Perhaps the most accessible resource is the free Merlin app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which is close by in Ithaca, New York. This app is extremely easy to use.

Download the app onto your phone, press the Merlin icon and then press the green sound icon to record the bird call or song that you are hearing. Presto. Merlin identifies the bird for you.

You can also take a picture of the bird and Merlin will name the bird.

The app also logs all this information on your phone for your later review and continued learning. Because mastering bird calls/songs is always challenging, repeatedly listening to a bird call/song dramatically accelerates the learning process. The McCauley Library, which houses all the Merlin information, has grown to over 67 million photos and nearly 2.5 million audio recordings.

PHOTO PROVIDED Shown is a screenshot from the free Audubon app which shows information available on the northern mockingbird.

A caveat about this app is that it is not totally accurate, but it is nonetheless a tremendous aid. Download the bird pack for your region to increase the accuracy.

The National Audubon Society also has a free, user-friendly app which offers great pictures of birds and tons of other information about a bird’s habitat, size, migration patterns, etc. I often use both sites in tandem.

This Audubon app requires that you input the name of a bird in which you are interested, but with the Merlin app, all you need is the bird’s call/song, so not knowing a bird’s name isn’t a barrier.

I continue to be amazed that people who regularly feed birds don’t know the names (and other important information) about these feeder birds. Can you identify all the birds at your feeders? Do you know whether you are seeing a song sparrow, a female house finch or a curious field sparrow, since all three somewhat resemble each other?

Another great way to accelerate learning about birds at your feeders is to join Project FeederWatch, also created by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. You count the numbers of all species at your feeder for short or long periods of time November-April and then enter your data online.

This is a great family activity.

You can also notice and record which birds fight with other birds, and who wins. A bonus is that you and your family also become citizen scientists, adding to important global knowledge about birds.

One of our Lycoming County Audubon chapter’s bird experts Bobby Brown has also just launched a great resource which identifies which birds are likely migrating through our area during specific months. This tool is a video series on the LycoBirds YouTube channel: Bird ID Through the Year. The intro video for the series is at https://youtu.be/VA5z7cvu6aU.

Today you can find websites for many birding-related activities. For example on Dbird.org, you can quickly report bird-window collisions to help scientists across the country understand and prevent bird mortality. Over a billion birds die annually in the US from collisions with windows. Surprisingly, 99% of such collisions occur at residential and low-rise buildings–not high-rise buildings as we might assume. Learn online about what you can do at your home to help decrease such bird collisions with your house windows and sliding glass doors.

Birding is only one of a handful of activities where the whole family can be involved in learning — while simultaneously inhaling the great outdoors, perhaps our greatest local resource. The ice impediments are almost gone. Get out there.

Bonalyn Mosteller grew up viewing Bald Eagle Mountain every day and deepened her appreciation for nature by spending her early summers in a cabin on Little Bear Creek without running water or heat. She doesn’t have the eyes or ears to be a great birder, but she deeply experiences the awe and magic of birds. Currently, she serves as the education chair for the Lycoming County Audubon chapter.