Hello there, it must be Friday!
Why do birds…?
I am fairly adept at identifying most UK birds visually, I may occasionally get my warblers in a twist, or by flummoxed by a rare migrant however generally I’m pretty solid.
Identifying birds by their calls is entirely different. I could probably only identify a handful of birds by their calls with any confidence.
That’s why I’ve been using the Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Labs. Produced by Cornell University, not only can you download packs for virtually every country and geographic area on the planet, but the actual identification has become a lot more discerning. When I first downloaded it, during lockdown, it seemed that one needed nigh perfect conditions to identify calls. The app would fail to identify birds if there was the slightest amount of background noise, even the rustle of leaves.
This is no longer the case. Below are a few screen shots taken in plantation forest near our house, complete with overhead planes.
I now find that I am more attuned to bird calls and frequently use the app to check my (mis-)identifications.
This newly found appreciation was only further enhanced (and confounded) by recently reading Ed Yong’s brilliant “An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us”.
It seems that not only do males and female birds of certain singing species perceive their calls differently, but the same birds also hear differently at different time of the year. According to studies conducted by scientists, songbirds have been found to hear differently in the winter than they do in the summer. In colder months, the air is denser and colder, which affects the way sound travels.
To adapt to those changing sound conditions, songbirds have a special mechanism in their ears that allows them to adjust the sensitivity of their hearing.
This adaptation helps them to properly hear and locate their prey or predators despite the differences in the way sound behaves in winter.
Scientists believe that this unique ability of songbirds to adjust their hearing sensitivity is essential for their survival in cold environments.
(Un)screw it.
Few tools around the old casa see as much action as this Ratcheting Screwdriver with 26 piece Bits Set from the Amazon Basics range.
It does everything that far more expensive versions do, reversible ratcheting, handle that pivots through 90 degrees for awkward angles, 26 pieces magnetic bit set that includes all pretty much all of your slot, philips, pozi, hex and torx requirements (and a hollow handle for storing a few of them).
Even if said plastic handle does feel a little cheap, it is literally a third of the price of equivalent sets.