Each summer around our house, we enjoy watching youngsters take a first crack at learning how to bird — how to be a bird, that is! There’s typically a phase where a juvenile bird pecks and pokes at everything in its reach — “Is this food? No… OK, is this food? No… What about this, is this food? No…” Continue reading “Youngsters on the Deck”
Tag: Black-headed Grosbeak
Dawn Chorus at Santa Rosa Creek Trail
Last week, we rose extra early and headed out to enjoy the incredibly rich dawn chorus at Santa Rosa Creek Trail. We arrived at first-light and captured this dawn chorus recording at 5:40 AM – about 10 minutes before sunrise. Feast your ears on this magnificent avian symphony! Continue reading “Dawn Chorus at Santa Rosa Creek Trail”
Our 10 Favorite Bird Audio Recordings From 2020
Recording bird sounds has a been a source of great joy for us, as well as a boon to our birding-by-ear skills. First, making a recording forces us to listen intentionally for much longer than we may have otherwise, which helps commit vocalizations to memory. Then, uploading audio to The Macaulay Library allows us to revisit a recording with the helpful visual addition of its corresponding spectrogram.
In 2020, we uploaded 270 audio recordings to our eBird checklists. We picked our favorites to compile this Top 10 list, presented in chronological order. We hope you enjoy them! Continue reading “Our 10 Favorite Bird Audio Recordings From 2020”
Birdwatching on the Russian River by Kayak
Last week, we headed to Monte Rio for an early morning paddle. At 6:30 AM, a layer of morning mist still covered the glassy water while the sun began to peek above the forest line. Continue reading “Birdwatching on the Russian River by Kayak”
Guerneville’s Dawn Chorus
Undoubtedly, taking in a dawn chorus is one of the more magical birding experiences. In the tranquil period before and during sunrise, while most of the world is fast asleep, springtime birds greet the new day with a bout of singing unmatched during the daylight hours – their voices coalescing into one large, living and breathing, euphonious symphony.
One easily accessible salve for the anxious and painful emotions we’re experiencing right now is a regular dose of the dawn chorus. With that in mind, turn up the volume (or better yet, put headphones on), close your eyes, and enjoy a few dawn chorus recordings as performed by the birds of Guerneville, California.
Continue reading “Guerneville’s Dawn Chorus”
Home-Patch Breeding Bird Activity
Even the most common bird species offer a wealth of fascination if you simply tune in to the minutia of their daily lives. Breeding season is fantastic for observing behavior, as bird activity is bustling. Our dedicated home-patch birding during the pandemic has allowed us to closely follow the progression of breeding activity in our neighborhood. Continue reading “Home-Patch Breeding Bird Activity”