I really came to appreciate the motto "keep common birds, common" , especially while under house quarantine. I fell in love with a pair of mourning doves that called our pine tree home... each morning the first thing that came to mind was not coffee, but how are the birds, what are they doing, did the one egg hatch...I really got to appreciate the ordinary birds in my yard/neighborhood, something I definitely took for granted. Though not a colorful bird, grayish/brown- it has a distinct long tail and a call that I found soothing. Parents shared nesting / feeding duties- I was really surprised that during high winds the flimsy nest withstood the stress... I can't thank you all enough, for all these inexpensive courses and sharing your expertise (I attended a fabulous lecture at the lab on crows by Kevin...).  I wrote poems about the birds I saw while home during those 4 months...and I never wrote poetry before...I have been drawing them also. I am now a more relaxed version, of me....Thank you!!

Before seeing the Shoebill on the Wall of Birds, I saw a stuffed-shoebill at the Lab or Ornithology, I thought is was fake...such an interesting looking bill perfect for a carnivore...it depends on the papyrus swamps in Eastern Africa (do not migrate) and are considered a vulnerable species -with estimates of approximately 3,000- 5,300 adults left in the world. Numbers are declining due to habitat loss, clearing for pasture, and agricultural burning. In Uganda, some are hunted because they are considered a bad omen. The wingspan can be up to 8 feet in length-  once classified in the stork family, it looks prehistoric- check it out...  

THE PELICAN and THE WOOD DUCK, are my favorites.   THE PELICAN, because it has a mixture of strength and playfulness, in its' looks and style.   THE WOOD DUCK, because it is unique and cool looking. It has a 'one of a kind,' profile and assortment of colors.  

I love the Stellar's Jay! They have nested in our yard for the last few years, and I've learned that they are much quieter when they are nesting (their squawk can be annoying). I love watching the hatchlings leave the nest and walk about the area while learning to fly.

I am following three birds we see around our home.  The Ring-necked Pheasant,  what I now know to be a Rufous Hummingbird and what appear to be a family of Song Sparrow living in a birdhouse.  I have yet to capture their pictures.

1. I've visited Ithaca many times to see relatives. We always find our way to Sapsucker Woods and the Wall of Birds. My grandchildren were enthralled and they would love the interactive Wall on this site. I think the Asiatic Fairy Bluebird is lovely. Penguins are so amazing as are the walking birds such as emu. 2. I love red bellied woodpeckers with their red heads and noisy clucking around. I was trying to spot a mocking bird and discovered it was a brown thresher imitating a cardinal, twice. I loved to watch nuthatches at my previous resident. They fly so quickly and do Darth Vader imitations when being territorial. 3. Now my favorite neighborhood bird, though only as it passes through, are the swallowtail kites. They are such dramatically colored birds, white and black, and sail through the air using their swallowtails as rudders.

I just spotted two Ring-necked Pheasants on our fence but was too late with the camera!  They were displaying and looked to be young males, from what I can tell, as the novice I am.   They seemed to be practicing displays?  Very excited to see them again and find out what they are up to.  Great course so far!

The three types of birds, are : Duck/Waterfowl. White Heron/Waterbird-Wading Bird. And the Shorebirds/Pipers. The pictures were taken today, 8/6/20. I have noticed some birds are very flighty, and some are not. The Heron flew away after the pictures, but the ducks did not. -b.k. All these birds connected to the water, but differently.

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.