Alva Review-Courier -

Conner Brown, a 25-year-old law student at Stanford University, spent the early days of the pandemic following his brother as he spotted and collected characters in the Pokemon Go mobile game.

Then, Brown noticed the birds.

"I thought, 'Why don't I take up birding?' It's like real-life Pokemon Go. It's super addicting because you can start logging them and you get a little collection. It's really cool," Brown said. He paused, then added, "They should really game-ify it."

Brown, who's living near Annapolis, Maryland, can now identify 30 different bird species. He can recognize the calls of the...