"Bicycle Birding"

Or: "Why I Haven't Been Blogging This Summer"

I got it in my head to cross-train this summer and added cycling to my running so I can do a duathlon. That has seriously cut into my backyard birding time. But, I have gotten good at just hearing a bird and knowing what I'm hearing. I've also learned to stop looking for the birds I hear! That gets pretty dangerous since I don't steer well when I'm turning my head. It also slows me down. I ride out in the country, mostly along corn and soy bean fields, but part of the route takes me along a river.

Some of the birds I have heard and/or seen during my rides:
Indigo Bunting (my favorite and the one I have improved at recognizing the most by it's song)
Meadow Lark
Eastern Bluebird
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Red Winged Blackbird
Eastern Wood Pewee
Red-tailed Hawk
Chipping Sparrows
Eastern Kingbird
Mockingbird
Red Headed Woodpecker
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
LOTS of Mourning Doves
Cardinals (of course)
Turkey Vultures - which gets very disconcerting when you're having a tough ride!

Of course, the old myth about Vultures circling waiting for something that is dying is just that, a myth. What they actually "look" for is the smell of a certain chemical of decomposition that is only given off after about 2 days - so they can't "sense" when something is about to die. So I try to shake it off.

Some of these I have been lucky enough to have fly across my field of vision, so I could ID them by sight. The important thing is being able to quickly pick up on the salient features. For me, I kinda of take picture in my head and then start reviewing my internal database for what it could be. That way, I don't have to slow down or take my eyes off the road. Same with the song. I kind of play it back in my head after I hear it. Of course for the very familiar birds, like a Cardinal or a Mourning Dove, I don't have to do that. But for a swallow, I can easily ID it as a swallow by it's shape. Then I review in my head if it had a rusty/reddish chest (Barn Swallow) or a white chest (Tree Swallow).

So, use your favorite site, like What Bird, or something like an Identiflyer (there's also an app for iPhones now!) to get familiar with the different songs. That way, you too can multitask and do some birding while you get some exercise.