Every morning, my wife and I wake up to the sound of birds chirping. That’s wonderful. We have a bird feeder hanging above our deck, and we identify eager flocks by noting color, size, and behavior, and use the Sibley Bird Book to learn what they are. I’ll look into it.
But the sounds that wake us up don’t come from the front deck. It comes from a cell phone set on the nightstand to wake us up at 8:00 and 8:20 respectively. The recorded birds are chatting.
These are real bird calls, and I believe they were probably recorded by a technician outside Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Birds of Santa Clara County. perhaps. Or maybe not.
And then I realized that there is an app on our phones that can identify bird calls. This app threatens to discontinue use of Sibley Bird Encyclopedia. Tap on the phone app and wait for the bird to speak. A picture of the bird will appear soon. And also its name, habits and habitat location.
“Do you think that will tell you which bird made these recordings?” I asked my wife.
She repeated the wake-up call. Like her, I tapped into my bird identification app. It fell into a ruse. Our birds were Thrushes, Eel Sparrows, Red Crows, Thrushes, and Swainson’s Thrushes.
West coast bird? No. Is this a bird that is commonly seen all over the country? Yeah. The engineers had a mission. Everywhere in America you’ll know this cry.
Beyond the deck and across the street is one of the most spectacular views in the Hamptons. As many as 100 boats can be found in four marinas. Beyond the marina, the sun sets over the hills of Three Mile Harbor on the other side.
Large yachts sometimes enter the port. My phone has a maritime traffic identification app. A map of Long Island is shown, and zooming in on the harbor pinpoints the larger yachts. Displays name, serial number, length, and owner. Also where you registered. It won’t be revealed who’s on board, but it’s likely. But if there’s a bird on it, you might be able to figure out what it is.
There’s a lot more going on in our ports. Sailing ship. fishing boat. motor boat. Eagles, swans, sailboats, seagulls and hawks. Introducing Paddle Diva. It’s business. She stands on a surfboard and paddles a large oar, using it to lead a group of awkward trainees from behind and try to catch up. They exit through the entrance. I’ll be back in the afternoon. Most of them. Be careful when downloading apps that tell you their names.
At Vanderveer Marina, a family of osprey nests on a wooden stand on a pole. Mom is Olivia. My father is Otto.
Sharks swim into our harbor. A shark tracking app created after people in Woods Hole, Massachusetts started tagging sharks is ready. I don’t use it though. It doesn’t count in the water unless you get bitten.
