My Birding Story:
One hobby that I recently got more into this spring has been birding, or bird watching. I got into birding last year because of my wife. She started pointing out specific species of birds in our neighborhood. I didn’t think much of it at first (I even teased about how they all look the same!) but I started to notice them more often. Eventually was able to Identify common species in my yard with high accuracy. From there I went off the deep end and began researching birds and birding resources.
Birds at ALMACO:
Two of the more colorful birds that can be seen on the ALMACO campus are the Barn Swallow and the House Finch. These birds can often be found flying in and out of the shipping bay. If you stop and look, you can see the deep blue and orange of the Barn Swallow, or the fiery red on the House Finch. It is very common for birders to venture into novice photography and take photos of the rare and colorful species they observe. Below are photos I took of these two birds here at ALMACO.
Birding Resources:
If you are interested in learning more about birding or trying it out for yourself, there are some great resources available to everyone! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Ornithology is the scientific study of birds!) has resources to help you get started. One is a free smartphone app called ‘Merlin: Bird ID’. This app has a database of all the bird info you could ask for. It can help you identify species by recording their calls and analyzing pictures. Their eBird community is one of the biggest online birding resources to record your sightings and see what other birders are submitting too! The Iowa DNR also has official birding trails, and Bird sanctuaries all over the state!
Links:
Merlin
eBird
Iowa DNR Birding trails
Iowa DNR Bird conservation areas
