My favorite part about the Wall of Birds was listening to the artist describe how she paints each bird.  What a talent!  Found 14 different birds during this weekend’s Great Backyard Bird Count which definitely covered Activity 2.  Probably my favorite bird so far is the Whitebreasted Nuthatch-fascinating to watch it feed upside down, and it seems to be the friendliest of the backyard birds-they don’t always fly away when you are nearby and often will land close by when attending the feeders.

Some birds groups found in my neighborhood: Downy woodpecker - doing his best impersonation of a hummingbird - group woodpeckers, I believe the next photo was a great horned owl but unsure - group Owls, Lastly a Ruby throated hummingbird - group hummingbirds.

Activity 1: So hard to pick favorites there are so many great birds. I really like the Marvelous Spatuletail. It is so unique with it's long tail feathers and the dance it does with them.

Activity 2: I was able to narrow down several birds in my back yard.

Carolina Wren is a songbird.

Downy Woodpecker- seems that Woodpeckers have a group all their own! They stab at wood with their little face-knives, but they are adorable.

Inca Doves- beautiful little doves in the Pigeons/Doves category. The White-wing Doves are somewhat bully-like, but the Incas just look like elegant little old ladies twittering about the local gossip before settling in for a nap.

Activity 1: The Wall of Birds is fascinating. I didn't do a lot of exploring individual birds as much as I did comparing sizes and shapes. I do enjoy the Southern Cassowary. I may have to take a trip down under to see if I can find one in the wild!

Activity 3: I can't seem to get any of my pictures to upload, but I've learned so much about birds in the last 2 years that I'm fairly excited. I've managed to identify 65 species in my back yard and now I'll learn a bit more about them. I have to say, though, if I had to choose favorites so far, I would choose the Tufted Titmouse because it's so adorable and cheeky! I love the softness of its colors. I would choose the Carolina Wren because no bird that small should have lungs so big! And finally, I would choose the Cedar Waxwing. I don't know why, but every time I see one, I'm just entranced. The name truly does it justice. It really looks like a wax figure with such beautiful coloration. The tan body looks like a wax figure. The black mask could have been drawn by an expert artist. The dash of yellow on the tail and the dot of red on the wings seem like fantasy colors a sculptor would have added. I love that bird.

One of my favorite birds is the barn swallow from the swallow family. They are so agile and their arrival signals that spring has finally arrived.

My favourite neighborhood bird is the Northern Cardinal but one year on December 26 we had a Parakeet visit our feeder. We saw him again a week later. We live just outside of Toronto. It was cold out!

Activity #2

Chicken like birds - wild turkey. We often see them near the side of the road near the cottage or, in small groups, in the middle of a field closer to home

Woodpeckers; this past summer we had a Downy woodpecker as a regular visitor to our backyard and feeder

Songbirds - Nuthatches. We’ve had a popular feeder for years but this winter both red and white breasted nuthatches started to visit it regularly.

There are so many interesting birds in The Wall of Birds! You could lose track of time poking around there.

Activity 1: Hard to choose a favorite--so many fascinating birds in our beautiful world!!  A few that I'm extremely fond of would have to be the Emperor Penguin and any of the hummingbirds!  Activity 3: I've shared a few pictures from my backyard--for some reason, the chickadees will sometimes run into our back door and they will stun themselves.  This little fella in the first picture was out cold.  I picked him up and held him to keep him safe until he was able to fly away.  In the second picture is our friend Chuck the Duck, a Muscovy Duck.  We raised him from a duckling--he was abandoned as a baby.  His favorite treat is blueberries and he will come to our door to let us know when he's hungry! :) 

Image of a hawk in my backyard. I believe it is a young Goshawk eating a bird. I did see a pair them in a tree but did not get a picture. I live in Maryland and wondered if there are other hawks that this bird might be. I have seen a red-tailed hawk in the same area but it looks very different.

Why does the summer tanager is in the Cardinalidae family and not in the Thraupidae family?

 

There is one bird that always catches my eye, the burrowing owl. I like it because it builds its nest underground. Though I had never seen it I like it.

Another two of my birds are te American redstart( Setophaga Ruticilla) and the kingfisher.

I constantly see these little guys in the forest behind are house and at the feeders we have up. And they Make amazing calls. I found out they where tufted titmice.

Activity One: Puffin

Activity Two: I saw a waterfowl during Christmas break known as Brandts and I see cardinal more this year which are in the finches/buntings category.

Activity Three: I love mourning doves, but also love cardinals, bluejays, and red tail hawks which are seen more and more common around here.

Red-breasted nuthatches, from tree creeper group have been at my feeders this winter. They are tiny but feisty when challenging the chickadees for feeder space!

My favorite bird is the pelican. I live near the beach and  have seen the brown pelican ,and the American oyster catcher . I enjoy them both

We live in NYS, two hours north of NYC. My husband took these images of the lovely cardinal couple that visits our feeders and plays in the snow.

Which group is a house crow in? It seemed like it was in songbirds, but that didn't make too much sense to me.

Activity 1: My favorite birds from the Wall of Birds are the Wood Duck, Blue-footed Booby and Shoebill.

 

Activity 2: In my backyard I often found Sparrows, Hummingbirds and White-winged Doves, sometimes Blackbirds that I’m not able to identify yet. I live in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

 

Activity 3: Hummingbirds, they are my favorite because of their pretty shades of green and the way they fly around.

Activity 3:  I live in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, and one of my favourite backyard visitors is the pileated woodpecker.   I've learned this guy is a male -- you can tell by his red moustache.

Activity 2:   I've been taking long walks along an urban lake and have been working on identifying all the different water birds.   My favourite there was a Canada Goose, not because it was a Canada Goose but because it did "summersaults" in the water.  It would suddenly pitch its head forward into the water and flip completely upside down, then did some crazy kicks to complete the roll and bring its head back up, swam a bit, and then did it all over again.

I've often encountered a Black-crowned Night Heron through binoculars on the far side of a pond.  But this time, one just sidled up to me in an outdoor restaurant in Mission Bay, San Diego, CA.

Three birds that frequent my garden feeders here in Colorado are:

House Finches- which are a type of finch, they will spend a long time sitting on the feeder sorting through seeds and other bits.

Dark eyed juncos- which are a type of sparrow, they go on the ground under the feeder while the other birds feed clearing up the fallen rejected seeds and nuts.

Chickadee- I'm not sure what type a chickadee is... but it seems to fit the behaviour of a flycatcher as it darts back and forth from feeder to branch, but it feeds on nuts and seeds rather than insects from what I can see soooo......?