by Loti | Mar 8, 2014 | Australia, Birds, United States
Sydney, Australia. Pretty cool birds. But what are they? Surely there is an internet app for identifying birds. Well, of course! Actually the one I found and like is the Merlin Bird app produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Covering 285 species, I identified my first birds using it this week, wild turkeys walking across the road in North Carolina. It is easy enough for a child to use (just my speed) and sends info to Cornell who uses it to track bird populations. So I am helping science while birding, my new favorite sport. And move over all you football fans. According to the US Fish and Wildlife services, birding is the #1 sport in the US (maybe a little biased). And it is free! Just look outside and no matter where you are, there are birds. Some 10,000 species worldwide. And the Merlin app is also free. Sweet! Well, the birds pictured are Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, only found in the wild in Australia and New Guinea. We saw them in a local park while visiting Sydney. Now I have 6 birds listed in my new Birder’s Journal. Only 8,393 to go to match Phoebe Snetsinger’s world record of birding, the most of anyone in the world at the time of her death. Well, I better go get...
