Last week, one of the authors I follow on Twitter (Ursula Vernon) mentioned a birding app that could ID birds based on song.

I promptly downloaded Merlin, and have been having a blast.

I can just stand in the morning chorus, and it picks out what birds it hears. You can also explore the songs of birds, or look up birds based on appearance and other characteristics. It’s quite wonderful!

I’m going to start doing a weekly bird list. Many of these will be from auditory ID (thanks, Merlin!), but I’ll also include any that I identify visually.

• Anna’s Hummingbird
• Barred Owl
• Brown Creeper
• Brown-Headed Cowbird
• Chickadee, Black-capped
• Chickadee, Chestnut-backed
• Crow, American
• Finch, Purple
• Flycatcher, Pacific Slope
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Goldfinch, American
• Junco, Dark-eyed
• Nuthatch, Red-breasted
• Pine Siskin
• Robin
• Song Sparrow
• Stellar’s Jay
• Towhee, Spotted
• Warbler, Hermit
• Warbler, Wilson’s
• Warbler, Yellow-dumped
• Western Tanager
• Wood Duck
• Wren, Pacific
• Vireo, Warbling

We have had some ups and downs with birds this year, but I was happy to see a Junco feeding its baby yesterday!