[Tweeters] Upping my game (sound ID)

[George Miller via Tweeters]

Jim,
I’d like to offer some advice:
When you go birding, try not to spend your time in your phone. Merlin is a
good tool but it’s not as good as your mind.
Spend as much time as you can in the field paying full attention to
everything you see and hear. Don’t worry about identifying everything, but
be super curious. Keep a notebook in your car and write down sightings,
questions that came to mind, notes about the weather, other wildlife seen,
etc.  When you get back home, get on your phone or computer and find the
answers to your questions.
What you are doing here is building up your birding database, which will
serve you well for the rest of your life. It takes time, so have patience
and enjoy!
Regards,
George Miller
Longview




On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 01:34 Rob Faucett via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> Jim -  This is very cool.  And perhaps more  imptly I think it might be

> useful to the Merlin project managers.

>

> Keep it up!!

>

> Rob

> —

> Rob Faucett

> +1(206) 619-5569

> robfaucett at mac.com

> Seattle, WA  98105

>

> On Jul 8, 2024, at 1:16 PM, Jim Betz via Tweeters <

> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>

> 

>

> Hi again,

>

> So here is the latest update on my adventures into birding by ear ...

>

> I went to a location (The "Upland Trail" at Padilla Bay) that I've been

> going to

>

> this summer. I was seeing and hearing about the same number of birds as

>

> before ... and I was there at approximately the same time. This location

> has

>

> a lot of times when you are out in the open (grassy fields) and then also

> a lot

>

> of times when you are in the forest/understory - but also a lot of time

> when

>

> the ability to view/look around is seriously impeded by brush/small trees.

>

> But! Using Merlin it 'found' no less than 38 different species. Of those

>

> 5 or 6 were "uncommon". So using Merlin Sound ID to 'discover what might

>

> be around' is definitely good.

>

> A couple of gotchas however ...

>

> 1) Many of the birds SoundID found were never seen visually. I even spent

>

> quite a bit of time sitting on one of the many benches and watching the

>

> area and my phone to see if I could find the birds visually. I would say

> that

>

> about half were never seen in the entire 2+ hours.

>

> 2) I found it quite disconcerting that SoundId often did not hear bird

> calls

>

> that I was hearing -very- clearly. I could hear the bird calling/singing

>

> but SoundId never flagged them on my phone. It didn't flag anything at

>

> these times.

>

> 3) A lot of the "never seen" birds (see #1) were also flagged ... when I

>

> heard nothing at all. Is my hearing really that bad? I intend to test

>

> this more ... even enlisting the help of others to confirm that they

>

> "heard nothing/something" when I heard nothing and SoundId flagged.

>

> 4) I have added several new (to me) bird songs/calls that I had been

>

> hearing all along - but didn't know which bird it was.

>

> So, overall I am finding SoundID to be a very useful tool for learning bird

>

> songs/calls.

>

> - Jim

>

> P.S. I got a very long look at a nestbox occupied by a family of Tree

> Swallows

>

> where the adults were zooming here and there after insects and then

>

> returning to the box to feed the young bird who had its head stuck out of

>

> the hole and was blocking the entire hole. At one point I briefly thought I

>

> saw a probable second young behind and above its head.

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