Songbirds seem to have the birds I’m enjoying the most. Particularly the Carolina Wren with all his/her songs. It is ever surprising how loud they can sing given their small size. Enjoying learning to classify birds in groups. Makes the adventure of birding a little less daunting.

I live in a condo but I’ve managed to make my balcony a little bird haven.  I’ve tried painting the birds, too.

The sandhill crane family I mentioned earlier.

Since starting this class, I've been visiting a pond near where I live, and watching birds with new binoculars.  I've been very lucky to watch a single sandhill crane wading near the shore.  This has been motivating me to practice using my binocs and learning how to use better.  Earlier this summer I was very lucky and observed a pair near this same pond bring their colt out to graze (Is that what it is called, grazing?) on a recently mowed park lawn.  After grazing a while, they three entered the foliage at the edge of the pond and apparently disturbed a red-winged blackbird family.  This led to a lot of diving at the cranes by the blackbirds.  They seem to be very territorial.  I lost track of the cranes, but assume they made it to the pond OK.

So many birds to be fascinated by on the Wall of Birds. I'm choosing the Osprey as my favorite for a few reasons. First and foremost because I live just a couple of miles from Osprey, Florida. I also loved learning that they can be found worldwide. Finally I saw one one afternoon out my window while I was working. It stopped me in my tracks as I thought I was looking at an eagle. It hung around a while so I got to look carefully and discern that it was an osprey. I've become fascinated by birds since moving here to Sarasota as the large wading birds are all around. I've also seen lots of songbirds and seabirds. I saw a flock of Wood Storks flying one afternoon which was a beautiful sight with their black and white wings, so distinctive. It's also fascinating to see the Black Skimmer when it's feeding. But my favorites are the wading birds. The meditative stance of the herons is beautiful to behold especially the large Great Blue Herons. I've loved most of all meeting for the first time the Anhingas. Their neck movements back and forth are distinctive as is their spread-wing stance they commonly do to dry their wings since they don't produce oil to repel the water. They're amazing swimmers, able to stay underwater for seemingly long periods of time, and when swimming only their long necks are seen above the water line which I believe is who they got their nickname as snake birds.

When I can not identify a bird, I pay close attention to what I can observe. Behavior is a big one for it often gives me clues as to where I might find it in a birding guide. Black Capped Chickadees and American Crows are a couple of favorites to watch and study. It is August, 30 and I live about an hour northwest of Detroit. I have not heard robins singing early or late in the day. I suspect, but do not know, they might be molting. This is a challenging time for birds. I have been using Merlin to use calls and songs to I.D. birds I do not see . I just found the Eastern Kingbird in this way. I never did see the bird. It is one bird I know by sight. We used to have one next near the farm house. When we would go out to hang up wet clothes to dry, it would dive on us. .

Activity 3: It's hard to pick a favorite bird, but I do really enjoy the hummingbirds that share our yard in the summer. They are fearless, hovering only 2 - 3 feet in front of our faces (including our dog!) to get a good look at us. I love to hear their chirping, and it always makes me smile when they "buzz" us as we sit outside. I believe the picture is a female ruby-throated hummingbird, but I can't say for sure.

Activity 2: I have become very interested in bird watching over the past few months, watching frequently at my local park and my many bird feeders. One bird I notice often at my feeder is a white breasted nuthatch, who I learned belongs to the tree creeper family. I also have a downy woodpecker who visits, which is grouped in the woodpecker category. My local park has a small wetland area where I often see both great egrets and great blue herons, who are classified as wading birds. The wading birds have been my favorite so far. I purchased binoculars and watch them at my park multiple times a week!

SP: Soy principiante en el mundo de observación de aves, llevo un par de años pajareando y hasta ahora las aves que más han captado mi atención son las tangaras, tucanes y carpinteros, amo sus colores, comportamiento y cantos. La especie que más ha captado mi atención y que sueño obtener una fotografía espectacular es Celeus Spectabilis. EN: I am a beginner in the world of bird watching, I have been birding for a couple of years and so far the birds that have caught my attention the most are tanagers, toucans and woodpeckers, I love their colors, behavior and songs. The species that has caught my attention the most and that I dream of obtaining a spectacular photograph is Celeus Spectabilis.

While sitting at a mangrove estuary, a downy woodpecker perched on a sea grape branch near me, and navigated its way up and down the branch, picking and poking at it. Being the inexperienced birder I am, I initially wasn't convinced it was a woodpecker, since it was picking rather than pecking. This was despite the markings and size and even his birdcall matching the description in my field guide. When I got home and did some further research, I discovered that the downy woodpecker does indeed glean on smaller branches that larger woodpeckers would not be able to navigate. I was excited for this new knowledge! No pictures were good enough to share.

I’ve seen most of the birds one would expect at my birdfeeders (one for thistle, one for black sunflower seed, one for hummingbird nectar). Now I’m trying to learn more about local birds that don’t eat seed or nectar, and that involves learning to identify them by sound as well as (or instead of) sight. Since I started this lesson I have heard a red-eye virio, a blue-headed virio (listed in Merlin but not in my old Peterson guide, and a wood thrush. My favorite bird at the moment is the red-winged blackbird, mostly because I saw a lot of them this spring and learned to identify their sound. Last year it was the black-capped chickadees and goldfinches that come to the thistle feeder. The bird wall is amazing! I used it to see if I could discover why Australian birds sounded so foreign to me when I visited there years ago. I now realize that European birds are quite different from our (North American) ones, too.

Hi! I’m Yoel from Colombia. I recently started bird watching while on a trip to the coffee zone in Colombia. To my surprise I have watched and listened to so many birds in the neighborhood I live in Medellin since I came back. Here is a great kiskadee I saw today. Is impressive these fantastic animals have been there all along and I just started noticing them!

(Activity 3) I live in Seattle, WA, where there's a very large and gregarious community of American crows. I always enjoy seeing them patrol my neighborhood in pairs each morning, perched on the highest points they can find and cawing about their findings to each other.

Activity 2: Find birds—either outside, online, or in your field guide—from three different groups that you learned about in this lesson. Even if you don’t know what kind of birds they are, can you narrow it down to one of the groups? Bird #1: Great Egret Group: Wading birds Location: Jamestown, Rhode Island USA Bird #2: Barn swallow Group: Songbirds Location: Jamestown, Rhode Island USA Bird #3: Canada Goose Group: Swimming birds/waterfowl Location: Stamford, Connecticut USA

Green heron - he makes a statement both in sound and in view. Awesome!! And a great fisherman in my fresh water pond.

Activity Two:  We left our feeders up for the summer this year and have had fun watching all the birds that still come to the feeder.  We have had at least 2 different Red-bellied Woodpeckers, as there was one on each feeder the other day.  We also have many song birds: Rose breasted Grosbeck, lots of cardinals, tufted titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, a song sparrow to name a few.  We live on a creek, and driving to the store, at the bend of the creek, I saw a heron.  But he did not look like most of the Great Blue herons we see; he was smaller and darker.  When I got home, I looked him up.  He was a Small Blue Heron.  I was glad to see him, as I think he was migrating.  Wish I had been able to get a picture.

I have been enjoying the Yellow Warbler this spring. Of all of the warblers this one is the easiest to find since it is frequently found lower in the bushes and trees. They are cheerful birds as well. Their song and color are cheerful and they seem so energetic.

Activity 2: Today I went birdwatching. Different groups of birds that have have found include songbirds, waterfowl, raptors, and woodpeckers. The songbirds include the Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, and the American Robin. The waterfowl included numerous Canada Geese and Mute Swans. I encountered 5 dyads with babies. The raptor I encountered was the Red-Tailed Hawk. The woodpecker that I saw briefly was the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. 

