Monday, June 11, 2012

Birding by Call

I come from a family of what I consider to be fairly hard-core birders.  Not "Big Year" types, but still pretty intense.  Due to family circumstances, the younger crowd has sort of dropped off the "intensity" level, but once a birder, always a birder.

A week and a half ago my cousins were here to visit, and we took a hike together.  This was a family hike, where the kids were loud and rowdy.  We were not going with the intent to bird.  But I grabbed my cousin, Tom, and told him, "Tell me the name of every bird you hear."  And so I started my list.

Prairie warbler (saw)
Eastern towhee
Blue-grey gnat catcher
Hooded warbler
Northern perula warbler
Yellow-billed cuckoo
Chimney swift (saw)
Cardinal (Tom didn't bother to name this one, as it was a "common" bird)
Kentucky warbler
Indigo bunting (saw)
Barred owl
Red-eyed vireo
Scarlet tanager
Eastern phoebe

Yes, all these were "found" based on their call.  I could actually still tell you what half of these sounded like.  It was a neat experience.  Thanks, Tom!

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