While I still can rely on my ears, I know the day will come when I will not
be able to. My mentor is 87 and he’s the one who helped teach me the calls.
He now uses Merlin to help him hear bird songs. I walked with him through
his property the other day and we compared what Merlin “heard” to what I
heard. It was interesting. I’m thankful for Merlin in the fact that it can
be used thus. Whatever it takes to keep birding I’m all for.
Sandy
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 10:18 PM drhal2 Yocum <drhal2...> wrote:
> Enjoyed Sandy’s report. I do wish that I could hear them as well as Sandy.
> I use Merlin daily due to my loss of high range hearing. I hear and see
> about 70% of the current species in Mitch Park Edmond. Merlin helps me
> “know what else is the
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> Enjoyed Sandy’s report. I do wish that I could hear them as well as Sandy.
> I use Merlin daily due to my loss of high range hearing. I hear and see
> about 70% of the current species in Mitch Park Edmond. Merlin helps me
> “know what else is the there” and usually I can find those birds as they
> move about in the tree and shrubs.
> Since moving to Edmond 27 years ago my hearing loss continues slowly. Back
> around 2000 I could easily hear both Painted and Indigo bunting at least
> 75-100 yards away. Today I need to be 20-30 feet from the tree they are
> perched on.
> Sadly there are a few birds I have NEVER heard ( Brown Creeper and most
> warblers)! I did hear a Blue-gray this year at about 5 feet!
> Merlin is a great help to my birding now at age 83! Still my best hobby! I
> started at age 15 in the central PA woodlands and fields.
> Hal Yocum
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jun 20, 2025, at 6:19 PM, Sandy Berger <sndbrgr...> wrote:
>
>
> I spent a few hours at the refuge this morning. It was terribly humid.
> They’ve had a lot of rain and there are lots of wet fields and the areas
> they usually drain have not been. The Arkansas River is extremely high and
> it may get higher because
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> I spent a few hours at the refuge this morning. It was terribly humid.
> They’ve had a lot of rain and there are lots of wet fields and the areas
> they usually drain have not been. The Arkansas River is extremely high and
> it may get higher because of the heavy rain that has caused flooding in
> Kansas and northern Oklahoma. It all drains into the Arkansas River
> eventually.
> But the refuge was quite birdy. I had 57 species on the refuge plus two
> more at the Stony Point fishing access. There were a pair of Least Terns at
> the sand barat Stony Point. Years ago the Army Corps of Engineers built a
> huge sand bar by dredging the river bottom. Hopefully the terns will have a
> successful nesting season.
> Most of my birding was done by ear (not Merlin). Birds mostly stay hidden,
> singing from the shadow of the trees. But they were quite vocal. Of course
> there were cardinals and indigos at every stop, as well as quite a number
> of Red-headed Woodpeckers throughout the refuge. Since the 2019 flood most
> of the cottonwood trees have died and fallen. The woodpeckers love those
> dead trees.
>
> Sandy B.
> Sequoyah County
>
>
