We recently had our backyard bulldozed for a redo of the yard. Left standing is a large old olive tree and a couple of other trees. The olive has a bee hive in a cavity in one of the trunks. I have been seeing a couple of crows flying into the yard and tiptoeing around the base of the tree. I wonder if they like honey? They move around to the back of the tree where I lose sight of them and then I see them quickly fly away and land on a utility wire nearby. I’m curious about what they might be doing. Is it the honey, the bees, or something else they’re after? I live in Redlands, CA 80 miles east of Los Angeles. Sarah

Activity 4: A bird I really liked was the blue-crowned Motmot: The Motmot is between the size of a sparrow and the size of a crow; it is around a foot tall. It has distinctive blue tail feathers, which end with feathers that seem almost separated from the actual tail feathers. We saw the Motmot in Carara National Park in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Activity 1: I often distinguish bushtits from chickadees - they flock together - by their shape. The bushtit is somewhat smaller and has a long tail for its body. Chickadees are a big stouter. Activity 2: Robins and their close relative the varied thrush have such similar colours, but in different places. Robin red breast is a good way to tell them apart. But it's hard for me not to factor in other clues like their sound and habitat. Varied thrushes are so shy - they rarely leave the forest and they have this high, reedy call which sends shivers down my spine. I love them! Activity 3: Look for three different birds that are searching for food today. Well, it's always fund to watch crows on the seaside. They'll pick up shells and drop them, to get at their innards. And you can often find an oyster catcher - not only by their bright orange beaks but by the crows congregating around them looking for a free meal. Seagulls also scavenge and use similar tactics. They'll even eat starfish. It takes them hours to swallow one and I couldn't believe it when I first spotted a seagull with starfish legs spilling out of its beak - hilarious. Towhees are adorable - you'll hear one before you see it, because they like to thrash around in leaf litter, looking for critters. Activity 4: I guess a favorite bird would be the harlequin duck. It is smaller and sleeker than a mallard - more like a wood duck in size and shape. The male's markings are so distinctive (white spots and stripes as well as the chestnut sides), which is why they're named after clowns. They nest inshore during the summer so living on the coast as I do, I only see them between October and May/June. I look forward to their return and know exactly where to find them, in a sheltered bay. They are not wimps however. If the seas are raging, they're gamely out there surfing the waves; they plough right through them. They tend to dive repeatedly, a pattern you can see from afar, as they flip their tails up before heading down. They don't make much sound - occasionally, I will hear a high-pitched squeak. That seems to be true of the ocean-going ducks overall. While it's hard to have a favorite, I adore these guys.

My new favorite bird is the Black Phoebe. We only noticed it here recently, perched in the distance. At first it seemed to be just grey and we could not figure out what it was. After looking for a few days we determined it was sized between a sparrow and a crow, had a blacker head and white on it’s belly. The tail was narrow and also black. Merlin helped us make the positive ID. It will perch for a while then swoop down. There seem to be two. We are still watching to learn more about this bird.

Activity 1: Look for two birds (either outside or on Bird Cams) that you can tell apart just by shape. Try to identify them using Merlin or a field guide. Share your findings in the discussion. My two birds were a rock pigeon and a Glaucous-winged Gull, which I've always known as a seagull.  The shapes are actually soemwhat  similar between the two birds. Though the Gull is larger than the pigeon, both have large bodies and smaller heads. The gull has a long beak  that is about the same size as its head. The pigeon has a short beak, smaller than its head. The gull has long legs and the pigeon short legs. Activity 4: Pick your favorite bird, and see if you can describe it using at least three of the bird ID strategies (size and shape, color pattern and markings, behavior, habitat and range, and sounds). Share your description in the discussion.   My favorite bird at the moment is the red winged blackbird. This bird has a really lovely song that captured my attention. The bird is smaller than a crow and larger than a sparrow. It has a roundish body and no discernible neck. it has a short, stout beak. The ones I see on my daily walks are solid black with a red cap on its upper wings, trimmed with yellow.  The two I regularly see are in the same bushes every day. Each bush is growing over the water on a lake. I've only seen them flying or perched in the bushes.

