Robin, it's another robin

[nineveh_uk]

About a year ago, my dad got a birdsong ID app for his phone. My parents are casual birdwatchers, in that they belong to a U3A group, look at birds when they go down to the shore, and belong to the RSPB whose reserves they occasionally visit. They are absolutely not the kind of birdwatchers who keep lists or can identify anything by its song/call.

Nor am I, so when I finally got a new phone that had room for it, I downloaded the free Merlin app (insert "other bird apps are available"), and I love it. No longer do I walk round the square or the park wondering what is twittering out of sight in the hedgerows, my phone can tell me. Admittedly 80% of the twittering seems to be robins and blackbirds, both of which are ubiquitous and noisy, as well as having a range of song so that you think "Surely that isn't a robin as well?" and are wrong, but the other 20% are more interesting. That is a flock of goldfinches regularly hanging out in the tree at the back even though I almost never see them. I would not have noticed the greenfinches in the silver birch had I not known they were there, but when I did, I stopped to look and there they were. Great tits are surprisingly loud, and I don't think I'd ever noticed a chiffchaff before learning they liked a row of willows in the park. Like all ID apps, it can't be relied on 100%, but reviews suggest it is good for common birds in their usual range and that's what you get in suburban southern England. As I'm not yet able to invest the energy on longer walks, or short ones further afield, it's bringing a very enjoyable new dimension to the routine.

Comments

[joyeuce]

I like Merlin, most of the time. I hadn't realised how many different birds we get nearby, nor how loud wrens and dunnocks are. It did irritate me slightly in Cornwall, when it kept insisting that the herring gulls I could see and hear perfectly well were some species that isn't found in the UK!

[nineveh_uk]

Same with surprising me about loud wrens. A big voice for a tiny bird. I think I just saw that same complaint on a message board this morning when I was looking up reviews of it! Yellow-legged gull?

It failed to ID budgies for me, in a cage enjoying the sun in someone's porch.

[joyeuce]

Yes, I think it was yellow-legged gulls. But then I know what a herring gull looks and sounds like, so in a sense I don't need that ID, and it does get most other seabirds.

I was quite amused when it decided the sound of my husband blowing up the paddling pool was a barn owl.

[nineveh_uk]

the sound of my husband blowing up the paddling pool was a barn owl

I am now imagining a new chapter of Plop the Barn Owl.

[white_hart]

If you put out sunflower hearts the goldfinches will flock to them and you will see them much more!

[nineveh_uk]

I should do that.

[(Anonymous)]

I put out de-husked sunflower seeds and they attract loads of goldfinches, so this is an option all year round. I should try merlin - I know we have more kinds of birds in the garden than I'm normally aware of because once a goldcrest flew into the window of my work room and stunned itself, and until then I'd had no idea they were there (I put it in a cardboard box for a few hours to recover from the concussion in a dark, quiet, cat-free environment and it flew away happily when I released it, so the story has a happy ending. And I've always wanted to see a goldcrest. But I do now keep the blinds half shut to prevent any more accidents).

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, I appear to be logged out - this is Azdak.

[nineveh_uk]

I should give sunflower seeds a go. I've found when I have shoved out half a coconut this winter the birds like it a lot more now I hang it on a branch of elder from next door's garden rather than on a pole, so maybe I can tempt some of the local flocks.

Goldcrests are so pretty! I have seen them in the past, but not here. I am glad that yours recovered from its shock and was OK. Fortunately, it is generally fat woodpigeons who hit my windows, which seem robust enough to walk away.

[antisoppist]

I try to stand at the open back door with the app and my morning tea and it is very soothing. Today it was very noisy but apparently all different noises made by house sparrows.

[nineveh_uk]

There are a lot of house sparrows on the neighbouring street, but not so many on mine.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm glad to hear there are still house sparrows around in some areas because I no longer see any at all :-(

[nineveh_uk]

They sit on the corners of the houses and yell at one another.

I have felt very pleased to see lots of starlings around this winter, and then depressed to think that this counts as lots, and that I am pleased to see them rather than going "bloody starlings again" as in the days when Mum always made sure if we went into Leeds on a Saturday that we left before dusk so the car didn't get crapped on.