Bird Walk

Cheep cheep shareholders!

I have just returned from my morning bird walk, and I wanted to express gratitude for those who joined us and Tom Langen last Sunday. As you know, I have only been at littleGrasse for a short period. Still, I have fallen in love with the loop that we walked together. The life and diversity that this place holds amazes me daily. I was so excited to share the little loop of heaven that we have right outside our door. However, I had no idea that I would become a better birder in such a short period of time. I am on a mission to identify at least thirty birds by sound in the next two months, so I was very grateful that many of you had tricks to remember songs. If you missed them, here were my favorites that helped me on my walk this morning:

• Yellow Warbler – “sweet sweet little more sweet”
• Common Yellowthroat – “star wicky star wicky star wicky”
• Red-eyed Vireo – sounds like a cut-off Robin

Tom was an absolute beacon of knowledge that I felt as though I had to take notes in order to remember everything he was saying! Here are some of my favorite facts he mentioned:

• Catbirds keep changing their songs throughout their lives
• All thrushes have a pair of vibrating membranes (syrinx) which allows them to sing two notes simultaneously
• Yellow and red birds consume food with carotenoids that give them these colors. The more vibrant the color, the healthier the bird!
• Flycatchers have instinctual songs – they can recognize their own species when they are young but then have to practice in order to get it right

Since this trail is not just for Bob, Flip and myself, I wanted to reach out to receive feedback or ideas for the trail. This project is obviously in its beginner stages and if you have any ideas that you’d like to see implemented, I would greatly appreciate your input because I want to cater this trail to what you all want to see and learn. My email is ltrex22@stlawu.edu if you are interested in reaching out!

Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope to see you all around the farm!

Have a Veery good day 🙂 

Lauren