It was feathers and bird calls Tuesday morning in our first Birding by Ear class with Alie Mayes, Outreach Coordinator at Bird Conservancy of the Rockies in Brighton. Alie brought casts of bird skulls as well as mounts, giving everyone a sense of various differences in bird anatomy, size and aerodynamics. Then we got down to identifying a couple of dozen bird calls we might hear in the Littleton area this time of year, such as canada geese, crows and chickadees, as well as others that come and go around the calendar.
Next time, we’ll take our newly practiced ears outside to find some of our neighbors. Class parcicipants may have a hard time waiting, but we’ll have MP3 files to study up with and, naturally, there’s nothing to stop us from going outside to listen!
And when someone wonders out loud, “I wonder what bird makes that beautiful song,” they might have the answer!..” they
