Educational Material – Page 7 – Nature Along the El Camino Real

Learning about Nature Observation Apps

May 17, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall2 Comments

by Sue Ann Kendall

Today we had one of our first educational sessions at the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary, sponsored by the El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist chapter. Although there’s no denying the weather was toasty and humid, the attendees all learned about Merlin Bird ID and iNaturalist.

I enjoyed leading the discussion, since I just retired as an adult educator and miss teaching people. I’m grateful for the opportunity to give back to the chapter.

When I parked, I went next to this Spotted Horsemint (*Monarda punctata*). You sure could smell it!

Anyway, before we started, one of our members brought a baby bird she has been caring for to try to identify it. We enjoyed watching it eat and peep. No doubt it will soon be in the hands of All Things Wild or another rehab organization, but for now, the little Blue-gray Gnatcatcher or Mockingbird seemed in good shape. Interestingly, more than one of us tried to use Merlin Bird ID to identify it, but depending on the angle of the photograph (or something), different birds came up. On iNaturalist, my photo came up unambiguously Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, however. And looking at the bird, it seems more likely to be a Gnatcatcher than a Mockingbird or Phoebe. It will be interesting to find out how it turns out.

The class had a mix of learners, from people who were unable to access the App store to get either app on their phone to very quick learners to experienced helpers. I did my best to help everyone but always got stumped when I can’t remember their passwords for them (I can’t remember mine either, but have finally found ways to find them when I need them). I can help people later! Oh, and those with Android phones weren’t able to acquire the new iNaturalist, because it’s only out for iPhones, to the great consternation of some of our power users!

Merlin

The good news is that even some of the experienced people learned new features of Merlin Bird ID. Some of the most helpful information is kind of buried among menus and options with cryptic symbols. We had a lot of fun seeing what the most likely birds in the area around Wild Wings would be, and people practiced the step-by-step and photo ID features. I enjoyed showing learners how to get to additional information about birds they identify, such as migration patterns, songs and more.

Most important from a “citizen science” viewpoint, is that everyone learned how to save an observation to their life list. There were some very gleeful folks who started to build out their lists. Who doesn’t enjoy seeing a bunch of stars appear and the words “New Lifer!”? I sure enjoy it, even with 333 birds on my list (I travel a lot, so there are lots of East Coast, Colorado and Arizona birds). These observations go on eBird, where biologists and others use it to track patterns of movement, migration, and numbers. The more people record observations, the more information they will have.

My most recent birds. Can you tell it was migration time?

It’s important to remember that the birds identified by the AI software used by Merlin are not always accurate, as I’ve written about before. For example It’s less accurate if you don’t have it set to listen for birds where you are, too (I forgot to tell mine to stop listening for South Carolina birds recently, and only realized when a Texas bird I heard was missed). [I forgot to teach this part, so here are some instructions.] The setting to change locations (if you travel or something) is accessed by clicking the menu on the Explore (search) screen and clicking where it says “Cameron TX” on my version of the Refine Bird List screen (yours may differ). Then click Current Location (I usually leave mine on my house, which works fine for all our area). It will be stuck on your last location until you select “current location”

How to change your location in Merlin Bird ID

It helps to visually confirm the birds heard unless you’re familiar with it (I think most of us can confirm an American Crow) and to ensure that there isn’t another source for the call (Mockingbirds in my area do a great job with Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Bluebirds, and Belted Kingfishers, for example). Still, using Merlin is a great help for learning to do your own identification of bird calls and impress non-birders.

iNaturalist

Most of our group knows how to use iNaturalist on the computer and/or phone, but not many were familiar with the new iPhone app. So, I showed those who needed the app how to find it and helped get them started. The new app is quite different and has some interesting new capabilities, like using AI to identify what you’re looking at without taking a photo, identifying batches of observations and uploading them later (handy if you have limited bandwidth in the field), and grouping your photos before uploading (a little tricky but helpful).

This Ponderous Spur-throated grasshopper sure blended in with the tree, but iNat got it!

I’d like to do another session on the updated iNaturalist when more Chapter members get set up and try it out a bit. But at one of us said to me, the best thing to do it just get it and make yourself use it until you figure it out. That’s what I did (it helps that I learned and taught applications for a living until just recently, so I’m a good software learner).

iNat has no clue what this fungus is. I should have gotten a photo from the side – rookie error!

I’m here as a resource for anyone with questions on this one. Send me an email or comment on this blog. Our usual source of vital iNaturalist information, Linda Jo Conn, is hampered by having an Android phone, but she’s your go-to on the computer app and the “classic” iNaturalist. Of course, iNat is working on that Android version, so it should be out soon, we hope.

