Name That Tune

Always look on the bright side Honey Moons & Circuits

Name That Tune

I may have mentioned here or there that I live on a hill surrounded by acres of wildness. The land around my home actually consists of several complex biomes, that is, I am surrounded by natural communities with specific and particular plant and animal species living in them. I have just about everything here in this corner of my state– oak hickory woodlands and barrens, savannas and prairie. I’m also surrounded by wetlands, bogs, marshes, and rivers. Everything else tying these biomes together is tucked in between. Rolling farm lands and pastured hillsides are my neighbors. I won’t linger on the gravel pits and urban sprawl just minutes away from my door.

We have so many birds here from rare to common, both large and small, colorful and drab. And I have my favorites. Were I to make a life list, one of those check it off when you see it, lists of birds, I’d have just shy of 400 species in the acres around my home. Some live year round, some are just passing through. Most come to nest and raise a brood or two before flying north or south for the winter. We even have bald eagles and whooping cranes on occasion. It’s worth mentioning how several years back, the guy who flies the ultra light aircraft with the whooping cranes followed the flock here. What a job he has. The birds bedded down for the night beside the marsh and we took him to dinner. I just love when people share their stories and add to the tapestry of my life. My husband and I both collect stories. Retelling them keeps them alive. :)

Have you ever heard a bird song and wondered what kind of bird was singing?

You’ve probably guessed by now, given my wide range of interests, that I am a life-long learner. I just love learning new things. One of the nicest things about my husband is he understands this about me and goes to lengths to find new things we can share. When he came across a terrific online program designed to teach how to identify bird songs quickly, he sent me the link with one sentence — “Look up potoo.”

lol You don’t hear that everyday!

This nifty tutorial, one of several interesting bird-related things from Cornell Lab of Ornithology , quickly teaches you how to identify bird song by giving you a visual graph to compare to the sound you’re hearing. This thing is very cool. In the end, you should be able to identify at least 50 birds by their songs.

I haven’t discovered just yet if this tutorial can be set up to learn the birds by region. The South American Potoo sounds great (and looks freaky), but bird songs east of the Mississippi would serve me better.

If you enjoy wild birds, give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.

http://biology.allaboutbirds.org/features/bird-song-hero/bird-song-hero-tutorial

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For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Clichés.

There are 95 entries to come.

Here’s a cliché for today:

Birds of a feather flock together

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Today is Author Cindy Spencer Pape’s blog day.

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

The June contest is on Romance Books ’4′ Us and the theme is wedding. This month’s contest will have 2 winners who’ll each receive a $50 gift card for Amazon/B&N and a $10 gift card toward books from Secret Cravings Publishing. The rest of the prizes will be split between winners (randomly chosen by RB4U). http://www.romancebooks4us.com

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Love Waits in Unexpected Places - Scorching Samplings of Unusual Love Stories