Month: April 2026

Part of moving to a new region involves hearing new bird calls. And me being me, I love to find out what bird is making that call–like what calls do the Red-Shoulder Hawks that live in the trees in my neighborhood make?

It’s spring, so there are so many birds calling when I walk or when I’m just sitting on my porch. Figuring out what these birds are makes me feel like I’m more connected to my environment. Besides, I’m endlessly curious.

You can get a free app from Cornell University for your phone called MERLIN BIRD ID.

I love it.

And it allows me to identify and save bird calls it records as I walk. It’s easy to turn on when I hear birds I don’t know.

Here’s what a user posted online about this app:

“The Merlin Bird ID app (by Cornell Lab of Ornithology) is a highly recommended, free, and accurate tool for identifying birds via photos, sounds, or 5 simple questions. Its standout “Sound ID” feature acts like “Shazam for birds,” identifying species in real-time. While occasionally misidentifying sounds in noisy areas, it is an essential tool for beginners and experts. Laura’s Birding Blog.”

Merlin also can identify a bird from a picture you take. You can also save the bird calls you easily record which can remind you what each bird’s calls sound like. Or you can explore what you have not heard, like what do Blue Birds sound like? Cornell sends informational emails off and on that educate you about birds and that are fun to see and read.

I’ve already learned a lot about the local bird calls I hear in my area, and for me, at least, that is a very fun thing.

Merlin is easy!

Try it. You’ll like it.

PS: Merlin is addictive…

I haven’t used white or brown sugar for anything in probably 20 years now.

I keep white sugar on hand for visitors who want white sugar in their coffee or tea, but I use local raw honey to sweeten a drink. And, sometimes (rare) real maple syrup drizzled over raw organic fruit–a habit I think I’ve broken now.

I can get wonderful local raw honey here in coastal South Carolina, and back in Maine, in the fall I took enough jars for a year’s worth of honey to a local honey harvester who filled them up for me.

I don’t bake or eat baked goods due to gluten intolerance, so that makes this sugar issue easier.

Ok. I confess that I would use white sugar in my grandmother’s chocolate fudge recipe, which I would only make as a gift for someone, and I have not in…years. And I would eat some of it too as it is one of my very favorite recipes and as it contains so many wonderful childhood memories.

Anyway, local raw honey can crystallize. But why? And what to do? Here are your answers–in a very good post sent from my DIL who is the cofounder and director of The Bee Cause, which now has sponsored bee hives in all 52 states and, also, some elsewhere.

Honey is a complex product involving glucose and water ratios and what kind of flowers from which the bees have gotten pollen. And, how warm or cool it is where you store your honey.

What Causes Honey to Crystallize and How to Fix It

Enjoy!

And find and buy local raw honey from a beekeeper in your region.