All Posts

Because Birds is a birding website ran by Jeff Mann since 2013.

Browse through my posts about birding, birdsong recording, photography, technology, travel, and more.

The best birdwatching in Orlando - Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

May 18, 2026 — by Jeff Mann

Orlando, Florida is great for birdwatching thanks to lots of water, plant life, and great weather. I researched the most popular birding hotspots and…

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Birdwatching in London – The birds I saw and heard

May 16, 2026 — by Jeff Mann

I recently visited London with my huge microphone and camera to see what birds I could find. The last time I visited was in 2004 and it rained every…

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5 splurge gift ideas for someone who loves birds more than you

December 2, 2024 — by Jeff Mann

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Louder, closer, clearer: Recording birds with a parabolic microphone

April 29, 2024 — by Jeff Mann

My first parabolic microphone recently arrived in the mail. I took it for a spin the past few weekends to see how it felt to use and how it sounded…

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A casual birdwatcher's visit to Spain and Portugal

March 16, 2024 — by Jeff Mann

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Create an iOS Scriptable widget to show backyard bird visitors

May 11, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

In this tutorial, I will explain how to create an iOS Scriptable widget that displays the bird visitors in your backyard. By combining data from a…

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Birding in new locations: A comprehensive guide

May 10, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

Going birdwatching somewhere new can be intimidating. Here are a few tips to make the most out of your experience when exploring new areas. Contents…

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Smart Feeder Showdown: A Comparison of AUXCO and Bird Buddy

March 22, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

I've been a big fan of the Bird Buddy smart bird feeder since I received it in late November 2022 (see my original review). It's been a solid smart…

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Young birdwatcher gear guide

March 5, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

Birdwatching is a wonderful hobby that allows us to connect with nature, observe beautiful creatures, and learn about the diversity of the world…

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Create a live BirdNET-Pi dashboard using WordPress

February 25, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

A leaderboard for bird chirps In the footer of this website you'll see a live leaderboard of the birds chirping in my backyard. These detections are…

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Project: Track backyard birds on a digital counter

February 13, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

I've been going deep down the BirdNET-Pi rabbit hole over the last month. A BirdNET-Pi setup uses a Raspberry Pi computer and microphone to listen,…

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The challenges of recording birds

January 20, 2023 — by Jeff Mann

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2022 Holiday Gift Ideas for Bird Lovers

December 3, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

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How to remove noise from bird photos

November 11, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

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My personal bird Pokédex

November 5, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

Besides my eBird lists and my general blog posts, I've been wanting to create something like a wiki or Pokédex to create entries for birds I see.…

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Getting into the hobby of birding

November 1, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

This blog post is a guide with links to different resources and posts to help you get started with birdwatching. Contents Tools and resources…

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My Gear Setup for Bird Photography

October 29, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

I spent my first nine years as a hobby photographer with my original Canon camera setup, a Rebel T5i and EF 400mm lens. Earlier this year I upgraded…

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Plausible Analytics iOS widget for top pages using Scriptable

October 7, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

Scriptable is a nifty iOS app which lets you use scripts to create iOS widgets to feature on your home screen. Inspired by the Scriptable iOS widget…

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How to Start a Bird Blog

August 17, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

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Always check that speck

August 15, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

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How to get people interested in birdwatching

August 5, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

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Analyzing fun bird song spectrograms

July 20, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

Listening to bird songs and watching their spectrograms is a great way to become a better birder. I try to record new species at every opportunity.…

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eBird Trip Reports - Summarize your birding adventures

July 17, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

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Using a shotgun mic with an iPhone to record birds

July 17, 2022

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How to edit bird song recordings

May 18, 2022 — by Jeff Mann

You've captured a few recordings of birds on your phone or recording equipment and now you want to edit them to keep or upload to eBird . What is the…

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