Thanks so much for attending our Birding and Mindfulness Walk held on Saturday, April 20 – 10:00 am. Hope you had as good a time as I did!
I looked up the swallows that were so gracefully flying over the pond and then, prompted by a list of swallows, clearly remembered that they were Rough-Winged swallows. The little Michigan Bird book I had with me will not grace my pack again – it only had two swallows listed; Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows!
I loved the “Burnt Chip” mnemonic that Eleva gave us for remembering the bark of the Black Cherry tree and there are a lot more mnemonics for bird calls. This link has a great list of them, but I wouldn’t try to memorize them all at once. Learning them one at a time in the field is a more permanent solution, though, if you’re anything like me, you may have to review them every spring. Mnemonics
| Mnemonics |
My favorite one “If I see you, then I’ll seize you and I’ll squeeze you ’til you squirt!” is not on the list and the bird whose wheezy call it describes, the warbling vireo, won’t be around here until the weather warms up a bit. They’re an innocuous gray and blend in with the leaves, so keep your ears open.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Photos and Videos for, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Judy Schmidt
Leave a Reply