Thanks as always to Ann Collins and Gene Rek for their hard work on Wild Wings, as well as to our bird sanctuary committee. They have kept the project on track and enabled us to start our educational programs.

Resources

New iNaturalist App for iPhone! This article provides more information about the new iNat app, and has a handy video on configuring it to behave a bit more like the earlier version, which is more like how people who do a lot of identification will want to use it. I highly recommend this if you can learn from text or video (some people prefer to be shown).

What I’ve Learned about Merlin Bird ID: Article I wrote with more Merlin tips and tricks.

iNaturalist New or Classic: Which one for new users? This is on a Reddit forum, so probably of interest to our nerdier Master Naturalists. But the information on how the AI works was interesting to me.

Purple Martin Field Trip Fun

May 10, 2025May 9, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Carolyn Henderson

The bi-annual trip of the El Camino Real chapter – Texas Master Naturalist to the Purple Martin conservation project of Mike McCormick was both awe inspiring and amusing. McCormick had hundreds of Purple Martins making his place home for the nesting season while a notable number of dumped roosters were fighting it out on the ground.

McCormick, who started the Purple Martin conservation project at his place south of Buckholts at least 40 years ago, estimated somewhere between 800 to 1,000 Martins in residence this year. It is nearly triple what has come around for the last two years. He attributes it to milder weather so far this year.

He has a few hundred Purple Martin houses set up. They are particular about their “homes.” They like them to be a certain level above the ground away from trees and buildings. They need a pond or stream in the near vicinity. They also do their hunting of insects at a high altitude, although they have been known to hunt over ponds and even on the ground if the weather is bad.

McCormick will walk around under the many houses to get them to come out then the sky looks like it’s covered in Martins. Many are pairing off. Once the babies are hatched, they take about a month before they leave the nest. By early fall, these Martins have flown to Austin, where thousands meet up to then fly to Brazil or other points south for the winter.

Purple Martins’ primary natural competitors are European Starlings, which are invasive to the USA, and sparrows, many of them also invasive. They take over their houses. McCormick has styled a large cage to catch those competitors in and remove them. Human expansion is also a problem for martins wanting to nest in natural spots.

*The resident Barn Swallows build their own nests. These are hungry babies!*

McCormick and his sister have added a nature trail on the site to let visitors see the natural habitat there. They also have created a sort of refuge for other native bids and those ever-invasive non-natives. They use a small corral that used to be used for training horses. They have a birdbath, several feeding sites, and a few bird houses.

*Repurposed trah-bin lid makes a great birdbath.*

He puts birdseed on the tops of all the fence posts, which brings Cardinals, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and and few other species to the little refuge.

*Male eats while female Cardinal darts away.*

The piece de resistance is new bathroom facilities with running water and full plumbing.

*Visits are more pleasant with these available!*

To top it all off, they had at least 15 (my sort-of count) roosters dumped on their place. I’m used to dogs and cats being dumped – but not roosters. They were in a fighting mood while we were there.

It’s worth a trip to see all the sites and have McCormick impart much knowledge about Purple Martins.

The Railroad Down Under

May 9, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

by Eric Neubauer

I saw many things during my expedition around the lower half of the Texas Panhandle. Too many in fact to even summarize. So here is one thing I particularly noticed. I spent some time at Big Spring State Park after sunset.

The land was dry, and the spiders were scarce. Finally, I found a nice adult female Big-eyed Wolf Spider at the edge of the road near the entrance. This is only one of a growing number of fairly large
unnamed wolf spiders in the pipeline.

While preparing photos for iNaturalist, I was struck (not for the first time) by the rainbow colors on the chelicerae of this species. The chelicerae are analogous to human lips or jaws except for housing venomous spines at the ends and separating in a vertical plane. Wolf spiders often have bold or complex patterns, but here is something extremely delicate.

Starting earlier this year I added face shots to my routine. After all, this is what spiders see when they meet each other. In this case it captures a colorful detail that would have been missed and shows how big the eyes of the Big-eyed Wolf Spider really are. The white circles in six of the eyes are artifacts, reflections of the dedicated light ring that is part of my setup.

An Earth Day Gift for You

April 22, 2025April 22, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) KendallLeave a comment

Happy Earth Day!

by Sue Ann Kendall

*First page of the brochure. Download the PDF to see it full size.*

As Master Naturalists, we think every day is Earth Day, but today is the official day to honor and celebrate the planet where we and all the myriad lifeforms we share the planet with live. Please go out and do something to honor Mother Earth. Plant a plant, clean up some debris along a roadside, donate to your favorite environmental charity…something!

