Birds and Stuff

One of the true bonuses of bird watching is that you can literally do it anywhere you happen to be at any given moment. Birds are the most mobile creatures on the planet, so they are basically everywhere doing the usual bird stuff. Which is why bird watching is one of the most accessible hobbies you can take up.

So what is the Great Backyard Bird Count?  It is citizen science at its best. Open to everyone, everywhere. Launched and sponsored by The Cornell Lab and Audubon back in 1998, the Great Backyard Bird Count is you, bird watching, recording the species you identify and the numbers you see them in, and providing that information to the sponsors via a smart phone app or your computer.  

As the "Backyard" in the name suggests, you don't have to go anywhere special, you can do this at home. Heck, you could do this from your couch. Or you can go to your favorite birding spot and record your sightings there, it is really up to you.  To participate you will need to decide where you want to take your count, spend at least 15-minutes once a day over the four days of the count, (in 2025 the count is between February 14-17), identify all the birds you see or hear, and then use whichever tool you prefer to report your sightings.  It is that simple.

You are already passionate about birds.  Participating in citizen science projects like the Great Backyard Bird Count is one way you can combine your passion with meaningful action.  That is a win for you and the birds!

If there is one thing we at Bird Fluff love about birds, it is that they come in all shapes, sizes and colors.  If you stop to pay attention, they are everywhere.  But what do you do when you spot a bird you have never seen before?  If you are like us, you stop paying attention to what you were doing, who you were conversing with, or where you are going to try and commit that bird to memory so you can look them up later.  Or you pull out your phone and search in your favorite bird app.

Yes, I said favorite bird app.  Implying that there is indeed more than one bird app on my phone.  Lets just say there are enough bird apps on my phone to justify them having their own folder...

Of the five, yes five, apps I have on my phone, I turn to three of them the most often and for different reasons. 

Audubon

First on my list and by far the one I turn to the most when I'm out on a walk or a hike and I want to identify a bird with reasonable certainty is the classic Audubon app.  This app is completely free, has an easy to use interface and is available on all platforms.  When you open the app you see your bird sighting stats right at the top of the screen.  Each bird species has a detailed profile complete with high quality pictures, recordings of various calls and song, information about habitat, range (including maps), conservation status, diet, nesting and feeding behaviors.  And you can add a sighting either from the home screen of the app or within the bird profile of the bird the app just helped you identify.

eBird by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The second app I turn to on the regular is eBird by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  This isn't so much an identification app as it is a citizen science platform. Like the Audubon app, this app is completely free and available on both iPhone and Android.  eBird is for those times I'm sitting on a park bench watching the local birds, out for a birding walk (aren't those all walks?) or I'm at home on the back deck watching the antics at our bird feeder. 

The point of eBird is to gather sightings of birds in a location during a specific timeframe.  You open the app, start the timer and record the species and number of birds you see, when you are done you add some information about your walk or hike or sit and submit your checklist.  Your data contributes to one of the largest biodiversity-related science projects in the world.  One note of caution.  eBird is serious about the accuracy of the data. When you start a checklist they populate that list with the birds you are most likely to see in your area. If you claim a sighting for a rare, unusual or just plain unlikely bird for your area, you may well get an email from one of their experts politely seeking more information to confirm your sighting.  All we can say is that some of those sparrow/finch sized birds are tricky to ID.

Chirp!

The last app that we love isn't so much about your eyes as it is your ears.  Chirp! developed by iSpiny is a birdsong app available only on iPhone and available to the United States.  Chirp! lets you choose the region of the country you are in and it will show you a list of birds, sorted based on their commonness, in that region.  You tap on the bird and our treated to their typical birdsong and/or bird calls.  Each bird has a high quality picture and a sentence or two about the bird, with links to both Cornell and Wikipedia if you want more information.  Any bird enthusiast will tell you that birding is as much about the ears as it is about the eyes, and we love the simple and accessible interface of Chirp!.  It is especially easy for children to use.  A few words of caution here though.  It is tempting to play the bird calls and see what response you get, but you should avoid doing so during a bird's breeding season as you can distract them from the important work of raising young if they think they need to defend their nests.

 Not Sure Which App is For You?

Try them out.  Most apps are free.  If you don't like one, delete it and switch to another one.  Now go put on your walking shoes and some comfy clothing and get out there.