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ksbc.bsky.social
kat
@ksbc.bsky.social
68 followers 160 following 270 posts
i'm 27 🦕 🦖 🐦 birding posts are from Northeast USA unless otherwise indicated
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ksbc.bsky.social
I might be missing the obvious, but what bird might be singing this slidey whistling song? Merlin app lights up with Song Sparrow immediately after but not during this sound. Recorded this evening in suburban southern New England. #birds #bird #birdsong #TenMinMerlin #birdidentification #spectrogram
June 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
I told you there were a lot of babies!! I only saw 2 at a time but I now know of over 6 baby house sparrows feeding at the feeder across a couple videos (1 out of frame in this clip). it reminds me of those old chicken pecking paddle toys with the pendulum. do you know what I mean? 🪶
June 4, 2025 at 3:57 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
And if you get a chance to see Pirates! in NYC sometime soon, you won't regret it. It was a barrel of laughs and the cast was excellent. I saw understudy Ryo Kamibayashi as Frederic and he was absolutely incredible. Karimloo, Monsoon, and Pierce were even better than my very high expectations.
Promotional image for the musical adaptation "Pirates! The Penzance Musical" featuring the cast in costume looking up at the camera, holding swords, trumpets, and parasols, surrounded by confetti. Overlaid text reads: David Karimloo, Jinkx Monsoon, and David Hyde Pierce Pirates! The Penzance Musical Tony Award Nominee Best Revival of a Musical Close-up promotional photo of three of the leads in "Pirates!", from left to right: Nicholas Barasch as Frederic, Ramin Karimloo as the Pirate King, and Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth. Frederic wears a blue police jacket, the Pirate King wears a gaudy Captain's coat with gold embellishments and jewelry, and Ruth wears a blouse, vest, corset, and striped skirt. Promotional image from a scene in "Pirates!": Frederic in his pirate's shirt and leather vest clashes swords with the Pirate King, who is holding the Major General (played by David Hyde Pierce) in his arm. The Major General is in a blue nightgown, a navy and green housecoat, and cap. He has grey hair and muttonchops, and is draped in the Pirate King's arms and looking playfully out to the audience as if being dipped in a ballroom dance. The Major General's seven daughters and the pirate ensemble look on from the background in shock and anticipation.
June 3, 2025 at 6:04 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
House Sparrows are in full force lately (and always?). With multiple nests, their cheeps and peeps tend to drown out the sound of other birds throughout the day. Here is a brief clip from my #bird feeder cam, where a momma feeds one of her chubby fledglings (I have seen it feed itself just fine 😂)
May 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
good morning #TenMinMerlin friends! I have not been recording for some time and I was happy to hear a new song today- Swainson's Thrush (on its way North, I imagine). 🪶
Screenshot of first portion of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Sparrow, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse, and Northern Cardinal. List continues in second image. Screenshot of second portion of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes Carolina Wren, European Starling, Northern Mockingbird, Cedar Waxwing, House Finch, Chimney Swift, Red-winged Blackbird, and Swainson's Thrush (marked as uncommon). See previous image for beginning of list.
May 30, 2025 at 11:08 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
garden is in full bloom!!
A photo of a large, white peony blossom in my yard. The softball-sized, fluffy white flower has three other unopened buds around it, and lush, waxy, deep green leaves in the background. A photo of a bed of blue flag irises. Amongst many long, grassy, lime green leaves and stems, several bright purple floppy blossoms have emerged. A photo of a rhododendron hedge bursting with large, bubblegum-pink bunches of flowers. A photo of a bed of rich lime green Hostas with some ferns mixed in. The hostas are a broad-leafed plant with solid green, teardrop-shaped leaves the size of a slice of pizza or larger. The triangular fronds of the ferns have a branching structure like feathers, with the central stem and many leaflets extending on either side of the stem. The photo is very monochromatic and pleasing to the eye due to the variety of textures.
