Activity 1: I chose the Brown Creeper from the family of tree creepers. It’s shown in western North America on the wall but we have them here in Pennsylvania as well. I was surprised to learn how large the Brown Creepers range is and that it is a year-round resident here. I only first saw one last year and was able to get a photo. I think they are cool because they are masters of camouflage.

Activity 1....Our favorites were the Carolina wren (because we have them in our backyard) and we also choose the common loon (for its bizarre and haunting song, also because the description read like a strange romance novel)....   Activity 2...So we have White breasted Nuthatches which I believe fall into the songbird group in the tree creeper category. We have red-tailed hawks which are in the raptor group. We have downy, hairy and red chested wood peckers which fall into the wood pecker group.   Activity 3...My favorite bird is the blue jay, although after recent hawk attacks they have kept a distance. My fathers favorite bird right now is the gray catbird, because of its memorable personality.  

Activity 1: My favorite bird from the Wall of Birds was the Shoebill. I just think they are so fascinating. Their beaks are huge and they have a hook at the end of them. Activity 2: The Eastern Phoebe is a flycatcher. I love watching them sit on a branch, fly out to catch a but, and fly back to their original location! The Great Egret is a wading bird. I saw one the other day as it was trying to catch a fish. It was so close. The Red-shouldered Hawk is a raptor. I think I have been seeing and hearing this type of bird. It has a loud call that sounds like PEW-PEW-PEW! Activity 3: Some of my favorite birds in my neighborhood are ones that I see in my backyard. I really like the Gray Catbird, Goldfinch, and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The Catbird is medium sized and gray with a long tail and black beak. There is one that comes to my house often that is missing its tail! The Goldfinch is a bright yellow bird with black wings. The females are more of an olive green. Lately, there have been Hummingbirds showing up to my Hummingbird feeder. The only ones I have seen are girls because they do not have red on their throat. They have white bellies, green back, and long, black beak.

My current favorite birds would be the Barred Owl and the Loon. The Barred Owl because they are so neat! We saw a pair when walking in the woods the other night. They were just amazing and certainly scoping us out to see if we would make good food! The Loon is another one I love because of the call. It is so haunting and lonesome sounding. I have only seen Loons in secluded lakes and so that might be why I think that. As for three birds from three different groups, I am having the most trouble with the water birds so I will choose from those groups to help myself learn the distinctions between the three. 1. Cormorant.  I think that would fit into the Seabird Group. I see them sometimes holding their wings out to dry them. 2. Wilson's Snipe. Shore bird. I have heard their call and it is really unique. 3. Great Blue Heron. Wading bird group. They are so elegant.

Activity 3: It is impossible for me to choose a favorite. But the bird I will select for this purpose is the catbird. The reason is because it is like my little buddy — 9 times out of 10, the first bird to show up in the morning and the last to leave in the evening. It is not shy, and likes to be seen *and* heard. Sometimes there are two together and they act like squabbling siblings or spouses, vying for the same spot on the suet feeder and chasing each other around. Cheeky catbird!

My first bird learning experience. I was watching and listening for birds when I walked this morning. Only one bird was close enough to see. I realized that I need to school myself to look at beaks, tails, and shapes an not rely on color. I think the bird I saw was a robin, but it didn’t look like robins I have seen from my apartment. Hope my observation skills improve.

My selections from three groups are: 3) Hummingbird (hummingbirds) - I did not know we had hummingbirds in my neighborhood and I was stunned one more to have one come through our garden to nosh on the hosta blossoms. I was unprepared and did not get a good photo. A few days later, it came through again and I was ready on the second pass. I hav been a birder since May 21 (2020) and this is my favorite photo that I’ve taken so far!

My selections from three groups are: 2) Downy woodpecker (woodpeckers) - I have only seen the female but I would love to see the male with his bright red patch. She feeds at our regular feeder regularly and I have also seen her in a tree. Her black and white coloring is quite dramatic. She has only been to the suet feeder a few times that I’ve seen but that’s where I was able to catch a picture of her. Still working on getting a better photo, but she comes and goes pretty quickly!

My selections from three groups are: 1) House wren (songbirds) - we had a male house wren build a nest in our birdhouse but it was not selected by the female to be used. (I am new to birding as of May 21 when we moved to our new bird-blessed home and I learned that the male builds about 3 dummy half nests, then the female selects the one she wants to use and finishes the nest herself. Here is the male working on the nest.

I voted for the northern cardinal on the Wall of Birds. There is something so dramatic about the cardinal’s vibrant solid red color — simple and bold — that I just love. I call the one who visits our yard regularly Mr. C (often accompanied by Mrs. C). There is a regal air to the cardinal and when he perches up high, as in this photo of him at the top of our tallest fir tree, he looks like the king of all he surveys. Yet close up, when he forages underneath the feeder, there is something just a bit comical in the way he moves his head and appears to be perpetually puzzled. That combination of qualities, along with his stunning coloring, endears him to me, and that’s why he gets my vote.

Here are two of my favorite backyard visitors. The handsome hawk stopped by last year for about 30 minutes and gave me a great opportunity for pictures.  And I love the picture of daddy bluebird feeding the babies. Looking forward to learning more about the birds that visit my yard and that I see on my trips.

I'm super new at this, and live in Northern Colorado (NoCo, to us locals). ;-) I spotted two downy woodpeckers on my daughter's playhouse this morning -- one male, one female. Of course they'd flown away by the time I grabbed my camera! While walking my dog, we startled two hawks out of a yard. Both were the same size. Both had been on the ground, which made me think maybe they were eating something? We have tons of red-tailed hawks around here, but I don't generally see them on the ground. I didn't spot the red tail as these two flew away, but both seemed to have striped patterns on the under-side of their wings, so I wonder if they were juveniles? Or maybe a different kind of hawk? Wish I knew. Went back with my camera but again, they were gone by the time I returned. (Of course!) Pretty sure I heard an owl this morning, but couldn't spot it. We've had this big guy in the neighbor's tree a few times, so not sure if he's the culprit. Not sure which bird would be my favorite. I love the hawks because they're everywhere and I love seeing them hanging out on the lightpoles. But I love the owls because they're NOT everywhere (or at least, not visible!). And I love the chickadee's little song.  

Activity one Lesson one was my first introductory education in the world of birds. I am astonished by the unique characteristic of birds. My interest in knowing and understanding birds has increased after this lesson. It is difficult to pick a favorite bird knowing, similarities are not the same. Every bird is unique individually. My favorite on the wall of birds is the Yellow-billed Oxpecker. Oxpeckers play a vital role in controlling the tick population on large animals and tick-related diseases. Oxpeckers also serve as an alert trigger to huge mammals been the first to sight or hear a predator and will make a loud sound.

For Activity 2: This morning I saw 2 Anna's Hummingbirds (hummingbird group) in my backyard. Right now I can hear American Crows (songbird group) in the front yard. I want to know what they are saying. And yesterday my friend and I rode our bikes to a wetland to see the Great Egrets (wading birds group). They were so beautiful.

My experience today, related to the lesson, is the usual chorus of crows in the morning, a circling red tail hawk way above (a youngster maybe?) and humming birds buzzing my head as I made a few drip system repairs. My favorite neighborhood bird, though saw none today, is the California quail. So pretty, comfortably chubby, and always in family groups at this time of year.

I had heard of the bird the Elegant Trogan and on a recent visit to Madera Canyon I knew I had a good chance to see one. On my first morning, a wonderful woman named Liz offered to show me where she had seen one earlier in the morning and we strolled off with our masks and 6 foot distancing down to the picnic area. She pointed up in a tree and I was excited to get my first view, but my pictures really didn’t show much but a brown blog. That same afternoon one flew outside my cabin window and I got a pretty good picture and was very excited. But the next morning, I got up early to go down to the picnic area because it was Monday and I figured no one would be at the picnic area. When I arrived, there was a lovely family of five enjoying the morning,  but even with their laughter and joy I could hear the trogan call that sounds like a barking dog. And I found it and again got a pretty good picture, but my waiting paid off as once the family left on their hike and it was quiet, I got to watch him eat a worm on the ground.  This was so exciting that I was like a little kid on Christmas morning as I had not only gotten to see an Elegant Trogan but got to observe him in nature eating breakfast.  The early bird gets the worm and got me  hooked me into becoming a birder.

Activity #1:  After reading the book, "The Wall of Birds", my husband and sister travelled to Ithaca for an overnight stay just to see this spectacular painting.  It was just as incredible as I imagined after reading the book.  A great memory! Activity #2:  Find birds from three different groups:  During these crazy days, after working remotely all day, I enjoy sitting out on the porch to read or just watch the birds in my yard.  There are sparrows, cardinals and mourning doves, but I most enjoyed the catbird that would come and sit on the bush near the porch.  I think that catbird falls into the 'Songbird' group (but not absolutely certain).  On one of my morning walks, I was startled by a large raptor that flew across my path (I probably startled him)...I think it was a red-tailed hawk.  On another morning, heading out the front door, there was a wild turkey in my front yard.  Very cool! Activity #3:  Pick a favorite bird that you see in your neighborhood:  On my morning walks, I encounter a lot of Robins...and I found it interesting that they do not seem to 'like' to fly, but instead, seem to prefer to walk, even run when I would get too close.  While this is a common bird, I find them interesting and funny.

