Most serious birders have their favorite birding software.  The reasons are many but usually come down to which features each birder considers important to them.  Some want a handy smartphone app that they know they’ll have with them and others want a more complete birding reference that goes beyond quick identification.  Still others use a combination depending on where they are going to be.  Where do you lie on this continuum?

You Need A Quick Bird Identification

You’re out in the field with your smartphone and you spot a species you haven’t spotted.  You’ve not time for loading up a CD and dialing down on all the details that make this spotting likely.  Chances are you’ll use a quick iPhone app like BirdJam.

You Made A List And Need To Research

Maybe you’ve brought your pen and paper and made notes and now you need to be sure you saw what you saw and get more detail on why you saw it.  Then you’ll have time for the computer or CD-based products like Thayer Birding Software or Avisys.

Which Of These Do You Use And When?

Take a look at this brief list of products and leave us a comment telling us which you use and why so we can get a little more insight into the best use of these valuable birding tools.  If you don’t use any of them(old school) let us know that too.

Thayer Birding Software

Yardbirds

Avisys

BirdJam

Wings

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Which Birding Software Do You Use?

My wife and I were just finishing dinner last night when we heard it.  There really wasn’t any commotion in the backyard.  Just the regular robin flock visit.  They do this every night just before dark.  All of a sudden-THUD!  It really didn’t sound very close but it did seem loud.  I’d had mourning doves pecking away at my patio that had been scared by a visiting hawk.  They may barely contact our back door or window trying to get away and I’ve never seen one disabled or dead.  All I can say is this one did not sound like a bird hitting a window.  We went back about our business until I took out my dog an hour or so later.  And then I saw it.

Lying there just beneath the kitchen window was one of this year’s robins.  It still had quite a bit of speckling on its breast.  It was lying there like it was sleeping.  Thank God I didn’t have to watch it die.  It’s bad enough for us that it did but it would tear me up to go out there and see it struggling.

By all indications its end came quickly.  There was one small drop of blood by its beak and its feathers were still nicely preened like it didn’t thrash around before it died.  Again, I can’t be more thankful for this.

It Still Cuts Me Deep

Call me a softy.  I understand the cycle of life and death.  I’m still disturbed when anything man builds or does contributes to a creature’s death.  This is no exception.  How lucky we’ve been in the seven plus years we’ve been feeding birds is little consolation.  This little one is dead and I can’t change that.  That still bothers me.

How Have We Been Blessed?

There is a combination of preparation and divine intervention at work here.  My feeders, water and nest boxes are a good distance from the house.  I rarely feed on my patio because I know a hawk shares this neighborhood.  Our windows all have blinds that are always dropped over the window space.  We just open and close them.  Any bird looking at our windows should not think it goes anywhere. This little one just wasn’t watching what it was doing and decided it found a small escape route to our front yard.

Please join us in wishing him or her smoother flight in heaven.

Editor’s Note

Please let me know if you’ve had success with one window strike prevention tactic or another.  I’m sure all of us would like to see less of this waste.  Jeff

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Our First Window Strike Fatality

This week’s book giveaway is not one book, but two: Birds of Western North America:A Photographic Guide and Birds of Eastern North America:A Photographic Guide. Owls, hawks, gulls, herons, woodpeckers, jays, sparrows, you name it. All our Facebook/Twitter followers are automatically entered to win.

The link talking about the books is here

In order to enter the drawing, all you have to do is “like” Princeton University Press on Facebook or become a fan on Twitter.

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/PrincetonUniversityPress?ref=ts

Twitter page: http://twitter.com/PrincetonUPress

The contest ends Friday, August 27th.  Good luck to all!

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Princeton University Press Field Guide Giveaway

My rogue raccoon problem started a few weeks back. I would find my main feeder turned sideways in the morning. This feeder has a raccoon baffle on it so I’ve never had a problem with either squirrels or raccoons getting to it. Still, I thought it was odd to find the feeder this way every morning. Because it happened at night and because I’ve heard him getting the corn mix from my squirrel box on my fence, I automatically assumed it was him. I didn’t worry because as far as I could tell nothing was taken in the process. That changed one day.

I woke up one morning to find the feeder once again spun on the top of the pole. I should mention that I don’t have the feeder bolted down because of taking it down for periods due to the house finch mob and their eye disease. When I made it out to the feeder that morning, I found it was completely empty. Because I never fill them all the way during the summer I thought I might have just been very low when I put it out.  Still, I didn’t think I remembered ever finding this feeder empty.

The next morning the same thing. My guess was that he must be shaking it and making it spin and throw out its seeds. I started bringing it in at night to be sure. I left my upside down suet feeder that’s on the same pole because he hadn’t disturbed it noticeably yet. That turned out to be a mistake.

The Last Straw

The next morning I found that feeder still hanging on the arm of the feeder but all messed up and obviously open. When I examined closer, I saw it had been shaken until it dropped the suet cake. Here are some pics.

What Did I Learn?

Moral of the story: never underestimate the strength and craftiness of your local raccoon. I am concerned about what I’m going to do this winter when he really gets hungry. I’ll have to come up with another interesting approach I’m sure.

Have you been tricked by your local raccoon? If so, leave us a comment so we can laugh and figure out a solution together.

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I Have A Rogue Raccoon Problem

Since I moved into my home nine years ago, I’ve had squirrels.  My property backs up to a wooded area that borders several properties so I’ve had my fair share.  When I started birding seven years ago I decided that I would feed them as well.  Since I employ a raccoon baffle on my main feeder station and squirrel baffles on my bluebird houses, I wasn’t concerned about my back yard becoming overly popular.  I have a corncob feeder and squirrel box on my back fence and a squngee hanging from one of my smaller trees.  There was an initial learning curve for them to learn and trust these feeders but with a mixture of adults and children back there the knowledge was acquired.  Whether it took an adult to learn and show a little one or the little ones just happened on it by being nosey, it did happen.

This is no longer the case.

I’ve noticed this spring that most of the adults I’ve come to recognize are no longer in my back yard.  I don’t know if the older ones died, were killed by cars, or moved on to another area but there is a definite lack of adult supervision.  I pretty much have pre-schoolers and at most junior high level squirrels back there.  My squirrel box has not been eaten from in months.  The other feeders seem to be getting used.

What I’ve Tried With My Squirrel Box

I’ve unsnapped it from the fence and put it on the ground.  The squirrels go in it and get food to their heart’s desire.  When I put it back up, they stop trying.

I’ve refused to put food on the other feeders and stopped tossing even occasional peanuts on my patio.  They’ve dug up every nut and piece of food they can remember where they buried and leave the box alone.

I did the above and changed the squirrel box food from the normal squirrel mix to nothing but hulled peanuts.  They sniffed the hell out of it but did not try to go in.

As you can tell, I’m a little miffed because the last thing I have ever expected to have to do is train squirrels to use my feeders.

Have You Had This Problem?

Do you have any suggestions that I might try to get them to start using the squirrel box?  My main reason is if they’re not using it they are wandering around looking for stuff to eat where they shouldn’t be.  I’ve had no problems ever feeding my birds with squirrels in my back yard but my mourning doves are getting pissed at me and my goldfinches, titmice and chickadees are tired of waiting until late afternoon for me to put my sunflower chip chickadee window feeder up.  I know I can change to safflower for the patio but I’ve enjoyed the wider assortment of birds the no mess patio mix brings.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think I should do and I’ll let you know if I have any progress.

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Do You Train Your Squirrels?