Activity 1: I find the barn swallow fascinating. Their forked tail is distinctive and they are quite swift as they dive through the air. It is amazing that travel from the southern hemisphere every year and then return to breed so close to my home. Their blue wings and orange breast is quite vibrant. The cormorants are quite interesting as well. There seem to be different varieties of the family all over the world. They are adaptable between ocean and fresh water. I love to watch them sitting along the edge of the water or flying through the air. Looking at the Wall of Birds, it is magnificent to see all of these birds in relation to each other. It is hard to imagine the ostrich and the emperor penguin being related to one another.

I learned the word heronry for a colony of herons, which I had witnessed this winter on Longboat Key, Florida.  Three nests were in this one tree.

Activity 3:  The Loon has been a favorite ever since I first heard one on a lake in northern Maine.  For 12 years I lived near a lake and could hear the loons calling in the early morning.  Now I live near the ocean and see the loons in their winter plumage, but I miss the haunting sound they make in the spring and summer. 

Activity 1: The first bird that caught my eye on the Wall of Birds was the Ornimegalonyx, the largest owl known to us. I guess I didn't realize that owls had such a direct ancestor when it came to so many of their unique traits, but maybe it shouldn't surprise me. All those awesome features had to evolve from somewhere! Activity 2: In the songbird group, I see lots of redwing blackbirds, sparrows, and finches this time of year. I especially love the redwing's call. As far as waterfowl, we have LOTS of mallards and Canada geese coming back after the winter. And, of course, raptors. I've found it a bit easier to distinguish between red tailed hawks and red shouldered hawks when they're flying close, which is exciting to me. Activity 3: My "spark bird" is the Eastern Phoebe, which I believe we would classify as a flycatcher? I used to work out in the woodlands of southern Indiana, and I'd spend the early mornings bird watching. The first bird I felt like I successfully saw through binoculars and then identified (with help from the Merlin app, as I was an absolute newbie) was this tiny little brownish/gray bird. It was pretty immediately after that I fell in love with this bird's behavior and then with birding in general.

Activity 1: Looking at the Wall of Birds, the Wandering Albatross caught my attention because of their size and capacity to live at sea for long periods. They also reminded me of Cory's shearwaters that I enjoy observing in the Azores, every time I visit the islands. I love their smooth gliding along to the ocean swell and funny distinctive call sounds. Activity 2: Cory's shearwater (seabird); Common blackbird (blackbird); European starling (blackbird) Activity 3: Black redstart, a common bird in the more urban setting in which I live in Portugal. I find its crouching and tail ticking behaviour very distinct and easy to spot, even from a distance. They are also quite daring and curious and ocasionally land on my balcony while I am sitting there.

Activity 1: I enjoyed the map and if I had to vote for a favorite it would be the Loon. I love listening to them in the evening when we visit Canada or New England. Their song is so peaceful. Although it was not on the map, my favorite bird is the Common Myna bird. I recently spent several years in UAE, and they were a frequent visitor on my patio. I've really just started to birdwatch and I'm really enjoying it. Activity 2: I saw raptors this weekend on a hike which is really exciting for me. We live in Ohio and there is quite a few nesting Eagle pairs in some of the protected areas around lake Erie. I'd never seen bald eagles in the wild before, so to spot several on the same hike was exciting. I also saw what I believe was a hawk, although I'm not sure. I have seen several songbirds this spring.I spotted cardinals, robins, sparrows, and black capped chickadees in the yard. I have also seen plenty of Canadian Geese this week, along with Mallards. We have a lake behind my home where they like to stop. Lots of goslings this time of year. Activity 3: My favorite bird in the neighborhood is a hummingbird. I have only seen one this year, although I have several feeders out. No picture, but believe it was a ruby-throated hummingbird as it has a red area around the head. I'm hoping more will come when it's a little warmer and the flowers are planted.