Activity 2 and 3: We saw surf scoters today! Along with Brandt’s Cormorants, and the ubiquitous (and my favorites) Buffleheads. Buffleheads-my favorite because of their up-then-down diving behavior- they are so cute! Greater and lesser scaups, redheads, and mersangers, bluebirds, Savannah and Song sparrows, ravens, red tailed hawks, white tailed kites, Anna’s hummingbirds. It was a lovely day for birding.

I'm very new to birding, and my current favourite bird is the ruby-crowned kinglet (zoom into the middle of the photo; my partner managed to get this with her phone). I also love the golden-crowned kinglet, but I love the cartoony eyes on the ruby-crowned. They are tiny and adorable and constantly moving, so incredibly hard to photograph, but I can usually count on seeing them at a park not too far from my house.

Activity 2.  I have been a long time bird lover, but very poorly educated, particularly with US birds, so the pandemic has given me time and opportunity to learn more about the birds I see.  I have been keeping a track of the birds that I see on my feeders and on my property and there is a much greater variety than I expected. In fact I have seen 18 different species since I started taking note and I can confirm that the Merlin app is very good!  Most exciting to me was three different species of sparrow, House Sparrow, Song Sparrow and White Throated Sparrow.  In the UK we only had one type.

Activity 1. I picked three birds, the White Throated Dipper, who was a favorite of mine as a child growing up in the UK, he was very polite and curtseyed to us as we walked by.  The other two are the Vulture Guineafowl and the King Vulture.  I love vultures, I think they're fascinating and they provide such a very necessary service to our environment, I learned a couple of years ago that some of them can even safely ingest Anthrax, so powerful are their digestive juices.

Activities 2 and 3: I have bird feeders for the first time and we have been really enjoying seeing all of the birds. So far we have titmice, white-breasted nuthatch, house finches, house sparrows, blue jays, black-capped chickadees, Carolina wrens, mourning doves, red-bellied woodpeckers, and I think a Hairy woodpecker.  I also feed crows sometimes that hang out in the neighborhood. So, multiple categories. Picking a favorite is really hard. Either the red-bellied woodpecker just because of its sheer beauty or the black-capped chickadees for their spunk and flight pattern.

Activity two. I recently signed up for a local birdwatching class and we have traveled to some state parks and beaches in the area of Sarasota, Florida. For me the waders are fairly easy to identify. The spoonbill is one of my favorite. The raptors are plentiful here, and I have been able to observe ospreys a bald eagles. The group that I have the most difficulty with observing is the song birds. Yes Cardinals and Blue Jays are easy to spot, but I am finding it very difficult to identify the different types of warblers. Even with binoculars they are tough to identify. I’m hoping this course will help me look for ways to identify them. Activity three. I am very fortunate to live on a small pond in Sarasota, FL  There are some beautiful birds right in my backyard, which is one of the reasons why I became interested in birdwatching. The Woodstork  is one of my favorites  They are extremely friendly and fun to watch.  

Activity one.  I thoroughly enjoyed the interactive bird wall. After exploring it for awhile, I found three birds that I would really like to see in the wild. The first one is the Shoebill, located in Africa. The second bird I would love to see is the Atlantic puffin. And the third bird I would love to see in the wild is the flamingo. Living in Florida for several years, I have only seen them in zoos and jungle gardens.  Recently retired, once pandemic is over, I would like to travel and do some extreme birdwatching!

I completed all 3 activities.

• Activity 1: The Wall of Birds is really cool! I definitely want to go see it in person. It was interesting to see the size of some of the extinct birds - I can't imagine seeing something with a 20-foot wingspan overhead - but my favorite was the splendid fairywren for these reasons:
  • I love the whimsical name.
  • I love its color (bright blue).
  • My nickname is Wren, so I feel a personal connection. :-)
• Activity 2: Knowing that most birds you see are songbirds really helps narrow down the groups. I used the opportunity to learn more about a bird I've heard several people mention lately - the junco. I looked it up in the Merlin app and immediately realized that I have been seeing them in my own backyard without ever realizing what they were.
• Activity 3: I am not sure it's my  bird, but seeing a cardinal in the snow is a treat.

I live on the salt marsh along the coast of South Carolina. From my backyard, I can observe birds from most of the bird families (except chicken-like birds and parrots). This past week I’ve seen a pair of Hooded Mergansers, White Egrets, Ibis, Great Blue Herons, Bluebirds, Robins, Sparrows (not sure what type), Downy Woodpeckers and Red-Winged Blackbirds. My favorite bird is the Bluebird.  I have a Bluebird box and most years I watch the babies hatch and fledge. It’s so much fun observing them.  At times it can be scary because a Hawk will come into the yard and go after them.

This pictures is of the first Varied Thrush I've seen and it happened on my back deck during the Backyard Count. 

Activity #3: I don't have a good bird photography camera so I don't have any great photos. And I find it hard to narrow down to just one favorite. There are so many that I like to watch. I really like Hummingbirds and Woodpeckers. But pictured I have a group of baby Carolina wrens, from some parents that like to nest on our porch. I like the Carolina wrens cause I think they are adorable, parents and babies. How they hop around and are so vocal too. I enjoy listening to them sing and chitter away. The other picture is a Barn swallow parent that nested on our porch at work. They were all fun to watch over the course of their nesting period. The parents were very protective. They would fly at us when we went to check the mail to try and shoo us away. Even standing at the window they were very aware of us; as you can see this parent turning their head to look at us. I loved their coloring too. As for any bird; it was awesome to watch them raise their babies from hatchlings to juveniles leaving the nest. They had 5 of them so we had a group of 7 barn swallows hanging around the porch for a little bit. :)

I particularly liked the Wall of Birds activity. I began looking for what is around where I live, then at places I've visited like Peru and Costa Rica, then where my in-laws live (in TX), and so on.  The diversity of birds blows me away. Those flycatchers are amazing-looking. And the cardinal outside my window is just as stunning in his own particular way. Thanks for the opportunity to widen my view.

3 Birds I have looked at this week in 3 different groups. 1.     This winter in an effort to identify my different sparrows I made a great discovery! The white throated (white-striped) sparrow. They are the most adorable little song birds. He/she both look similar. Easy to spot them with their noticeable beautiful white throat, bright yellow spot kind of above/between each eye (lore). Strips alternate black and white on the top of their heads; also their chest are solid gray (differing from other sparrows).  For such a little bird they have a loud might song of “Old Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody” or “Oh Canada Canada Canada”. Simply a great find for me. 2.     Brown Thrasher. How I love to watch these birds. Very easy to identify with their colors on their backs a rusty brown (rufous) and striped chest. Their yellow eyes are always looking around as they forage for food. Their heads flip back in forth searching for just the right tasty nugget or bug.  They sing the most beautiful repeating notes like, “No Fear No Fear, Yes Yes, Who’s This Who’s This, or many other calls as they may know 1,100 song types. 3.     Crow. I have a family of 6 that visit my feeders every day. 5 American crows and one fish crow. I have trained them to come when I put out food. Last year I rang a bell and this year I just knock on my stainless steel bowl. They may have some alpha thing going on as a crow will come, call to the others, when more come they will eat.  They have a vivacious appetite and love many foods.  This year I make them, what I call peanut butter sandwiches. I break up bread in a large bowl then pour heated peanut butter over it & stir well.  Yum! They come & fill their beaks so full they overflow all around. So cute. They take their breakfast somewhere else to finish eating.  Not gone long, they always come back for more. My favorite bird that comes to my woodland yard is the Pileated Woodpecker.  He is big, beautiful, and I love how they circle my trees looking for food.

I am requesting some clarification in the Activity suggestion #2:  "Find birds...from three different groups that you learned about in this lesson."  In reviewing the lesson, I do see more than 3 groupings. Which 3 groups of birds is this activity referring to?  Thanks in advance for your reply.

I am picking birding back up after a long hiatus while I raised my daughter. Now I'm nearing retirement and wanting to renew my old interest. My favorite birds depends on the season, in Summer it is the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds that come by the dozens to my feeders. Winter it's the Cardinals in their beautiful red. But how can you narrow it down?? So many beautiful birds to see and discover. I also moved further out in the country and am surrounded by acres of National Forest so attracting them to my yard with native plantings is my goal. Three favorite groups are Woodpeckers, TreeCreepers especially nuthatches, and Buntings especially the Indigo Bunting.

So far our favorite is the purple finch - so beautiful!

In the past week I have seen over a dozen buzzards roosting in trees and circling overhead waiting for their turn at a fresh racoon carcus, and the flocks of blackbirds chattering and the lifting off in mass flightand the seeing and hearing the distinctive pelated woodpecker.  Great to see all these birds surviving with all the snow on the ground in Northern New Jersey.

I have a beautiful Scrub Jay visiting my backyard It just dropped in for an afternoon bath, so fun to watch it shaking its feathers and dunking in the water. Then it flew up to a chair top to dry off and shake more. I can easily see the birds from my bedroom window and find it so enjoyable to watch them. I also have many hummingbirds coming to two feeders I have out for them, what a joy to watch these happy, speedy birds and listen to their chatter. I feel very fortunate to be able to watch these sweet birds during this challenging sheltering time. A few moments of sanity just watching them!!

I am a new bird watcher.  I have always enjoyed them but didn’t become excited about them until I met someone else that was crazy about birds.  He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t just hem and haw over a flutter.  His dramatic gasps and hysterical commentary about the birds made it such an adventure.  He always looked like he rolled out from under a bar stool of some tropical island and into the brush, which of course added to his flair.  He only ever carried his binoculars and a hat to hold in his Brillo pad hair (his words, not mine).  Can you describe a person that got you excited about bird watching?  What was he/she like?  What did they do that made you curious for more knowledge? What tools were used? Thanks

Everyone takes such great pictures! I'm in central Georgia near Atlanta, and as we come out of the cold snap of the past couple of days, I'm struck by how many goldfinches are in the area; I've been watching for a couple of years but hadn't seen so many until now. My favorite area birds are the towhee, which I actually rarely see but I like hearing the call and knowing one's around. The red-bellied woodpeckers can be bullies but they're always around and I enjoy seeing them. My favorite bird on the Wall of Birds is the osprey; I started watching some nests on webcams and that's what got me into birdwatching. They're phenomenal birds - migrating thousands of miles twice a year; always returning home to the same nest and same wintering area. Birds from three different groups in this lesson in my area: Cardinals (finch family), Starlings (blackbird family), Canada goose (waterfowl family Anitidae).

We moved in late August from a very busy neighborhood to a quiet country road. We have many of the same bird species we used to enjoy at our previous house. One of my favorites is the red-bellied woodpecker seen on our feeder. One the ground is a dark-eyed junco. We enjoy seeing these 2 feathered friends every day. It's interesting to note that we no longer see cardinals in our yard. Our old house is less than 10 miles away but our yard is much more open with fewer trees and shrubs. I'm wondering if that is why...

I live along the coast in southern Maine just outside the state’s biggest city. Since working from home for almost the last year, I’ve been impressed by the diversity of birds especially along my neighborhood walk that hugs a small coastal bay. I’ve seen hummingbirds, woodpeckers, a snowy egret, and most recently a bald eagle (not uncommon in Maine). It’s inspired me to take up birdwatching! There are many ducks, sea gulls, and Canada geese on the water’s edge. Lately a small black and white duck bobbing in the water has caught my eye. I’ve seen them in groups of 6 or 8 away from the other birds. I’m thinking it’s a bufflehead or a goldeneye based on the online Audubon guide and a new bird book. Any tips on solving this mystery? I’ll try to snap a picture soon!