Bgame is for the birds

A friend turned me onto an app that has brought a lot of enjoyment lately.  Cornell Lab's Merlin uses your phone's microphone to record bird calls and references their database to identify the bird.  Thus far, in my very bird-friendly yard it has identified:

Dark-eyed Junco        Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Oak Titmouse            Nuttall's Woodpecker

Bewick's Wren            Lesser Goldfinch

Canadian Goose         House Finch

Steller's Jay               Bushtit

American Crow

I haven't bothered to record the Mourning Doves that have been around for several years and mating seasons or the random Seagull that flies by.  And while you are looking up in the sky, another app to enjoy is Flightradar24.  It maps the aircraft in the area, and you can click on any of them and see the flight number, origin, time en route, altitude, etc.  All of the airliners that fly south over Bgame and make a U-turn in the South Bay to land on 28 L & R show up nicely.

Comments

[John J. Audubon]

If you venture near Burlingame's City Hall I suspect you will easily encounter yet another local bird: The Cuckoo.

[Joe]

An article in the Merc whose link just won't seem to post reminds me that we have a lot of hummingbirds in the yard as well. They just don't seem to make any sounds, so they don't appear on the Merlin app.

The Merc article was about a giant moth:

White-lined sphinx moths are important pollinators — and in their caterpillar stage can be plant pests — that range through most of the U.S. down to Central America. They forage during the day and have wingbeats as fast as 70 beats per second, fooling predators into thinking they actually are birds. And they seem to be out in unusual abundance this summer, judging from reports from Marin and beyond.

[Jennifer Pfaff]

Ours make a nice little chirp noise, sometimes accompanied by aggressive movements, seems to do the trick to tell competing "flocks" to stay away from the fountain or a particular plant.

[Fugit All]

Listen for Great Horned Owl calls on some quiet nights west of ECR

[Joe]

Just what we needed.....................

8 dead birds test positive in county for West Nile in San Mateo County

A total of eight dead birds have tested positive for West Nile virus in San Mateo County, putting vector control officials on alert and warning residents to stay diligent to prevent the spread of the disease.

Four birds were found in Menlo Park, two in Redwood Shores, one in Burlingame and one in San Carlos.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/8-dead-birds-test-positive-in-county-for-west-nile-in-san-mateo-county/article_24a0221a-5c0d-11ee-8723-abfb99bba24f.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1695736807&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline