I used my awesome Merlin App to identify the below woodpecker. I wasn't sure if it was a Hairy Woodpecker or a Downy. I had always thought it was a Downy, but after going through the bird ID lesson I thought maybe it was really a Hairy. The Merlin App identified it as a Downy. Would you agree?

I enjoyed using Merlin in the activities practicing bird IDs of birds in my yard.   I live in a rural area of the eastern panhandle of WV. The ID of birds ID’d by shape Cardinals and Blue Jays  were IDd first try.  The 3 birds with black and red; red wing black bird, rose breasted grossbeak, and the hairy woodpecker also easy to ID. My my favorite bird is a Baltimore Oriole. It is medium/small, the body is round.  It has a brilliant orange breast and black head and hood.  The tail is mostly black with an orange tip.  The wings are black with white stripes.  It has a very pointed straight grey beak. This bird visits my back yard regularly I have put out orange halves and an oriole feeder but I have never seen him use either.  He and his mate visit the yard at different times, I have never seen them together.  I haven’t found their nest this year but 2 years ago it was in a large walnut tree in easy view of our back porch and we could watch them taking turns to feed their young.

All these birds below come to our feeding area - we throw some seed on the ground and put some in a feeded.  We also have a hummingbird feeder.  The area around the feeding area is undeveloped Sonoran desert with lots of trees and plants. Activity 1: 2 birds different just by shape.  Curve bill Thrasher  and Gambel Quail. The thrasher is slimmer and has a curved bill. The quail is plump and has shorter legs plus a top notch. Activity 2: 3 different birds same color but different parts of the body.  These are in the grey category but quite different. Albert's Towhee a drab grayish brown all over except a bit darker face and pinkish bill that resembles a cardinal bill.  The feed mostly on the ground scratching with both feet.  Morning doves are grey mostly on the back - breast and belly are whitish. They also have tails more pointed than the Albert's Towhee.  The Curved Bill thrasher has a grey back but the breast and belly has spots but the bill is slightly curved. Activity 3: Look for three different birds searching for food today. The Gila Woodpecker visits the seed feeder and the hummingbird feeder.  We think the Gila and Northern Flicka may get more of the hummingbird food that the hummingbirds do. The also get insects off the tree trunks.  The black throated sparrow tries to horn in on the doves at the feeder - they have some luck but they are very polite (no bullies).  They also peck around the ground and explores the creosote in the area for insects. . The Cactus Wren rarely comes in to eat the food we put out. We see them hoping everywhere - sometimes flipping twigs and small rocks to find food. Activity 4: Favorite bird - Phainopepla.  The are robin size (7-8 inches), slim with a spiky crest.  The look black unless the sunlight is right and then they are really shiny (almost purple).  The have red eyes.  They feed on the mistletoe - some say they even plant mistletoe seeds (but maybe not on purpose). When they fly, there a white wing patch. ,

I have been bird watching most days (even for just a few minutes before work) since I started this class. I have used Merlin to identify about 10 different bird species within a mile or two of my house. We do have hawks nearby and even in my own yard, but I am struggling still to identify the difference between the hawks.   Regarding activity 2, I think I have been able to identify 4 different black birds in my area - red winged blackbird (easy with the red patch on the wings!), common grackle with the navy shiny hood, the American crow and the black-billed magpie.

I used my Merlin app, the Bird ID and Explore Birds features, using characteristics and my location to scan through lists with pics, descriptions, sounds. Wonderful. I sat in my backyard and walked in Caroline park, filled with California natives. 1) Northern Mockingbird with well proportioned slim elegant body and medium neck, sitting on a wire with long narrow tail pitched up, ¿for balance? Lesser Goldfinch with small ovoid body and conical beak. 3)Maybe Coopers Hawk soaring and circling above; House Sparrow scratching dry leaves in a shaded quiet area; Anna’s Hummingbird hovering with whirling wings at a tubular flower at head height.

I took a photo of a bird at my feeder.  I used the Merlin Bird App to identify the bird with a photograph I took.  It was a House Sparrow. I posted the information onto my Facebook account.  I have let a lot of people know about this course and I think that some friends have enrolled.  It is a great resource and I hope to be able to use it soon when I explore the outdoors.

1.  We have a lot of grey- or dun-colored birds in our neighborhood, including three different kinds of doves (whitening, mourning, Inca), all of which are easy to tell apart from the chachalaca, which to me has a shape that is sort of a cross between a chicken and a miniature dinosaur!  All are often on the ground, but even in dim light the shape, size--and the weird call--make the chachalaca easy to pick out. 3.  In my back yard this morning, I saw two different feeding strategies.  A number of birds came to the feeders to eat seed, and a male grackle caught a small frog that he was repeatedly dunking in the birdbath!

I love Northern Cardinals.  The are medium sized, the males are mostly Bright red with a black face.  They emit loud chirps regularly in my bacxkyard and often camp out on branches of large trees.

My favorite backyard bird has a black head, white breast with red streaks on each side. Its back and wings and tail are black with streaks of white.

I decided to sort out and identify some of the little brown birds that come to my yard. I now know I have  house sparrows with his dark head, white cheeks, fat black beak  and beige abdomen. I have his wife who is mottled brown with a beige abdomen and a yellow beak and a puffy light eye line. I also have  purple finches. The male is more easily identified  by his reddish head and back but the female is mottled brown  with brown spots spot on her abdomen and a white line in back of he eye. I also have pine siskins. Both male and female look like the female finch  ( mottled brown and brown spots on the abdomen) except they have a slender sharp beak and yellowish stripes on their wings and tail.  Now I can also see that I have a white crested sparrow and gold finches that are brownish in the winter. Game changer!

Today I saw large bodied Canada Geese grey and in white in color flying by and at my birdbath medium size birds Cardinals, Robins and Blue Jays.   The Robin was running on the grass to different spots to listen for worms, the sparrow was hopping around and then pecking  in the dirt.

Great Blue Heron, Whidbey island Washington at dusk

Activity 4 : Favorite bird : Shikra (Accipiter Badius) Shape like : Bald eagle Size : Between crow and goose. Color pattern : Pale blue, grey upper parts + Brown, orange bars + white thighs + lightly barred tail feathers + root of the bill is yellow Habitat : Open fields of semi arid regions, resident of India. Found all over India. Behavior : Sits upright on high trees. Flies like eagles. Hunts small rodents. Sound :  High pitch short duration peews with substantial gaps.

• If I am not wrong this is the bird sitting on the Merlin App's "start bird id" tab. Can someone from Bird Academy confirm ?

   

I can sit in my backyard to do these activities, and on a road nearby. 1.  Two birds I can tell apart by shape are the Bluejay and the robin.  The first is larger and has a crest.  Inside the cover of the Peterson guide are roadside silhouettes that are fun to examine. 2.  Three birds with the same color:  black, but on different places of their bodies. a.  Black-capped Chickadee has a black crown and bib b.  Dark-eyed Junco with very dark coloration about the eyes c.  American Goldfinch:  male with black forehead patch, wings, and tail 3.  Three different birds searching for food today. a.  Hairy Woodpecker:  clings to suet feeder, pokes long bill in to get his food b.  Dark-eyed Junco:  was on the ground eating seeds from the feeder, also had a little bit of plant material in his mouth.  Making a nest? c.  Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker seen nearby over the past week or so, on two roads nearby:  on ground searching for insects and worms and flying low over meadowland 4.  Favorite bird:  the American Goldfinch.  This is a small finch 4 to 5 inches in length, with a small head, long wings, a short tail.  In summer the male is bright yellow with black forehead and wings.  The female is a dusky faded yellow with black and white wingbars.  The goldfinch is active and social, traveling in flocks, and is monogamous.  Pairs sing the same song.  They can be seen in fields, orchards, backyards.  They eat sunflower seed, thistle, elm, and nijer seeds.  They reside all over the USA and migrate South in the winter.

Activity 3 Bird 1 : Black kite was catching pigeons. Bird 2 : White throated kingfisher looking for mice. Bird 3 : House sparrow was eating flowers on aamla tree.

Activity 2 Bird 1 : Copper Smith Barbet   Bird 2 :  Black rumped flameback woodpecker   Bird 3 : Yellow Crowned Woodpecker  

Namaste to All,  I am Abhimanyu from North-western India. Activity 1 Bird 1 - Balck kite - Milvus Migrans - I see it daily, this is s mean machine. Hunts pigeons and other small birds. Sharp calls, glides down in big circles and attacks doves and smaller birds. Loves electricity poles to sit on. I have also noticed that it has fixed times of meals. Picture not clicked by me , searched for the name in my pocket field guide which is a customized guide just for my city Jaipur. Funny things : Yesterday I saw this bird of prey being chased away by a dove. Activity 1 : Bird 2 : Greater Coucal Smaller in size than the black kite but bigger than a pigeon. Black kite is broader than this bird.

1. Grey Butcherbird and Noisy Minor. Butcherbird is sleeker. Easy to identify on Merlin. 2. Australian Raven, Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie. All have black. Raven is all black. Currawong and Magpie black and white. Magpie has white on nape of neck which can be seen at some distance and for me is a defining characteristic. 3. Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. Sitting in Eucalyptus tree eating seeds and tip pruning tree. Laughing Cookaburra sitting on tree branch looking for prey on ground. Dives and takes small lizard. King Parrot in camellia tree. Taking pollen / nectar from flowers. 4. Any Albatros. Large bird, flying effortlessly on wind. Large wing span, shaped for efficiency, found. Often hard for me to identify exact species as usually in flight moving with the wind. Amazing birds. Need to know more  and learn more. Merlin some use. King

Activity 1: practice using Merlin app to identify two familiar birds with different shapes: Dark-eyed Junco, and Black-capped Chickadee: the app was immediately effective in identifying both from the data I put in. Activity 2: use the Merlin app to identify three different birds that have the same colors on different parts of their bodies (and I went for birds of the same size and shape): Robin, Varied Thrush, and Spotted Towhee. Again the app gave the correct identifications for each given variation in data: feeding habits. Activity 3: Identify three birds using Merlin based on different feeding habits (but I chose similar size and shape): Downy Woodpecker (on trees), Golden-crowned Sparrow (on the ground), and Pine Siskin (at the feeder.) And Merlin gave me the correct answer right away. Loving this app -- and would totally trust it with any new bird sighting! Activity 4: Use the bird ID strategies to describe a favorite bird: Bald Eagle: Size: Goose or bigger; Shape: Upright raptor when perched, long, flat wing span when in flight, finger-like wing tips, head projects beyond body (unlike a vulture); Color and pattern markings: Brown, mottled with grey, and white: obvious white head and tail feathers on adults, juveniles all brown with white patches under wings in flight and on underbelly; Behavior: perches in tall trees, especially with bare branches, hunts over water or forest, soaring and swooping, flies in family groups; Range: all year here in the Pacific coast region of BC, Canada, reliably seen especially in spring and early summer over the ocean and around the forest treetops; Sounds: screeching cry and high-pitched chuckles, unmistakeable when heard nearby.

Most of these were done from my yard. Activity 1: European Starling and House Finch. The starlings have long, slender bills. The finches have a lot stubbier bills that are taller. The starlings are a lot bigger than the house finches, they are about the size of a robin. The finches are sparrow-sized. Activity 2: The European starling, Eurasian Collared Dove, and House Sparrow, all sport the color black. The European starling is all black with brown speckles.The male House Sparrow has black as a sort of bib and as spectacles. The Eurasian Collared Dove only has black on the "collar" on the back of it's neck. Activity 3: The European Starling (there are a lot by my house if you couldn't tell,) likes to probe in the ground for bugs to eat. Robins do this, too, but like to pull up whole worms! I've seen house finches eating the leaf buds on one of our trees. Activity 4: Red-tailed Hawks vary in color pattern, but usually have brown backs and heads, and can have tan undersides with black speckles. Their cry is a high, piercing KyEEAAHHH. They often glide high on thermal drafts, then descend with claws outstretched to snatch their prey.