I want to give a shout out to one of my favorites, the mourning dove.  They are just so chill!  Love to watch them strut around our deck gobbling up the millet and such that other birds drop from our hopper feeder.  Or they'll just sit on the rail taking in all the flurry of action at the feeders.  Nothing fazes them (except maybe another mourning dove that tries to grab their seed).  And then they'll go back to the woods and start cooing away.  Love their round gray medium sized bodies with the black spots (including the big round dark eyes), their big feet and stubby little legs. Btw, CLO has a neat online page called "What Bird are you Most Like" https://cornelllabpgstore.com/what-bird-are-you-most-like-all-outcomes/.   I was a great horned owl and my wife was the mourning dove, so there you go! Very much enjoying the course that my son (with two degrees from Cornell!) got me for my birthday.

Activity 2.  1 is a white-breasted nuthatch, 2. Catbird. 3.  Mockingbird

Hello I recently noticed a lot of birds of this sort in my backyard. Before getting the bird app and joining this course, I had gone to my hardware store and picked up a bird feeder. I already have a fountain and enjoyed seeing this little guys come around. This is the only pic so far, I feed enjoy watching all of them. I am mostly seeing: Anna's hummingbird American Crow House Sparrow House Finch Pigeons And I I believe the Bushtit as well.   Thank you for your work. I am enjoying learning more about birds and their lives.   Tim

I'm pretty familiar with the birds that come to my feeder although there are fewer now that it is summer and they have lots of food options. So I really enjoyed watching the Cornell FeederWatch Cam as an alternative. Usually I find Merlin a really great help in identifying birds but it didn't seem to find one of the birds I saw today. It was about the size of a starling but shaped more like a woodpecker and having a long straight woodpecker-type of bill. It was a soft greyish/buff with some white under the chin - very non-descript coloring really but the wings lying against the back had lovely white edges on the feathers so that it showed a pattern in rows of scallops. It could have been a flicker except that it did not have the distinctive dark moon-shape on the chest. I wish I'd thought to take a screen shot. It's gone now. Any ideas from the description? It was fun to observe the differences between the Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Hairy Woodpecker both with their black and white bodies but in different patterns and the former with his full red cap while the other has just a bright red spot at the back of the head.

Activity #2: I chose three birds that have the same shape and colors: Black Tailed Grackle, Common Raven and Brown-headed cowbirds. I used my Merlin app to figure out the differences between them. The Brown-Headed cowbird was easy to distinguish because of the brown head. The difference between the common raven and great tailed grackle was more difficult- but the tails were different and the Grackle has light eyes. I was surprised how much I am learning to pay attention to subtle differences in birds.   Activity #3: Searching for food: I watched hummingbirds in a local preserve. I think they were Anna's hummingbirds.  They were eating from bushes- I was surprised because they're were no flowers on the bushes- maybe they were finding small insects?? Also watched mallard ducks swimming and using their lower beaks as a shovel in the water- not sure what they were eating. Also back-necked stilts wading and dipping for small fish in a pond.   The Merlin app is helpful, especially when birds look alike.

I love the Merlin app, been using it for a long time.  I have now used the photo option, and it works well. Telling the sparrows apart is always a challenge, and the combination of songs and pictures really helps.

For activity 1: I've been trying to identify the difference between a lesser and greater scaup. I think we have lesser scaups in the neighborhood lagoon because they don't have a noticeable feather bump on their heads. 3: Just this morning I saw a magpie try to beak my cherry tomato and starlings pecking for (aphids) on the grass underneath the birch tree. The chickadees and nuthatches prefer the feeder.