May 28, 2025 at 10:55 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
and here is mr. house finch's special lady. 🪶
A still image of a female House Finch taken with a motion-activated video camera attached to my bird feeder. Her body is shades of light, streaky gray-brown. She is perched facing the camera with her head towards the left, and some seeds in her short, thick, triangular beak. Not shown in this image, the male and female pair visited the feeder together and shooed away other birds while they ate.
May 26, 2025 at 1:33 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
#bird cam is all set up and we have our first feeder visitors!
A still image of a male Northern Cardinal taken with a motion-activated video camera attached to my bird feeder. His crested head, body, and beak are all a brilliant red, with a distinctive black mask around his eyes and face. He is perched facing the camera with his head turned towards the right. A still image of a Carolina Wren taken with a motion-activated video camera attached to my bird feeder. It is a soft, warm brown bird with darker wings and a light buff underbelly, a light stripe over the eyebrow, a brown tail held up in the air, and a long pointed beak. It is perched on the feeder and facing towards the right, foraging with its beak amongst the seeds. A still image of a male House Finch taken with a motion-activated video camera attached to my bird feeder. His body is a cool, dappled brown, and he has a red face and head that fades in an ombre into soft gray-tan towards the breast. He is perched facing the camera, with a seed in his beak that he is shelling before eating. A still image of a Black-capped Chickadee taken with a motion-activated video camera attached to my bird feeder. It is a small bird with a white belly, black back and throat, white cheeks, and black head. It is perched facing the camera with its head turned towards the left, and a seed in its small beak.
May 26, 2025 at 1:29 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
today's #TenMinMerlin circa 7am was all old friends!
Screenshot of a list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. Each entry is accompanied by a thumbnail stock image of the bird. List includes House Sparrow, Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrow, Carolina Wren, American Goldfinch, American Robin, House Finch, Northern Mockingbird, and Northern Flicker.
May 21, 2025 at 7:31 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
🪶 Two new birds in this morning's #TenMinMerlin! After a busy week of work (and some laziness... I mean rest) my yard's bird amenities require some cleaning and refilling, which I plan to do today. Hopefully interesting new visitors continue to join us.
Screenshot of a list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app, including an inset photo and caption, which is a new feature in the app. Each listed bird is accompanied by a thumbnail stock image of the bird. List begins with Carolina Wren, followed by an inset photo of two fluffy, brown baby wrens nestled together amongst some leaf litter and seedling plants. Inset photo is captioned, "Prepare for the breeding season! Carolina Wrens nest in cavities-- a nest box on the side of your house gives them a home, too. You could see adorable little babies like these!" List of birds continues below inset photo, including American Robin, Gray Catbird, Blue Jay, Canada Goose, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Song Sparrow, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Mockingbird, Scarlet Tanager, and Red-eyed Vireo. The Tanager and Vireo are both lifers for me!
May 19, 2025 at 1:20 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
Loving the variety in this morning's #TenMinMerlin 🪶 ! So lucky to have a Blackpoll Warbler on its way North (that's a new bird for Elmo)
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes Song Sparrow, Red-belloed Woodpecker, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Chimney Swift, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blackpoll Warbler, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, and Northern Cardinal.
May 16, 2025 at 11:15 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
this hour-before-sunrise, phone-propped-in-my-screen-door #TenMinMerlin 🪶 features a sampling of the region's black and orange (and/or gray, and/or russet) birds! Eastern Towhee is a welcome addition to my account, though not a true lifer. Darn cute though.
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Sparrow, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Mockingbird, and Song Sparrow.
May 15, 2025 at 8:44 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
lil afternoon #TenMinMerlin 🪶 to break up the busy day. All these below, plus Gray Catbird, Carolina Wren, and three Red-tailed Hawks soaring and offering some display calls, which were new to me (as opposed to the recognizable steam whistle sound they usually make).
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes Northern Cardinal, Chimney Swift, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Yellowthroat, House Sparrow, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, and Song Sparrow.
