Date: 5/9/26 4:30 am From: Dennis Forsythe (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: Re: BBS and Merlin
All
I did BBS routes from their beginning in the mid-60's but had to give up by
the 2000's because I lost my high frequency hearing. I use Merlin some
but I depend on the app Hear Birds Aain developed by Lang Elliot. This app
cuts the frequency of the song by 1/2 enabling me to hear the song! along
with the calls of cicadas crickets etc.
Dennis
On Sat, May 9, 2026 at 6:21 AM Pam DeNeve <carolinabirds...> wrote:
> Ah yes....I love it when beginning birders ask how you know the songs and
> calls. " You must use Merlin". I began birding 33 years ago and we
> actually walked quietly, looking, and listening. You locate the sound and
> find the prize. I'm surprised how technology now has shaped the birders
> behavior. When I led a birdwalk recently, while we walked and most of the
> folks had their phones pointed up above their heads looking at the screen
> constantly.
> I thought it was a very different way to bird. I was telling them what
> they were hearing and of course tried to locate.
> My personal preference is to just be present, look, and listen. Maybe the
> old-fashioned way of birding before cell phones, Ebird, and Merlin was
> Mindful Birding.
> Just call me old. I've always been an old soul.
>
> Pam DeNeve
> Winston-Salem
> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg> > ------------------------------
> *From:* <carolinabirds-request...> <carolinabirds-request...>
> on behalf of scompton1251 <scompton1251...>
> *Sent:* Friday, May 8, 2026 2:43:21 PM
> *To:* <carolinabirds...> <carolinabirds...>
> *Subject:* BBS and Merlin
>
>
> Just got my BBS packet. This will be my 35th year or so as a surveyor. New
> rule: NO Merlin.
> Surveyors are not to use Merlin to locate or identify birds.
>
> Interesting.
>
> In the South Carolina coastal plain,
>
> Steve Compton
> Dorchester, SC
>
> Sent from my Galaxy
>
>
--
Dennis M Forsythe PhD
Emeritus Professor of Biology
The Citadel
Charleston, SC
843-708-1605 cell
