Montreal City Weblog

Kate 13:54 on 2023-09-14 Permalink Reply  

• dhomas 14:11 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  Pretty sure they’re chickadees.

• Daniel 14:36 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  Highly suggest the Merlin app for birdsong identification.

• Blork 14:51 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  I second the Merlin app. It’s free and it comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (part of Cornell University) so it’s not just some “engagement trap” like so many other apps.

• Blork 14:56 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  And yes, most likely Chickadee song (not to be confused with Chickadee call, which is the familiar “chicka-dee-dee-dee”). The song is typically three syllables, but the second two often sort of blend into one. It’s anthropomorphized as “HEY sweet-ie.”

• carswell 15:17 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  Merlin, which identifies birds using your phone’s mic or camera, and PlantNet, which identifies plants using the camera (leaf, flower, bark), are two of my all-time favourite apps. Both greatly enhance walks in the city and country. The former has also opened my ears to avian neighbours I’ve never seen around here and didn’t know I had — Red-eyed Vireos and Eastern Phoebes, for example. And I wish I’d used the latter before weeding my rooftop container garden the other day, as one of the weeds turned out to be a stinging nettle (later IDed with the app). Ouch, immediately upon grasping the plant and for 36 hours afterward.

  If your bird’s a chickadee, the “yoo hoo” will normally be “yoo hoo hoo hoo hoo” or, as more commonly transcribed “chick a dee dee dee.”

• carswell 15:19 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  (Interrupted mid-reply by a phone call. Should have refreshed before posting. Apologies for the redundancy.)

• Ian 15:59 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  Chickadees have three main calls – chack a dee dee dee, the two-note call, and an alarm call. The two-note call is a mating call 🙂

  https://youtu.be/PwGzISmItu4?si=WV2SSIODD7LgqaSs

• Ian 21:21 on 2023-09-14 Permalink

  @carswell if you get stung by nettles again use plantnet to seek out burdock.if you rub a leaf between your hands until it is mushy and wipe it thoroughly where yiu contacted nettles it will counteract them.

• carswell 07:52 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  @Ian Thanks for the tip. Didn’t know that a burdock, a plant I don’t need an app to recognize since it has popped up regularly in every garden I’ve tended, including my container garden and between the cracks in the pavers that cover the roof. There’s lots in the ‘hood, too, especially around the mountain. Have always viewed it as a nuisance, so cool to learn it has a practical use.

• MarcG 08:47 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  But mushy burdock attracts wasps! To keep them away you can make a wreath out of dried cannabis and attend tamtams at least monthly.

• dhomas 13:48 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  Thanks for the recommendations on the apps! Both Merlin and PlantNet have now been downloaded to my smartphone.

• Ian 20:35 on 2023-09-15 Permalink

  @MarcG cannabis is for preventing anal leakage, you must be thinking about patchouli.

  caveat: I am not a hippy, I just grew up on a farm. I mean yes it was a commune but that was my parents.