If you find yourself paying more attention to the birds in your backyard these days, you're in good company: birdwatching is seeing a big surge in interest during the pandemic.

Working or studying from home has a lot of people looking out their windows and noticing birds, and then trying to figure out what kind of bird it IS.

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Most people can identify a basic cardinal or a bluebird, but a lot of common backyard species in North Carolina are a little harder to tell apart.

The Audubon Society has a free app for that, and its usage has gone up 40 percent since the pandemic started, according to Audubon's state policy director Zach Wallace.

"When we look at our membership numbers, we’ve seen about an 18 percent jump, which I think shows that folks are interested and that they want to learn more," Wallace told WRAL News.

Audubon has also had more confirmed sightings of rare birds this year, mostly because more people are paying attention. And there are also more seed-eating birds than usual migrating south from Canada this year to spend the winter here.

"Things like purple finches, pine siskins, red-breasted nuthatches," Wallace said, "those are definitely birds that have come a long way and are looking for food once they get here."

Wallace says winter is a great time to start backyard birdwatching because birds tend to hang out around feeders more often, "so you can have them congregated, and that gives you a little more time to snap a picture or get your field guide out, figure out which bird that is."

One common backyard bird in the Triangle is the brown-headed nuthatch, a tiny bird that makes a sound like a dog toy.

"That’s a bird that’s here in North Carolina all year, that lives in pine trees," Wallace said. "And that’s the way I always describe it to folks, is to listen for that squeaky toy."

Wallace says bird feeders are a great way to attract more birds to your backyard, and so are native plants that produce seeds and berries local birds like to eat. You can find a list of recommended plants on the group's website.

And if you're one of those new birders, you may want to mark your calendar: Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count gets underway on Monday, Dec. 14th.