If you’re a bird in Pittsburgh and you’re reading this, you’ve probably been to the bird feeder outside our window. There are usually four birds there and a dozen sitting on tree branches nearby, waiting for their turn. I see a lot of the little brown and white ones, the blue ones, the red one, the ones with little yellow hats, and the robins. I was never into bird names until this morning.
This morning there was a bird I’d never seen before - it looked like a tiny penguin, a tiny flying penguin.
I’ve been looking for the bird in our Field Guide to Birds of North America, but nothing matches it exactly. It might be some kind of wren or warbler, or a stonechat.
The field guide can’t have every bird I guess, but it is the fourth edition, FULLY revised and updated, with an introduction with John W. Fitzpatrick.
Which would be better: to find it and see a photo and learn its name? Or to never find it, and think I may have seen a bird that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world except outside our kitchen window? My own tiny flying penguin.
I have the same feeling when I look up a description of my sun sign (Gemini) or wait for my personality type results to load. Which would be better: to read something that summarizes me perfectly, and feel seen and understood? Or to be rare and un-understandable, a tiny flying penguin of a person?
I like to use the Merlin Bird ID app. Not only does it have pictures, but also the sounds of each bird. I've been able to identify several birds by their calls bc they didn't look EXACTLY like the picture! Oh, and it's free!