For Earth Day, the El Camino Real chapter has a gift for you. It will be helpful for those living in or visiting Milam County and the surrounding area, but works for most of Texas, too. It’s our Common Milam County Birds brochure! It features pictures of 35 of the birds you’re most likely to see in Milam County. We did our best to include photos you can use to identify birds you see, and are grateful to all who share their photos for nonprofit use on iNaturalist, because that’s where we got them. You can download the brochure and print as many copies as you’d like to share with friends, hand out at events, or display in your business.

We will have copies available at the Wild Wings Bird Sanctuary and any outreach events we hold, starting in May when the author gets back to Texas.

Female hummingbird on red yucca at the Hermits’ Rest Ranch in Milam County.

We would appreciate your feedback and ideas for improving the brochure.

By the way, we also have a checklist of all birds seen in Milam County (as identified in eBird and iNaturalist) that you can download and check off the birds you see.

Happy birding in our county!

Check Out the New iNaturalist

April 9, 2025 Sue Ann (Suna) Kendall2 Comments

by Sue Ann Kendall

Last Thursday, I headed out to observe wildlife at the Nails Creek Unit of Lake Somerville State Park. My usual method of observing is to take pictures of what I find, then upload the photos to iNaturalist for identification and to document what’s out there. (I also have Merlin Bird ID going most of the time, to catch the birds flying around.) I had a nice walk out by the lake, where I saw many ducks, hundreds of White Pelicans, and some plants I hadn’t seen before. What a lovely afternoon!

Of course, I fired up iNaturalist on my iPhone when I got back to my campsite. To my surprise, there was a notice saying that I should download the new iNaturalist right now, because it has all sorts of wonderful new features (not available on Android yet).

I downloaded iNaturalist Next, as it’s called now, like a good user, but I went ahead and identified my photos on the old app, which still works just fine. I then read all about the new version, which you can, too, by going to their blog. It’s a good idea to do that before starting to use the new one.

Beautiful Prairie Nymph (*Herbertia lahue)* I saw at the park.

The next day I tried out the new version. I was especially intrigued by the new feature that lets you point to a plant or other living thing and get suggested identifications. So, if you just want to check on something or resolve an argument with your friends about what something is, you can do it without uploading to the database. This is like the Seek app many people use.

After some trial and error, I was happy to figure out that you can take a photo from within the app, get a suggested ID, confirm it (or select another option if you know better), then upload it right then. Off you go to the next intriguing plant. This really saves a lot of time going back in and uploading later.

The top option is the one that gives suggestions.

I have to say it’s not the most intuitive interface ever created (I’m qualified to judge, because I supported users of an application with a horrible UI from 2011-2025, so I know one when I see one). However, once I figured out how to do what I wanted to do, it was just fine. I was also happy to see a pop-up with instructions on how to make the new version work a bit more like the old one, for us creatures of habit, and a reasonable tutorial on the blog post. Here are a few tips I’ve come up with so far:

Take your pictures carefully. You’ll see possible IDs coming up as you aim the camera at something, if you move slightly or annoy the app in some magical way I don’t understand yet, it might go back to identifying by family or worse. So be sure to snap at the right time to get the ID you want; otherwise you have to go back in and edit the observation, which works like the old iNat.
Note that the photos the app takes are an odd rectangular shape. If you are going to use photos taken with the app for other purposes, you’ll want to go in and crop them to a more useful aspect ratio.
I also find that it’s harder to focus on your organism from within the app than using the phone camera app. I frequently got frustrated trying to get a good image, especially of insects. A couple of times I just took a phone photo and identified the insect or plant later. If you are careful to only upload nice, sharp pictures to iNat, you might just want to get the suggestions in the app, but take pictures separately.
One of the good new features is being able to upload a lot of photos at once (up to 20) for identification. You can group photos of the same organism to go in one observation, but read the instructions first, because I found it to be challenging when I started out. Once you get it, it’s fun.

Example of the shape of photos. It was the closest plant to me, *Smilax bona nox.*

Overall, I think I’ll like this new app just fine. The only thing I really miss is that I liked the more compact list of your observations on the Me tab in the old one. And I think there are some issues with traditional projects that need to be resolved, for those of us who use a lot of projects. New features, like viewing other users’ profiles on the phone, make up for any issues I have. I loved that their example was Sam K.

It’s spring, though, and plants are blooming, so get out there and identify some of what you see on this new app. I’ll be waiting for reviews from some of our Super Users.