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Finding the Links Between Plants and Birds
Become a well-rounded naturalist with help from species ID apps
© Kelly Colgan Azar
There are many great tools for identifying birds, some of them right on your phone. If you’re stumped on an unfamiliar plant species, iNaturalist is a great resource. When you upload a photo to iNaturalist’s website or mobile app, it uses AI to make an educated guess on the species ID. A community of online naturalists then helps confirm the ID. Finding the links between plants and birds can show you how birds see the world, and what they need to survive and raise their young.
BirdNote®
Finding the Links Between Plants and Birds
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[Red-bellied Woodpecker call, ML323504401, 0:24-0:26]
There are many great tools for identifying birds. Some of them are right on your phone. Apps such as Merlin Bird ID from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology can help suggest which species you’re seeing or hearing.
[Red-bellied Woodpecker call, ML323504401, 0:39-0:40]
If you’re stumped on an unfamiliar plant species, iNaturalist is a great resource. When you upload a photo to iNaturalist’s website or mobile app, it uses AI to make an educated guess on the species ID. Then, a worldwide community of volunteer naturalists helps confirm the ID or propose alternatives. Combining AI with on-the-ground human knowledge makes iNaturalist highly accurate.
Once you put a name to the plant you found, consider searching for more info about that plant – for example, which birds might eat this plant’s seeds or fruits? Which birds can use this plant as a nesting spot?
[Northern Cardinal song, ML339922801, 0:21-0:25]
Finding the links between plants and birds can show you how birds see the world, and what they need to survive and raise their young. And that can make you better equipped to help them in the future.
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
Support for BirdNote is provided by Jim and Birte Falconer from Seattle, Washington, and generous listeners around the world.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Red-bellied Woodpecker ML323504401 recorded by Wil Hershberger, and Northern Cardinal ML339922801 recorded by Matthew Wistrand.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote August 2023
Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# plants-01-2023-08-07 plants-01
Conor Gearin
Writer
Ariana Remmel
NarratorRelated Field Notes
This blog is the first in a series about the ways that members of the BirdNote comm