Photo: Scarlet Tanager, Randy Streufert/Audubon Photography Awards
by Tom Blackburn
It’s been difficult to get out birding as much as we’d like during the shut-down. That gives us a great opportunity to brush up on our birding skills and knowledge from the comfort of our homes.
Thayer Birding has a great software program that is free to download during the Pandemic. The download takes some time, but it’s well worth it. The program includes over 1000 North American species, more than 6500 photos and 1500 songs. Quizzes to help you learn your birds are its best feature. You can use the pre-made quizzes or easily create custom bird lists and turn them into personal quizzes. You can also choose from multiple quiz formats, including flash cards, multiple choice or fill-in-the-blanks and specify photos, songs, or both. Last night my wife and I created a custom list of birds and turned it into a quiz on bird songs. We can’t take an ASNV Birding-by-Ear workshop this spring, but maybe online programs will improve our skills.
eBird is well-known for its user-friendly capability to upload bird lists. You can also prepare for birding trips by finding out what’s been seen at Birding hotspots recently or in any month during the current year or up to the past ten years. eBird’s free Photo & Sound Quiz option is less well-known but very good. You can create quizzes for a country, a state or a specific location. You can even specify a date, and eBird will create a quiz based on bird lists uploaded for that date and location in the past ten years.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds of the World program is normally $49 per year, but there’s a 10% discount through June 30. I normally shy away from rentals of software, but Birds of the World’s information about more than 10,000 birds, plus photos, video and audio, convinced me to sign up. And your money is going to support a world-class nonprofit operation
There are other free bird quiz sites that are fun to explore. You could try Birdingquiz.com, Birdquiz.net, Birdphotos.com or any number of other programs. However, my favorite is the Thayer Birding software I mentioned above because its quizzes can be customized so easily. Of course, you may find your own favorite. The next time you are starved for a little birding experience, try an on-line program!