AMB Class #3: Larkwire; Fingers on Fire

Just a couple of days after our first field trip, we’re all back at the Audubon Nature Center, ready for the second “real” class of the program.  I’m starting to feel a rhythm here (it helps that I’m early again, and settling in), and starting to feel at home.  Tonight, I’ve brought my laptop, since last week I could barely keep up with the information coming at us, and then later – for the stuff I was able to capture – could barely read my notes.  That Palmer method thing I learned way back in 1^st grade?  Well, let’s just say that I might not make it to 2nd grade these days.

But Typing 101, part of a B-school education?  I’d ace it all over again.  Nevermind that my teenage nieces can text far faster than I can type.

Which leads us right into the first topic of the evening:  a review of a few of the digital applications for birding.  We start with a look at BirdsEye BirdLog, an app that connects with ebird, and allows you to record the birds you’re seeing in the field in real time;  George, one of my classmates, actually works for this organization, so we have an in-house expert.  And a deal on the software. Sweet.

There’s also Bird Brain – another app that dumps your list directly into ebird – but it’s a Mac-only app.  Rule that out for me, even though I love that it has every bird species in the world.  There’s the Sibley eGuide, and iBird Pro, and – the one that intrigues me the most – Larkwire.  Larkwire turns out to be a game to help you learn bird ID – specifically songs – while at your computer.  This sounds a little dangerous to me.  Okay, it sounds a lot dangerous to me.  Not that I have an addictive personality or anything.  My friend Melissa can vouch for me on that.

Horned Lark
Rocky Mountain Arsenal, CO
7/7/12

After this quick survey of the electronic apps, we get right back into Habitat.  Chuck leads the class again tonight, and once again I’m blown away by the quality of the presentations, and by the coordination and care that has gone into making the class top notch.  Again, we get descriptions and photos of various habitats and the species that make up the habitat – both species of plant life and of bird life.

We talk about Shortgrass Prairie and get a species profile of the Horned Lark;  a bird I keep hearing is abundant in this state, but one that I've rarely had the opportunity to photograph.

Mountain Bluebird
Highlands Ranch, CO
5/18/13

We talk about Western Intermountain Grassland – the mountain parks of Colorado (like South Park – just not the Who-killed-Kenny South Park) (well, not exactly), where we find Vesper Sparrows and Mountain Bluebirds.

We talk about Lowland Riparian habitat, a most abundant habitat here in the lower elevations along the Colorado Front Range.  This is the lowland plant life I see every day, but am just now putting labels on.  Plains Cottonwoods.  Peachleaf Willows.  Russian Olive Trees.  Chokecherry, American Plum, Golden Current.  The indicator species is the Yellow Warbler, and we get a species report on this bird that seem ubiquitous from spring through fall.

Yellow Warbler
Barr Lake State Park, CO
5/26/13

We talk about Sagebrush and Sandsage and Saltbush and Tell Desert Shrubland and I am really, really happy I’m typing, not writing.  My fingers thank me.  My brain?  Not so much.  It’s full.  Again.

Western Scrub-Jay, in Oak Scrub
Roxborough State Park, CO
7/14/12

For Oak Scrub, we get a report on the Western Scrub-Jay.  For Montane Shrubland (the primary shrubland we will see), we get a report on the Green-tailed Towhee.  For Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Forest, we get a detailed description of the Stellar’s Jay, another of my favorite birds.

Green-tailed Towhee
Barr Lake State Park, CO
9/22/12

The habitats keep coming, and the bird descriptions keep coming, and it’s almost mind-boggling that all of this exists in just this one state of the union.  I think of Loudon Wainwright III and his line in “Cardboard Boxes”:  if we had a piano I think I’d drop dead.

Stellar's Jay
Deer Creek Canyon, CO
7/8/12

Well, if we had all of North America to deal with (or – unimaginable! – the world!), I know I’d drop dead.

The thing about having class on Monday night, and having it be this riveting is that by the time I complete the long drive home, I’m still buzzing with all the new stuff bumping around in my brain.  Tonight, I get home, and pour a glass of wine, and look over my notes a bit.  What was it I wanted to do?  Oh yeah, that Larkwire thing.  Well, it’s getting late, but maybe I’ll just check it out a little.  Oh, what, there’s another level?  How many birds do you have to recognize for that?  Oh good, I did well on that test.  Just one more, and then maybe another, and then……………