Celebrate spring with a bird clock

Spring is in the air—we’ve already got a house finch sitting on four eggs on our front porch pillar. A fun way to track all the raucous spring bird song coming soon, or a summer dawn chorus, is a bird clock. One way to do it is to stand in one position and record over time (10 minutes, 30, whatever you can) and noting direction, then place the bird name on a compass dial (like a directional clock). Or, “clock” one bird’s song like a mockingbird: how many different songs did it mimic and when? Hint: use the Merlin bird app on your phone to help ID the songs, it is very useful!