I've been a birder for almost as long as I can remember. I can identify many, if not most, Canadian/US birds (and a minority of birds in other areas) by sound. Sometimes when I am identifying bird sounds I don't provide a reasoning. If you would like to know why, tag me, and I'll do my best to let you know my reasoning. I also make mistakes, so please don't agree with me just because I think I can identify many birds' vocalizations!

If you are recording any sound, it is very helpful to have the volume up and to include at least 20 seconds of the sound, or more than one example of the sound you are trying to identify. Sometimes, the length of time between vocalizations can be important. Often, several sounds (sometimes from different taxa) are recorded in one recording, so when you upload a recording, please take the time to "point" to the sound you are working to identify, eg. where it starts on the recording (0:06 for 6 seconds), or the quality of the sound ("soft", "scratchy call", "in the background", etc.).

In addition to birds, I also enjoy butterflies and am learning about grasshoppers and plants. I grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina, USA but have lived the last 40 years (or so) in New Mexico, USA. I especially enjoy deserts and grasslands.

As noted above, I make some misidentications of my own observations and when identifying others'. I'm thankful for those who suggest alternative identifications and let me know where I may have gone wrong. I'm grateful to iNaturalist for encouraging me to look ever more closely at the world around me.

I worked for the Playa Lakes Joint Venture (a bird habitat conservation group) for 25 years but am now retired, and am especially proud of that work. You can find out more about the group at https://pljv.org/

My photographs are generally pretty poor. But you are welcome to use them, IF I don't have them attributed to someone else in the Notes section. I'd appreciate a heads-up if you do use one of my photographs

My eBird profile is here: https://ebird.org/profile/NzA5Mw/US-NM

Note to Self: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/search+urls

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