While studying this course, I was sitting outside in my backyard in Mississippi. I saw at least 15 different species of birds just in the last hour or two. I would say my favorite from today was the Yellow Shafted Northern Flicker. I saw two doing some kind of dance in the trees, and it was just fascinating! I don't have a good camera yet to take pictures, but it's next on my list of birding buys.

Activity 1: While there were many contenders for my favorite bird from the Wall, I chose the resplendent quetzal because of the beautiful verdant color of its feathers, the streaming tail of this species's males, and this bird’s prominence in Mesoamerican iconography. The last time I traveled to Costa Rica, I visited Los Quetzales National Park and was incredibly happy to see several of these birds as they feasted on wild avocados found in the cloud forest. Activity 2: For my first bird, I selected the Greater Bird of Paradise in the Paradisaeidae family. Birds from this region of the world are wondrous and strange, and this one in particular is multi-hued and spectacular! I would love to travel to that part of the world to see them in person. Second, I will mention the roseate spoonbill, a wading bird that is in the Threskiornithidae family. With their lovely pink coloring and uniquely shaped bills, they are quite a sight to behold. Thirdly, while they are quite common and many others have mentioned them, I enjoy watching the antics of ruby-throated hummingbirds as they hover at my feeder and then zoom away. Hummingbird is the common word used to refer to birds in the Trochilidae family.   Activity 3: For this activity, I am choosing the gray catbird. Its unique cry, akin to that of a cat, is likely how it derives its name. They are small gray birds with a black mohawk that I often see on the ground or in the shrubs around my house. I knew they were Passeriformes, but I had to look up their family, the Mimidae, which also includes thrashers and mockingbirds. I enjoy watching them move about in my gardens.

that is a copper-smith Barbet i have only seen him a couple times i named him smithy!!!

I do a lot of photography, and most of it seems to be out in nature, and of birds! I started this course in part so that I could properly identify some of the beautiful birds I see in our back yard and also at our summer cabin. The cabin is on a lake, so that means lots of shore birds.  Great Blue Herons are always my favourite, and our lake has many, but this year I started seeing another, smaller, heron-shaped bird. Using an online identification app I was able to pin it as a Green Heron--something I had never seen before. A few days later, we had a visitor on our dock, and it turned out to be a juvenile Green Heron. Very exciting!

Activity 1: Macaws as #1, with toucans coming in as a close second. Activity 2: Seabirds - wilson storm petrel - I would have thought the seagull would have been the most common seabird. Arctic - the rock ptarmigan -I didn’t realize it was the only species that all populations inhabit the tundra. Songbirds - American crow - spoiler alert to section 2 - I didn’t know they fly different than the raven. Activity 3: my favourite bird in my neighbourhood is the Bohemian waxwing. I believe I saw a flock of these birds eating berries on my way home from school as a kid, but they may have been cedar waxwings. They seemed to look more like bohemians, but if they were bohemians they would have been visitors to this area of eastern Ontario.

I have spent an enjoyable afternoon starting my bird academy course.  I now have the first assignment to complete.  As I perused the Wall of Birds my favourite was obvious.  I enjoyed a poem as a child about a puffin.  It was a favourite for me then and still is now.  On to activity two. I am in my backyard barbecuing dinner, does the chicken I am cooking count towards a bird sighting??  I must say that we are blessed with the variety of birds that visit our backyard...usually. Currently just a ruby throated hummingbird is at the feeder.  It is chirping what I believe to be a thank you.  Today being Thursday is the day I clean and refill the sugary elixir they love.  The only other birds are the grackles.  I find it funny that one seems to like the niger seeds more than the sunflower seeds.  I must admit, I used to loath the grackles coming to my feeders because they would clear them out quickly.  However, I spent some time watching them last week and found them quite attentive to their young.  Also, I was fascinated at how they would puff up before making their squawk. They looked like a warlord or gangster from a 1940's movie.  I can hear bluejays but they have not shown up at the feeder.  Do they know something I don't?  Is the rain finally coming??  A mourning dove has arrived with a welcomed cool wind. We recently purchased a wooded lot where we plan to build our next home.  That's what led me to taking this course.  It is only an hour north of where we live, but with so many birds I have never seen in person.  We identified an American woodcock in early March.  There was a pair of ducks (type unsure) we saw twice take off from the woods.  My current favourite (activity 3) is a pair of Barred owls, residents on the property.

I had to post one more of my favorites! We have a cactus that is home every year to a family of great horned owls. I never knew that they are such fans of cactus as nests. It is a real treat to watch the process unfold every spring. What a hoot!