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I don’t have a life list, and I can’t tell one juvenile gull from another.

An obsessive birder since childhood, Mr. Kaestner woke up that morning in February with 9,997 birds on his personal “life list” — more than 90 percent of Earth’s scientifically recognized species and three away from a singular milestone.

As of now, my Life List on Merlin is 45 birds.

The first species they identified — a rufous-sided towhee with a velvety black head, bright red and white breast, and ruby eyes — was the first bird Joanne ticked off on her life list.

For a slow birder — and Strassmann considers herself one — the payoff is not a longer life list, but connecting with and gaining insight into our inner circle of everyday birds.