May 13, 2025 at 12:30 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
when u gotta work a full time job to afford to sit on the porch and listen to birdies singing
Photo: two beat-up maroon shipping containers in a paved area. One has a substantial dent along the edge that has crumpled the container badly. A woman wearing a white tank top, floral maxi skirt, and sandals, has posed bent over at the waist, with her arms outstretched behind her, and her head placed in the dent as if she headbutted the shipping container and crumpled it herself.
May 9, 2025 at 11:29 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
hahahaha not two hours later did I get a much more fruitful #TenMinMerlin! I got a lifer Prairie Warbler with a confirmed song. 💛 I just cleaned out and refilled my bird bath and a Carolina Wren took a splash in it which was adorable. All these below plus Song Sparrow.
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow, European Starling, Chimney Swift, American Goldfinch, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin, Carolina Wren, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Mockingbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Prairie Warbler (marked as uncommon, and new to me!)
May 8, 2025 at 7:53 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
No new friends in today's #TenMinMerlin, but my husband did spy a parent and baby Killdeer at work! He identified it himself because he remembered me talking about the striping on the neck 🥹 Birding is not his hobby, but he's gotten pretty good at it after hearing me talk about it all the time.
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Chimney Swift, European Starling, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, and American Robin. An adult Killdeer, a plover bird with a grey-brown back, white belly, pointed beak, and striking black-and-white head and neck, walking on a paved road edged in green grass. The Killdeer is identifiable by its bold black rings around its otherwise white neck, like two collar necklaces. An itty-bitty baby Killdeer, a plover bird with a grey-brown back, white belly, pointed beak, and striking black-and-white head and neck, walking on a paved road edged in green grass. The baby is substantially smaller than the adult, with a shorter body, rounder head, and shorter neck and beak. Only one black ring marking is visible around its neck, but it will eventually have the typical 2 rings. The baby bird is walking in the middle of the road along a double yellow painted line, like a tightrope walker.
May 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
Chattiness evidence! And a MODO pic of yesterday evening when it was sunny.
Screenshot of a spectrogram, a real-time visualization of sound in a recording field, generated using the Merlin app. I was recording the dawn chorus, and several nearby House Sparrows were chirp-chirp-chirping very continuously. The spectrogram shows dark marks that are indicative of short, loud, repetitive sounds, overlapping across the frame from left to right (which represents a few seconds of time). There is some even gray static in the background, which is the white noise of rain and wind in the microphone. A photo of a Mourning Dove, a beautiful grey-beige bird similar to a pigeon, with slightly iridescent feathers around the head and neck that turn pink, purple, and blue like an opal in the light. The dove is standing on the edge of the sidewalk, in profile facing right, foraging amongst fallen birdseed, and green grass continues from the edge of the sidewalk towards the background. The abbreviation for Mourning Dove is MODO.
May 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
My morning chorus #TenMinMerlin revealed a Common Yellowthroat, which is new to me, and I got to see a very striking male hopping throughout the hedges. This was a great list today-- all these plus a Mourning Dove and a Gray Catbird!
Screenshot of a list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Finch, Common Yellowthroat, Canada Goose, House Sparrow, European Starling, Northern Mockingbird, Blue Jay, Carolina Wren, Black-capped Chickadee, American Goldfinch, Savannah Sparrow (marked as uncommon), Red-winged Blackbird, Chimney Swift, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin, Northern Cardinal, Baltimore Oriole, and Song Sparrow.
May 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
My ~11am #TenMinMerlin was not able to pick up too much due to a sporting event and yard work nearby, but it did catch these Common Ravens which proceeded to swoop, dive, and roll around each other. What a privilege to see!
