Page 45 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2020

Backyard Birds
Deliver Some Park Benefits to Us
By Lisa Hug
Many of us are confined to our homes and immediate neighborhoods during
this challenging time. The kids are home and all the parks are closed. This seems like an impossible time to
observe nature or birds. But, this
sets up a great opportunity to
observe and discover the variety of birds that live near us.
and pencil. I recommend using both. Each day should have an entry. The entry should start off with the date and weather conditions. After that, the journal keeper writes down all of the animal and plant observations of the
There are several ways that
we can observe the birds in our immediate area. The simplest way is to just look out the window. You don’t need any equipment. Sure, binoculars would be helpful, but many birds are large enough to see without magnification. Or, you can sit in your garden and watch what appears over time.
You might be amazed.
This can be a family activity. Every family member can learn together. There are some very simple backyard field guides and lots of online resources. You might try the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “Backyard Birds of Western North America.” This is a folding pamphlet rather than a book, so it is much easier to use than a larger field guide. However, don’t worry too much if you cannot identify every bird in your back yard.
Spring is nesting season and this is a great time to observe bird behavior. Birds are busy now gathering nesting material and constructing nests. If you see a bird carrying sticks or other materials, they are taking the materials to a nest site. See if you can track the bird and find the nest. If you do happen to find a nest, please observe it from a respectable distance. Getting too close may discourage the parents from approaching the nest with food, or it may alert predators to the nest location.
There are songs and other
In fact, many different kinds of birds have their own “languages.” If you are lucky enough to have a colony of Acorn Woodpeckers in your neighborhood, these birds have a fascinating array of sounds. Each sound has a specific meaning.
day. Or, the journal keeper can specialize
in some sort of natural history – birds, or insects, flowers, wherever his/her strongest interest lies.
There are many things to observe while watching birds.
interest. Drawings and photographs are all helpful. Hand-drawings can be uploaded into electronic journal pages. A daily blog can be an interesting way to keep track of bird sightings.
sounds to learn.
Here are a few online resources that can be helpful with this activity:
Inaturalist.org is a site where anyone can submit a photograph to the group and someone will offer identification. If two people offer the same identification, the ID is confirmed and you can learn about what you are observing and contribute a scientific record simultaneously.
Allaboutbirds.org is Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s site for identifying birds. It also links to Merlin ID, which is a fantastic identification app to have on a phone, or other portable device.
Luckily, birds are everywhere, so even if we need to stay sheltered in place, we can still observe birds. And, we can do it with a level of detail that allows us to understand our avian neighbors.
American Crows are very
social animals and they have a huge “vocabulary.” Some of their sounds are warning calls about predators, they may be calling to
a mate, or they may be calling to organize a group gathering. See
if you can decode some of this “language” by noting the behavior that follows each sound made by a Crow or Acorn Woodpecker.
This can be a social activity as different bloggers can compare notes on what is being seen in the different neighborhoods and gardens.
The entries should include numbers seen, any behavioral interactions observed, or anything of
This is a good time to encourage nature journaling to children and youth. This skill can be practiced either on an electronic device or with an old-fashioned notebook
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