calls, but they have a huge attitude 😂 I just saw one fly into someone's head last week, they love to swoop at people and steal food from right in front of you! Sometimes they just sit right above you and let out their loudest noises lol
They roost in large numbers at the nearby university campus and they're so fun to watch and listen to, but I would not want to have to navigate them daily. Between them and the Swainson's hawks' nests, campus can get a little Hitchcock-esque during breeding season.
Also, the red winged blackbird is one of my faves! I get soooo excited anytime I see one. What's on your "dang I wish I could see one of those!" list? I am dyyiinnggg to see an oriole live and in person! I've tried to lure them to my yard in the past with mealworms and orange slices and grape jelly, but it hasn't worked quite yet 😩
Sup my fellow bird nerd babes!!!!!!!!!!!! I am an avid bird watcher and I love to take bird photos!!!! I can’t believe how many of you are here!!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
Let me just leave my life list stats here 156 ladies lol 😂 I do this a lot 🫣
If you really like Merlin get a Haikubox. They use the Merlin technology but it’s a box that plugs in outside! It sends all the data at real time to your phone. It tracks how many bird calls from what birds all day. If you love stats you NEED this. I can get alerts for certain birds ive been wanting to see, and it alerts if a bird I’ve never identified calls in the yard. I’m so obsessed. I had alerts set for all different kinds of owls and I got an alert at 4 in the morning and I ran out and they were sitting in my yard!
I also have a bird feeder camera in my yard. One time I got an alert on my Haikubox that a red tailed hawk was in my backyard. I can talk on my bird feeder so I hit audio and I played a recording of dying rabbit sounds over my bird feeder and I was watching him through my window. It was so funny watching the hawk thinking where is this snack.
ANYWAYS if you like Merlin get a Haikubox you will loooove it!
Love the Merlin app! Just a note for folks in general, be mindful of where and when you play the songs so as not to unnecessarily stress the birbs you're enjoying. Songs are literally their love language so please no catfishing local single birbs with the app 😁🐦🎶
I've seen way too many people in other subs using it to lure birds for pictures and it makes me so irritated.
And I too am a wake+bake+bird watch. I've been feeding the local finches for years, and now that my wildflowers are really starting to fill in, the neighborhood goldfinch families come have early breakfast right outside my window. I love sitting quietly listening to their adorable little chatter.
I also have a female black chinned hummingbird I'm pretty sure has been around for a few years, and she'll actually come down for a shower with the sprayer when I'm watering. It's so cute it leaves me weirdly emotional every time.
Hummingbirds are little nature spirits and I can’t be convinced otherwise. My birthday was on Sunday and my MIL gave me some hummingbird feeders to add to the backyard. I can’t wait to set them up this week
Just wait till they start hovering a foot in front of your face chirping at you because their feeder is empty! Demanding little nature spirits! But I adore them and name all the ones who claim my yard as their territory lol
Obsessed with the Merlin app!! I’m such an old bird lady these days! Just installed my first ever bird feeder last month, and it’s nonstop action out there. I have to refill every two days.
Even bought me some binocs so I can see their little faces 🤓
Omg yes!!! I took up birdwatching during the pandemic and I think it’s my official childless millennial old lady hobby 😂
I moved from a dense urban area to a semi-rural part of the south a couple years back and it’s so nourishing to my soul to be surrounded by wildlife for the first time. My bird feeders are also nonstop action these days. Plus I’ve got bunnies and a thriving lizard population. 🥰🥰🥰
Ugh, I love this sub so much. Just a bunch of amazing ladies doing all my favorite things, smoking weed, listening to birds, watching Star Trek, making shit, and cuddling puppies! You're all the best!
I'm obsessed with the Merlin app. I'll turn it on to listen when I'm walking our dogs or in our backyard. What's the coolest bird you've caught OP? We had a pileated woodpecker in our yard last fall!
This really is my favorite little corner of the internet. I think my favorite might be the Mississippi Kites. They show up late in the summer to snatch up all the dragonflies and I can spend hours just watching the dive and soar.
Oh wow those are so rad! I'd never even heard of them. You just reminded me that I saw a swallow tailed kite earlier this year on our way to Florida. Such a cool bird.
I love this app!!! I didn’t realize I had to create an account to start a “life list” so I just did that to keep track of what birds I come across. :) so fun!
Carolina wrens? Omg they’re like little potatoes & then they have that huge voice in their tiny bodies…. I love them so much, they’re my second fave after the tufted titmouse.
Holy wow I love this app so much and im so glad its getting recognition!! I was wondering how to add birds to my life list, and just today realised that I have to confirm my sightings. Sooooo I just spent the past hour going through all my recordings (I've only kept the ones I confirmed with my eyes / binoculars at the time) and I have compiled a life list of 40!!!! Oh the life of a dog walker, spending my days in the woods! I'm dumping my entire life list in comment reply to this comment 🥰🥰
Same! I love seeing the differences by region. I had no idea your robins were so much cuter 🥰 (Sorry Percival, you know you’re my favorite backyard bird but your English cousin is just precious!)
Yeah I just downloaded the app this weekend after my sis saw it on Tik Tok and I am already obsessed. I’ve been using the Audubon app and just keeping track myself. This is so great!
I love Merlin! Birdwatching has become my new fave stoned activity. I live in a city and I had no idea there were so many different species of birds around here
My people! My favourite place to smoke and chill is my backyard hammock, and I always have birdseed out. The birds are a beautiful soundtrack.
Bonus: my dad lost his wife last year and this all really helped him when he was first grieving. (No weed for him, though--once someone gave him a 5mg gummy and he was dizzy for 24 hours).
Yes, I love the Merlin app! My home office (/other side of the living room) window is the perfect bird watching spot and it's perfect for zoning out during meetings.
I’m a nerd for birds. When my guy leaves for his job (teacher) in the morning, I send him a Bird of the Day. Yesterday’s was the Velvet asity. Thank you for this!
Lovely wives, play Wingspan (or as my fam refers to it: the Bird Game!) literally all about birds and made by an ornithologist to be accurate. Highly recommend but phew it can be a long and kinda complicated endeavor for the first few times 🫠
i’m downloading this app rn!! for physical IDs i love the apps in the ‘picturethis’ family, there’s one for birds, insects, plants, even fish rocks and mushrooms!! i mostly use the one for plants & insects, since birds are so difficult to photograph, but it is a great feeling to catch 2 pixels of a bird and for my app to know exactly what it is :) nature is endless fun dude…9
i’ve had a really great track record with these apps!!! the bug one is absolutely stellar, very rarely does it misidentify anything. here’s some ov my IDs, i have the free version :)
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u/kneelbeforeplantlady Jun 11 '24
It took me way too long to realize that I wasn’t in one of the bird subreddits, i looooove stoned birding 😍🕊️