Screenshot of a list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes Chimney Swift, House Sparrow, Common Raven (marked as uncommon), and Chipping Sparrow. A photo of clear, bright blue sky with the tops of some trees and branches in the foreground. Far away, past the trees, two Common Ravens are contrasted against the blue sky as they fly, dip, scoop, roll, and boogie around each other. A photo of clear, bright blue sky with the tops of some trees and branches in the foreground. Far away, past the trees, three Common Ravens are contrasted against the blue sky as they fly, dip, scoop, roll, and boogie around each other.
May 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
i was not motivated for today's #TenMinMerlin due to some very noisy construction at the end of my street. Fish Crow and Northern House Wren cannot be confirmed, and Peregrine Falcon was 100% a mis-ID of a power tool sound. did see American Crows and some ducks in silhouette though, likely Mallards.
Screenshot of a list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Finch, House Sparrow, Chimney Swift, Blue Jay, European Starling, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, Peregrine Falcon (marked as rare; misidentified), Fish Crow, Northern House Wren, Tufted Titmouse, and Purple Martin (marked as uncommon). A photo of a male Northern Cardinal, a bold red songbird with a pointed crest on its head, a black mask on its face, and a reddish orange beak, foraging in my yard amongst stones from a rock wall. There are fallen pink crabapple and yellow forsythia petals all around it, and a small wrought iron fence in the foreground.
May 2, 2025 at 2:07 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
I made it out for my first true sunrise #TenMinMerlin, and hearing the actual dawn chorus was so entertaining I stayed recording for 30min. I'm surprised Merlin could hear all those birds over the mockingbird. Birdfeeder is out and I have plans to put out 2 more. Look at this chonky Gray Catbird!
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Sparrow, House Finch, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Chimney Swift, American Goldfinch, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, Carolina Wren, Blue Jay, American Crow, and Red-winged Blackbird. A photo of a wooden lawn chair in my yard with a plump Gray Catbird perched on the arm of the chair. The bird has a narrow beak, a soft gray body, and a dark charcoal gray tail and cap. The bird is standing in profile, facing left, looking slightly away from the camera with its little dark eyes.
May 1, 2025 at 9:50 AM
ksbc.bsky.social
easy breezy #TenMinMerlin today on this clear morning. Canada Geese, American Crows, and a Blue Jay were also here. I took a picture of the sky to show you how gorgeous the day is, and a Great Blue Heron flew into frame just in time! I think I have been seeing the same individual daily.
Screenshot of a list of birds detected by sound using the Merlin app. List of birds includes House Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Song Sparrow, American Robin, Purple Martin (marked as uncommon), Black-capped Chickadee, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, European Starling, Common Raven (marked as uncommon), and House Finch. Photo of the clear, rich blue sky today. The picture is bordered on the left with lush green treetops, and on the bottom with the tips of a row of green hedges. On the right, the corner of the roof of a red house peeks into the frame. A photo of some treetops against a blue sky with a broad patch of fluffy, wispy white clouds throughout. The dark silhouette of a Great Blue Heron in flight is contrasted against the white clouds near the center of the frame, over the treetops. Power lines cut horizontally across the lower half of the photo.
April 30, 2025 at 2:23 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
#TenMinMerlin today was not as exciting as I had hoped given migration projections in the Northeast, but I heard that Red-shouldered Hawk loud and clear! And it was a beautiful day to spend some time outside.
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Sparrow, House Finch, Chimney Swift, Common Raven (marked as uncommon), American Robin, Carolina Wren, Song Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, Northern Cardinal, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Blue Jay.
April 29, 2025 at 2:04 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
my daphne is too!
A photo of my cat, Daphne, a long-haired, brown-and-gray tabby with a white chest and belly, sitting in a sunbeam on a red patterned rug. She is looking right at the camera and her whiskers are catching the light.
April 28, 2025 at 1:33 PM
ksbc.bsky.social
Morning #TenMinMerlin!
Screenshot of list of birds identified by sound using the Merlin app. List includes House Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, House Finch, European Starling, American Robin, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, Common Grackle, Downy Woodpecker, and Black-capped Chickadee.
April 28, 2025 at 11:31 AM