I happened to be outside this morning at 5:30. It was mostly dark, and the beaver moon was still in the sky. (Did you get to see it last night, all huge and beautiful?) I meandered around a bit, trying to squint and see the plants and seedlings. But then I listened and heard a bird song that I didn’t recognize. 

I tend to notice tiny things like birds and bugs. I don’t claim to be a birder because I’m not that great at identifying birds from sight or sound. (When I’ve been on birding hikes, sometimes I tire of listening to the experts and peering through scopes and just enjoy the birds in my happy ignorance.) But I’m learning, and living in a new place has been fun. There are so many new creatures and critters! 

One of my favorite birds from New England is the Black-capped Chickadee. They are so wee, and I love how they swoop in to grab a seed from a bird feeder and swoop back out to a tree branch to crack it open. And, I love their telltale song – Chicka-dee-dee-dee. They seem to get comfortable with humans, too, and will sometimes eat seed out of your hand or off the brim of your hat. Though I do not have personal experience with this.

In Northern California, we have the Chestnut-backed Chickadee. It looks similar to the Black-capped (at least as far as I can tell with my aging eyes), but it has brown on its back (as one might expect from the name), and it has a different call. Sort of like a bee-boo, bee-boo. (That is my completely unscientific, Kristen interpretation.) They are also incredibly cute.

Being outside just before the sun rose this morning, I thought that maybe I was hearing a bird that calls to its friends before the other birds are awake, when it’s quiet and easy to speak without shouting. (If so, then I completely identify with this bird.)

I pulled my phone out and opened up the Merlin Bird ID app. If you’re a bird person, you likely know all about it. But if you’re someone who sometimes notices birds but has no idea what you’re hearing or seeing, you need this app. Because it has a Sound ID feature. When you tap that, your phone starts recording, and the app listens and identifies what birds you’re hearing. (It also has Step-by-Step ID and Photo ID features, but I tend to use the Sound one the most.)

This morning, I heard a Hermit Thrush. From that link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, it says that Hermit Thrushes rarely visit feeders or backyards. So I feel lucky! It also says that “In the morning, two adults meeting near the nest will greet each other with a pweet pweet call.” Maybe that’s what I heard. (Here’s a beautiful and haunting story about how the Hermit Thrush got its song from the Oneida Indian Nation.) 

On another day, in the late morning, I used the Sound ID feature and identified seven different birds! I was just puttering around in the front yard, enjoying the music, not realizing how many birds were up there in the trees, including two kinds of woodpeckers (Acorn and Nutall’s), a Hutton’s Vireo, a Golden-Crowned Sparrow, an Oak Titmouse, a White-breasted Nuthatch, and a House Finch. 

I live in a pretty highly populated area, next to a parkway and not far from a major interstate highway. There is some forest area nearby, but I definitely don’t live in the woods. So the fact that there were that many birds hanging out in this little piece of land just amazes me! By adding lots of native plants and fruit-bearing bushes, I’m hoping to make it even more of a happy place for them.

So, keep your eyes and ears open, no matter where you live. And, tell me what you discover!

P.S.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology also has a bunch of live bird web cams. I put the one from Sapsucker Woods in Ithaca, New York on our tv in the morning for my cats and I to watch. Seeing the East Coast birds and the changing seasons helps ease my homesickness a little. 🥰