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! 

• I have always been a big fan of the Roadrunner. We caught this guy eating bugs off the grills of all the cars parked at Joshua Tree State park. While we have many here in AZ this is the best photo I have ever taken. He walked right up to us. I never knew that they drop their body temps at night and expose their dark back feathers to the morning sun to warm back up.

Activity 1: So many interesting birds to read about, a few I looked into are Whiskered Treeswift and Western Yellow Wagtail. Activity 2: Three birds that I commonly find in my neighbourhood are Mourning Doves (Doves and Pigeon group), American Goldfinch (songbird group) and Downy woodpecker (woodpecker group). Activity 3: I picked the Northern Cardinal. I love its vibrant red colour especially when winter rolls around.

Activity 1 - I picked familiar birds — loon for it’s elusive eerie call, great blue heron for it’s long legged look and sometimes startling call and osprey for its diving fishing prowess. activity 2- purple Martin Songbird, mallard swimming bird, osprey raptor activity 3 — hummingbird. Even though very aggressive their small size and fabulous beating wings are charmers. I added a rainbow pic from same spot I saw hummingbird.

activity 1.  The wall of birds is a great place to explore and learn.

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Activity 1 My favourite birds from the bird wall are the Montezuma Quail and the Splendid Fairy Wren. I have always loved California Quail, which we have locally (coastal BC) but I think the Montezuma Quail is so beautiful and adorable too. I’d love to see one in person. The males have rounded bodies, rounded heads and patterned feathers. The females are also round bodied but they’re brown with a ghosted pattern of what the male has. I would also love to see a Splendid Fairy Wren in person (they are native to Australia, specifically SW or inland) — I find it so interesting that the males are nearly entirely blue when breeding then are partially blue the remainder of the time. The females are brown. They’re very tiny and cute with beautiful clear calls. I follow the hashtag #birdsofaustralia on Instagram and am learning Australian birds that way. Activity 2 Three different birds that I learned about: the Arctic Tern, the critically endangered Kakapo, and the Barn Owl. The Arctic Tern amazes me that it can travel our entire earth from its Arctic breeding grounds all the way to Antarctica. It is also a striking bird, all white with the distinctive Tern black crown and orange beak. The endangered Kakapo is a very special flightless bird that resembles something from a children’s book, with its expressive eyes, round body weighing up to 4kg (making it the heaviest parrot), and bright green feathers. The Kakapo can’t fly but it does climb and it can also glide using its wings. I hope its numbers can be reestablished as it is less than 300 in the entire world. The Barn Owl is closer to home, and I have seen many myself; however, I learned that this round headed, “heart” faced white coloured bird with brown wings can hunt in pitch black darkness and locate prey via sound. I found that really fascinating. Onto activity 3... one local favourite of mine is the Downy Woodpecker. Wevisit them at the local marsh during the warmer weather, then when it’s cold they stop by for suet in the winter. Weve had Robins build nests in our holly at least twice now (I think three times, but have only seen two sets of chicks personally). Here’s the chicks from this year.

  The top picture is at Shaver Lake, CA. I believe it is a Steller Jay. And the next two pictures are in my backyard and front yard in Fresno, CA. I believe it is a Red tailed Hawk, as they are fairly common in our area. My favorite bird on The Wall was The Superb Lyrebird. I was first attracted to its beautiful long tail, but when I read of its musical prowess, it became my favorite. My daughter runs a music school at my home, and I am definitely a lover of music!

One of my favorite birds that I voted for on the Wall of Birds is the Montezuma oropendola. I was lucky enough to see a male displaying when I took a trip to Belize. He was so comical that I fell in love with this bird. I really enjoy hearing their unique calls as well.  Looking at the picture on the wall made me remember and smile. :) One of my favorite birds is the Eastern Bluebird. I remember seeing them and reading about them in Ranger Rick magazine when I was a little girl. The magazine was discussing the bluebird trails and how the birds were declining because of loss of habitat and nesting locations. I was intrigued and dreamed of seeing one. I did not see my first Eastern Bluebird until I was 18 years old. It was on a fence next to a pasture with horses on the outskirts of town. When I was shopping for my first house (the one I live in now and have lived in for 24 years) I thought the house was okay but when an Eastern Bluebird landed on the powerline in the front yard I knew this was the house for me. I have a bluebird house and have had many batches of babies over the years. I have seen their population increase pretty dramatically in my area and I still love seeing them every day! Here is a picture of the male from the pair that nest in my bluebird house. They do come to the feeders and eat nuts, as well as mealworms. One group of birds that I really enjoy is raptors. I am very lucky to have quite a few that I can see if I just watch the skies in my backyard. Today I saw several Mississippi Kites, Red-tailed Hawks,  Red-shouldered Hawks, and Turkey Vultures. Hummingbirds are another group of birds I really love! I currently have many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming to my feeders and my flowers throughout the day. Woodpeckers are the third group that I will discuss today. I have always found woodpeckers very interesting. I have Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Downy Woodpeckers in my yard on a regular basis right now. The Pileated Woodpeckers never come to the feeders but the other two come regularly. I really enjoy seeing them. I feel like they have a lot of personality.