My favourite bird is the red winged black bird. I am mostly surrounded by forest luckily this bird lives nearby in the open farm field which spread out behind the grassy bay, across the river we live on. Slightly smaller than a robin, mostly black with a bright red patch on their wings. They are very territorial at breeding time. I have seen them attack all sizes of bigger birds: crows, ravens, gulls, hawks and even eagles. They are fearless and fierce. If I try to get close enough to get a good picture they will attack me too!!!

My birding friend came for a visit. Her binoculars always accompany her, since my home is surrounded by a variety of bird habitats: river, grassy bay, tall trees and bushes and some small open lawn area. My varied bird bird neighbours have inspired my to take this course. Usually the hairy and downy wood peckers visit the suet feeder here in the winter. But this summer day we noticed a different wood pecker who flitted about in the taller bare tree trunks. It seems most wood peckers are black and white with some red on their heads. How can we tell them apart? She searched with her binoculars and I hunted in my bird book. Although I know there are many hairy woodpeckers in this area all year round, this one had a black bib so we concluded it must be the yellow bellied sap sucker who is my summer visitor. But he left before I could get a picture.

Here is a gold finch at our upcycled bird feeder we mainly get song sparrows at this feeder and I love their little stripey/specled pattern of their feathers. We also get a lot of cardinals and American robins in our back yard and the occasional common grackle. Also squires and chipmunks love the seeds that fall out of the feeder. For the bird differentiating activity from a distance the male grackle and crow have similar colours but the grackle is smaller and in the sun the male grackle’s head is iridescent with beautiful blue green colour. We have also identified a downy woodpecker in the near by forest and it has similar coloration as the hairy woodpecker. for my favourite bird in the back yard I would go with “the loud one” as my 3 year old calls him. A male cardinal with beautiful red feathers with a  rear of red feathers black markings on his face and bright orange beak that is quite short and thick looking perfect for breaking into seeds which he adores to eat at our feeders. He loves purching  on the top of trees Singing his loud distinctive song (this his name) he is occasionally seen accompanied by  a female who has a paler more orange colour and the distinctive crest.

Hey there! Up in Toronto and went to do all the activities in the Leslie Spit which is great for birding! Here's what I found! Activity 1: To distinguish shape I was able to spot Caspian Terns and  Common Terns literally beside each other, so I could determine both birds easily! The Caspian Tern was much larger. I would say twice the size of the common Tern. Same shape but different sizes. Activity 2: For this activity I saw a lot of Killdeer, American Robins and one American Widgen. Each had black, white and orangish brown colours. The Killdeer had an orange rump black neck bands and white belly and neck. The Robin has an orange chest, white eye ring and blackish head and the Wigeon had a white forehead, black rump and an orangish back maybe not quite the colour of the robin and killdeer, but i had trouble with this one. most birds have flown through al ready. Activity 3: Was able to watch a Yellow Warbler pick a spider out of a spider web and i also saw one eating a grub. I watched a Ring-billed Gull eating a fish and Mallards eating with there tails up. Also a lot of Double-Crested Cormorants diving for fish here! its a breeding ground. Activity 4: Favourite bird is the Northern Flicker. Saw two today. Just a bit bigger than a robin, but smaller than a crow. colour pattern was buff/brown with black spots and a red patch at the back of the crown. Both were hanging around the big ponds and the wet wooded areas. perched in trees.

although here for the birds...particularly fond of the gluttonous squirrel just laying in the seed.

Activity 1:  used the cornell feeder webcam in seersucker woods.  saw the red bellied wood pecker and i think the blue jay, but Merlin keeps giving me ducks to choose from when i put in the search criteria (and i am not choosing duck size, or even those colors).  But loving the webcam!

