I’d probably be able to list on one hand how many times I’ve slept in till sunrise in the past 20 years.

I always awakened very early. Before retirement, I’d even wake earlier on a weekend so I could utilize as much of the daylight hours of my days off. That hasn’t changed.

In the best birding months, this early bird is probably walking or hiking or sitting somewhere soaking in everything wild around me. But I’ve lost one advantage that I once had: I can’t hear the high-pitched sounds very well, and for me, that means I might miss many of the birds singing nearby that “young pup ears” could hear.

I added an app to my phone called Merlin. Merlin detects a singing bird and identifies it immediately on my phone’s screen. I now know one is feeding or singing nearby and, in most cases, my “bird hearing aid” has helped me find it or them.

Just last week I decided to sit on our back porch before it was even light. I went to the Merlin app and waited. I was curious to see how many birds we hosted in our yard. Birds that are the first to be active in the morning and the last to be active near dusk are known as crepuscular birds. If you have bird feeding stations you probably noticed that cardinals are, like this writer, the first to awaken.

Let’s see how my little experiment panned out. Note, sunrise that morning was 5:38 a.m.

I found my chair at 4:38 a.m., and according to the app, and my still functioning but poor hearing, nothing was stirring yet. At 4:55 a robin began to sing. For about 10 minutes he was the soloist. Remember that birds sing to first establish their territories, then to defend that territory, and the way he was singing, I think they may like to just hear themselves sing.

At 5:10, as expected, first one cardinal, and shortly thereafter a second cardinal, began to sing. One in our trees, the other in a neighbor’s trees. At this time, there was just a hint of daylight. A minute later a song sparrow chimed in. In the next two minutes, my Merlin app first identified a bluebird, an Eastern kingbird just across the street and then seven other species.

At 5:10, the male catbird from the nesting pair in our yard began his repertoire, and his singing dominated the bird chatter for the next 15 minutes until I went back inside.

I was pleased in this impromptu little backyard birding to also watch at least three big brown bats zigzag overhead, grabbing a few more insects until heading to their daytime roosting spots. Our bat numbers have been rapidly declining, and a few species are threatened with extinction due to white nose syndrome.

If you are an early riser like me, don’t wait until August to catch the morning bird songs. Remember, as nesting time ends, so does the male’s need to sing. The mornings then sadly become very quiet, so get out there.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: In last week’s edition I submitted a photo of a sandhill crane and its young. What is a young sandhill crane called? A. colt; B. chick; C. poult; D. cub.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: It’s no surprise that the porcupine climbs trees, but the gray fox is an excellent climber, and even the woodchuck climbs quite well, despite its bulky appearance.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com