and For Activity 2 in this Chapter, I live near the Northeast Coastline and here we have so many wonderful birds to observe and admire.  As it is July, we have a big population of Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets right now !  I have enjoyed the Snowy Egrets the best of this group !  I think this more compact sized heron, with its bright yellow feet and their faster paced wing beat attract my attention more than the other herons.  I am working on my photographic skills and these bigger, sometime slower, graceful birds will stay still longer and allow better study and images through the lens ! It is fun to watch how carefully all of the herons stalk and then "strike" with their extended neck and sharp bills to spear their prey !  It is fun trying to guess exactly when they will strike by observing their foraging routines !

I loved "The Wall of Birds" and as I clicked on several different species I learned some neat things about them.  The American Oyster Catcher doesn't migrate too far; it finds oysters and other food and can pry them open or smash them open on rocks !  That's pretty cool ! Because of its colorful looks, the Artic Puffin has always been a bird that I have found interesting.  However, it was fun to learn that while it does fly or walk very well, it is a fantastic underwater swimmer and this enables it catch it's food ! Neat !

For Activity 2 in this Chapter. Found lots of birds, but am not the best at taking photos. This will be something to work on. I believe these are Coopers Hawks. They are only here (Southern California) during the summer months, and drive our local Red Tailed Hawks crazy. I think this was a Turkey Vulture, first time seeing one of these up close. Got several videos, was circling looking for lunch.   We see lots of these small sized Lesser Goldfinch every day, usually in groups of 4 to 10,  for 'pool parties'.

The first time I used the Merlin bird ID app, I used this photo which I took last week in Southern New Jersey.  I had believed, originally, that it was a Tree Swallow, but the app directed me to the Eastern Kingbird.  Accurate knowledge is a better bless.

I am Diana from Colorado.  For activity 3 my favorite birds are from the Finch family.  We had a house finch have two broods this summer in the nests she built in the wreath by our front door.  The first one held 5 eggs and the second 4 eggs.  She would lay one egg a day.  She laid the first egg on May 1 and by about June 3 all of the babies had left the nest.  Then within two weeks she started again.  Those babies just left the nest last week so I am waiting to see if she will build another nest.  I read that they can have up to 3 broods a year. 

Hello, my name is Cindy from Central Florida. I am enjoying the course and learning from all of you! Activity 3: Above is my favorite bird the Roseate Spoonbill. I rarely see this beautiful bird wading in my Florida backyard, but after a recent lake draw down they have been making an appearance. The Spoonbill moves it's head back and forth with it's beak surveying the bottom of the shallow lake. Activity 2: This evening I spotted a majestic Great Blue Heron fishing on the lake shore. Two gray common Sandhill Cranes walked across the backyard eating snails that washed up from the shore. The third bird was a beautiful red northern cardinal swooping down from fence to fence finding seeds on the ground.

For Activity 1, my three favorite families are:

• Barn Owls (Tytonidae)
• Owls (Strigidae)
• Waxwings (Bombycillidae)

I have never actually seen any birds in the barn owl or waxwing families, but would love to someday. For Activity 2, three species that I have seen recently and their groups are:

• Killdeer - shorebirds
• Song sparrow - songbirds; sparrows
• Some sort of unidentified warbler - warblers

For Activity 3, a favorite bird in my area is the song sparrow. They are a mostly brown and grey bird grey plumage on its head. While one might argue that this coloration is boring, I find it grounding and earthy. I also like that these birds are reasonably easy to approach and get relatively close to.

Activity 3: In my neighbourhood, Toronto, Canada, so far my favourite bird is the Gray Catbird. They really don’t mind hanging around for me to get my act together for a picture haha I also find them very pretty, I love the soft gray  Also, I’ve learned their song somewhat mimics other birds in the area, I’ve been tricked a few times.