When is an Owl Not an Owl?

It has been said that people should learn a language at a young age, when it is supposedly easier.  I think that also applies to the "language of nature".  Bird songs are a good place to start.  My young granddaughter knows at least 12 bird songs and she is not yet three years old.

How did this happen?  She was fascinated with my books that play the bird songs.  She played them over and over.  But that is not the amazing part.  She can also identify birds outside, in nature, with none of the other clues the book provides. 

When she visits our house, my favorite activity is to watch the birds with her.  She can identify by sight all of the birds that come to our feeder.  But she can combine what she has learned in the bird call books with what she sees at the feeder.  She'll say, "That's a chick-a-dee-dee-dee", mimicking the sound the bird makes.





But what about owls?  She doesn't say, "That's an owl." She will say, "That's a Barred Owl," or "That's a Great Horned Owl."  It is not that she can identify things, but that she can appreciate the differences...the diversity in nature.  To me, that is one of the first steps in nature appreciation.  There are many adults that can not recognize the difference, and who call all large owls "Hoot Owls".

Go to the Journey North site to hear both owls.  They are quite different.

So when is an owl not an owl?  When we recognize that there are different types of owls.  The diversity in nature can be appreciated by all..whether we are three, 33, or 103. And recognizing that diversity is an important step in nature appreciation.

Bird field guide app

I think I am the last person on the planet to get an ipad, but finally I bought one.  My main motivation was to enjoy some of the apps I have been hearing about.  But also, there is the fact that since my husband joined the 21st century (just recently), I have not been able to get on the computer we share..




One of the first apps I explored was an app for bird field identification called
ibird.  I only spent a few minutes with the free app to realize I need to spend the
money and download one that cost about the same as a field guide.

First, I tried the search feature and put in features I knew about owls from this area--particularly the great horned and barred.  When that came up with no matches (this is the frustrating part for any on line search for i.d. in my experience), I decided to see which owls were in the app.  It turns out that there were only 2 owls in this version--the barn and short earred; neither are that common in my area.

from wikimedia

 I decided that is the tactic--don't include the most common birds in the free version so the for sale version will sell.  That being said, I will probably buy the for sale version.  There are features that I really like, such as the audio, and can see that it would really be useful. 

Audio (and the information about the songs) was what I was looking for.  I have been hearing both great horned and barred owls every night at my home.  It seems the great horned are calling earlier in the evening followed by a break and then the calls of the barred (my favorite).  I was wondering if this were always the case and something that has been noted by others??

http://www.arkive.org/great-horned-owl/bubo-virginianus/

I can't wait to download the full version and start enjoying all that I can learn from the app.  Ahh, it's good to be living in the 21st century.