Activity 4: One of my favorites, Snowy Egret: Size & Shape: This is fairly important, especially if your sighting is through flight. At a glimpse, they can look very similar to gulls, as they don't have any extreme patterns or colorings to distinguish them at a distance. With a closer look, however, the shape is drastically different. Their folded neck makes the appearance of a large lump behind & below the head, and the wingspan is much greater proportionally, with wingspan superseding their size far more than any gull.  On the more obvious side of things, they are also larger than any gull or other seabird. Their dagger-like bill is also an easily distinguishable aspect to them. Color & Patterns: Snowy Egrets are pure white, with no patterns to be seen. While this can be seen as a bad thing to have a lack of field marks, there are few other birds to compare it to that have the same completely pure white, and all of them are drastically different in size & shape. Range: Snowy Egrets are only ever seen in the lower half of North America, and drift down to almost purely Mexico & surrounding areas in non-breeding seasons.

Activity 2 (if a little incomplete)— lately, I’ve been in Utah enjoying the swallows and swifts from my window. I’m seeing a lot of violet green swallows and white throated swifts. Their darting around makes it hard to differentiate sometimes, but on the swift, there seems to be a band of white on the side against blotches of dark on the belly. Violet green swallows feature a much more clean break between the dark backside and the white belly.

Activity 1: Two species I commonly get on my feeder are Black-Capped Chickadees and White-Breasted Nuthatches. They have similar colorings, but you can tell them apart because the Nuthatches are larger and more slender, and also behave differently. Chickadees tend to perch, while Nuthatches will climb up and down the side of trees or our suet feeder. Activity 2: Downy Woodpeckers, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, and Pileated Woodpeckers all have Black, White, and Red, but they can easily be told apart. First because of the size (Downy is smaller then Red-Bellied is smaller than Pileated), and the Pileated has a crest while the others do not. However, the color patterns are also different. Downys have only a small patch of red, white on the stomach and on spots on the wings and a white stripe on the back, and the rest is black. Red-Bellieds have red across the entire head and a ladder-like pattern of black and white on the back, also white on the stomach. Finally, Pileated have a red crest and are mostly black otherwise save for white patches on the neck and head. Activity 3: A Downy Woodpecker visited my suit feeder. Woodpeckers in general seem to really like the suet, whereas I rarely see them on the seeds. A Tufted Titmouse is now visiting my sunflower seed feeder, and they rarely visit the suet. However, we also get White-Breasted Nuthatches, which like both the seeds and the suet. Other birds, particularly Chipping Sparrows and Mourning Doves like the seeds, but tend to pick seeds from the ground that were dropped by other birds. As for birds that are looking for food on their own, we get American Robins and recently a recurring singular Wild Turkey that forage through the grass looking for worms and other insects. Activity 4: I can't pick a favorite bird, I love them all. But one bird I've been seeing alot lately is a House Wren, which has made a nest in our next box and spends alot of time on a tree outside my window. House Wrens are small bundles of energy, mostly buff colored but with some white on the stomach. They have short, upright tails and short beaks. This particular one likes to sing and is often close enough that I can see its mouth open and its throat moving.

I wrote a whole thing for this but then I lost it all because the site logged me out and it took like 15 minutes to write fix this site please.

Activity 4:  Earlier today I went birding at Centennial Marsh State Wildlife Management Area in Idaho.  While driving slowly along one of the perimeter roads, I was scanning the nearby vegetation.  I had moved from driving along a distinctly marshy area with patches of open water to a drier area that was slightly higher when I saw a tallish brown shape that did not look quite right for vegetation.  Looking thru my binoculars I saw an owl in the middle of the day.  The owl was rather slim and long appearing and dark mottled brown with yellow eyes framed in white feathers and two very short ear tufts.  It was one of 3 possible large or largish owls that reside in southern Idaho - great horned owl, long-eared owl, and short-eared owl.  This owl was slim so the shape eliminated great horned owl, as did it being active during the day and in short vegetation (shrub-steppe).  Long-eared owls are also slim but have long ear tufts and tend to roost in tall dense shrubs during the day.  I’m not aware of long-eared owls hunting during the day but knew short-eared owls do when the food demands of their owlets gets high enough.  Mid-June is about the right time of year for that at the elevation I was at.  My owl was indeed a short-eared owl.