ok - keeping things quite basic here, as that is where I am. I am looking mostly at water and marsh and shore, and so - Activity 1 by shape are the cormarants v. geese, ducks, and smaller birds, swimming in the marsh that I need someone with me to identify! I am skipping activity 2 for now - it was not a good birdwatching day today. Another rainy chill day here - I do hope to spend some time with the binoculars on my porch to distinguish the various black birds that are not crows. Activity 3, I watched glossy Ibis pecking amongst the marsh grass - I found them by scanning with my binoculars, because at first arrival at my spot only saw a large number of gulls as rest in the marsh. In another spot in the same area, I watched gulls and Osprey hunting by circling above, and moving to a harbor, watched a pair of ducks (white with dark caps), repetively "bottoms-up" for their food.  My newly adopted temporary favorite bird, the Glossy Ibis - I now look for or stay-aware for - in the marshy grasses, distinctive by the buff and purple/other colors, slightly smaller, even slenderer than the white snowy egret. And in a group. I am a both enjoying the "enlightening" of this course, and a little discouraged today. I am hoping for more "distance-walking" soon with one or another birder-friend. Almost everyone I know can identify more local birds than me. It helps to keep learning them one at a time.

Activity 4: Favorite bird. I like small cuteness. I saw a Black-capped Chickadee for the first time a few weeks ago. Her brown, black and white colorings are not flamboyant, but soothing somehow. Why have I not seen one before? They are year-round inhabitants of British Columbia. Little is hard to spot. I think I was captured by her song. Their body shape is more symmetrical; with a larger head.  I like that they feed on seeds, and not gross worms etc. As much as it would be lovely to have birds at home, I do not believe in animals of any kind in cages.

Activity 3: An American Coot was deep diving for plants. Not sure if she is going to share. The Northern Flicker, a member of the woodpecker family, was in woodpecker form making a monster hole in the tree, but feeds on the ground. How does that happen? I did not get a picture, and I found it disturbing, but a Bald Eagle flew overhead with what sounded like a live Starling in his grip. A few weeks ago I saw a Great Blue Heron grab what looked like a mouse in the grass. I had to look it up, as I did not know they would eat those. I am fascinated with birds, but being a vegetarian that grossed me out. lol

Activity 1- I can easily identify the Northern Cardinal and Black-Capped Chickadee at my feeders by their different shapes. Activity 2 - Three birds with red on their bodies - a pileated woodpecker with its striking red crest which we see in the trees behind our property, a red-bellied woodpecker, seen at our feeder, whose red is not on its belly but on its head, and a beautiful red-headed woodpecker which I identified with my Merlin app while on a walk. Activity 3 - the robins pick all over the back yard looking for worms. Blue jays seem to be first at the feeder and on the ground beneath each day, scavenging for their breakfast. The house finches are so cute and eat so daintily as they sit on the feeder in pairs. activity 4 - Not necessarily my favorite bird but for sure my favorite bird sighting so far this year. A bird that was new to me, Cedar Waxwing, is a Cardinal-sized bird with a crest and a striking black mask, as well as a band of yellow across the bottom of the tail. We heard rustling in a stand of trees along our driveway and saw birds flying in and out, making a bit of a racket. This went on for 5 minutes or more as I realized they were eating the berries in these trees. There must have been 20 or more birds having quite a feast!

Activity 1: two birds easily that I can tell apart by shape- Robin and white crowned sparrow Activity 2: 3 different birds that have the same colour (red/orange) in different parts of their body- Northern flicker, red on the nape of his neck; Spotted Tohee, red down the sides; Varied Thrush red/orange eye stripe and throat Activity 3:Food behaviours -Black capped chickadee taking sunflower seeds from the feeder to a nearby tree and using his feet to hold the seed while he cracks it; Oregon Junco feeds on ground with a jump forwards and back to  scratch the surface for seeds; Red rested Nuthatch who creeps along tree trunks often upside down Activity 4: Black capped Chickadee identified by song; Chickadee dee and hamburger; size and shape like a sparrow; colour pattern of black cap and  throat and white chest