Any birders out there?

Don_in_VA

Advanced Member
RV LIFE Pro
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Dec 14, 2017
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The wife and I have gotten pretty serious about birding...well, okay I've gotten serious and the wife enjoys it but not nearly as much as traveling. For several years we've talked about getting an RV to support my hobby (habit may be more accurate). In any event I'm curious if there are any birders into RVing to support their passion. Thanks, Don
 
We love bird watching. Nothing like the call of a loon off the lake early in the morning. We have a lot of feeders at home and a great number of species visit. I’m bummed because the Baltimore orioles don’t visit their feeder anymore. I suspect it’s because of too many trees close to the feeder. I put in a 120 gallon pond and a couple ducks visit occasionally. Lol. MN is land of 10,000 lakes and they chose a small pond in my backyard. My most recent interesting visitor was a barred owl sitting on a low tree branch. Magnificent bird.
 
You might try putting out oranges sliced in half to attract the Baltimore Orioles. There are feeders made specifically for this. I'd do it in the spring when they're migrating north. Some oriole feeders also have a small dish for grape jelly which they're supposed to like. I've had limited success here in central Virginia with oranges...not so much with the grape jelly. And FWIW, the Wife and I are planning a spring birding trip from near Richmond, VA to Sax-Zim bog in MN with stops along the way at Presque Isle State Park in PA, Magee Marsh, OH, and TBD in WI and Grayling, MI.
 
While not a true "birder" I love taking bird photos. Lots of bird opportunities just hanging out at our winter FL spot. You must be chasing the Kirtland warbler if you're heading to Grayling, a bit of their nesting grounds took a wildfire beating this past summer and in 2020. But there should still be plenty of area still viewable , except during mating season in May
 
The wife and I have gotten pretty serious about birding...well, okay I've gotten serious and the wife enjoys it but not nearly as much as traveling. For several years we've talked about getting an RV to support my hobby (habit may be more accurate). In any event I'm curious if there are any birders into RVing to support their passion. Thanks, Don

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Boondocking at twin lakes Colorado this july .
Tons of them from sun up till sun down .
 
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Merlin from Cornell labs is an excellent birding app. As well as ID'ing birds by your description, I particularly like the sound recording feature where it listens for birds and tells you what birds you can hear but can't see.

A friend turned me on to Merlin this summer and I love it. The RV park where we're long-terming (on Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland) has lots of nice, big oak trees (we'll talk about the ballistic acorns in the fall some other time...). It's hard to visualize the birds while the leaves are on the trees and, being a native southwesterner, I'm not familiar with the calls. Merlin allows me to quietly step outside when I hear a bird I don't know, turn on the app for ID by call, and very quickly comes up with an audio ID and a photo of the bird.

Rob
 

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