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February 13, 2024
|Downy Woodpecker by Linda Cunico |
For the eighth season in a row, Project FeederWatch and our sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited are rewarding registered FeederWatchers with the chance to win prizes. Celestron has joined the fun by offering one pair of binoculars to each data entry contest winner as well. After entering counts into the FeederWatch website, on the submission confirmation page, participants have the opportunity to share a story, memory, or tip by clicking the “Enter to Win” button. We randomly select two winners per prompt. Our third Data Entry contest prompt this season was:
Who do you like to FeederWatch with? Do you appreciate solitude, or do you watch with a friend?
Congratulations to our winners, Marc Behrendt and Ava Lyerly!
Marc shared:
I prefer to FeederWatch alone. I like the privacy, I like to listen to all the sounds When I am in the field, I prefer being alone, although it is nice once or twice a year to bird with other highly knowledgeable birders.
Sitting in solitude and listening to the sounds of nature can certainly create a serene setting. Cornell’s Merlin Bird ID app can be a helpful identification tool when birding by ear. With the app’s Sound ID feature, Merlin listens to the birds around you and shows real-time suggestions for who’s singing. This is especially helpful if you are hearing a bird that you cannot place. Merlin can also help you sort out different songs if several birds are singing at once. Download the Merlin Bird ID app here.
Ava shared:
Ever since I began birding in 2020, I found it thrilling to learn about all the birds that came to my feeder and that are in my town! I wanted to travel from [eBird] hotspot to hotspot looking for birds, but wasn’t old enough to drive, so my dad would take me. We ended up getting him a pair of binoculars too, and he was immediately hooked! At home, we take turns filling the bird feeders, and his chair is positioned where he can watch the feeders with ease. This FeederWatch season, he wants to learn the birds like I did so that he knows what he is looking at on the feeder. While birding in solitude is great, I love seeing how my dad lights up whenever a nuthatch or Downy Woodpecker shows up at our feeder and he identifies it correctly. The joy of birding is everywhere, and is for everyone!
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has many resources available to assist novice birdwatchers. When you join Project FeederWatch, for example, you can opt to receive our double-sided eastern and western Common Feeder Birds of North America poster – a helpful tool in identifying the birds at your feeder. Cornell’s All About Birds website is an online guide to birds and birdwatching that offers ID help and life history info for 600+ North American species. And, if you want to further advance your knowledge, Cornell’s Bird Academy offers several bird ID and related courses that can help develop your skills.
Thanks to everyone who participated and shared their stories for this prompt – we wish we could share all of your submissions! Read the stories from past winners on our blog. Email feederwatch@cornell.edu with questions. Stay tuned for when we announce our next data entry contest winners on March 12th, 2024.
Interested in becoming a FeederWatcher? Join the fun now!
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