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.

For the first activity, I like the calls of New World Warbler and Olive Warbler. Their calls are very clear and just like someone playing short and sweet ringtones on my phone. I have not seen these birds before. The closest one I have spotted was the Yellow Warbler call at a path/trail near the bushes at Fort Edmonton Park.

For the second activity, swimming birds include Ruddy Duck, Mallard, and American Coot. They are all found in the lake by St. Albert Lois Hole Centennial Park. I love the American Coot the most as it has colourful feet, red eyes and black body. Ruddy Duck has light blue beak.

Songbirds include sparrows, warblers and red -wing blackbird. I am most amazed about the size of a sparrow as it has all the required organs to survive.

Seabirds include ring-billed gulls and Franklin gulls.

For the third activity, I do not have the images of birds in my computer yet. My favourite bird would be the Redhead. I saw the duck in one instance at the lake by William Hawralek Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I live close to that park. The dominant bird was Canada Goose. In terms of Redhead, red is one of my favourite colour. Its head, beak and body look beautiful. I did not mention its fish hunting ability. When ducks hear noise or see people, they dodged their heads right into the water and said goodbye.

We live in Point Loma, San Diego and have a wooded area around our house.  We have a family of cooper's hawks in back of our yard, swooping and screeching throughout the day.  Two are adults and the other two are fluffier looking, probably juveniles, and they seem to be involved in training?  Is that how it works? Will these guys stick around?  We have hummingbird feeders, and have many Anna's and a rufous visiting, plus this yellow warbler who likes to sample the nectar we provide.  Finally, we had a very cute, industrious hummer build a beautiful next in our lime tree, only to disappear one day without laying any eggs.  We were very disappointed not have chicks to see!

I live in San Diego, but was recently on Oregon coast. I love how this class has taught me to pay more attention to my surroundings while in nature. My daughter pointed to this bird, which I learned is a Stellar's Jay, I believe.

I'm really new to bird watching, but in my backyard and neighborhood I think I've seen House Finches, Western Kingbirds, Mourning Doves, and Red-Tailed Hawks.

Hello, My name is May. I joined the course in July 2020. It looks very interesting. I don't have any experience in the world of Birds. The only thing I have is my passion for these lovely creatures. There are many birds that I like.  Yet, my favorite bird is the Hummingbird. I like Hummingbirds because of the lovely colors and swift movement while trying to take a drop or two from flowers or a sip of water from the bird feeder.

As for the wall of Birds, I like the drawing of the Bermuda Petrel. Amazing creature that has nice wings. I included some drawings about the Bermuda Petrel .

I'm not a bird watcher, but I managed to capture the photo that I'm sharing of a bird I spotted from my window. Its not clear though. The bird has dark color. Lovely sound.

May be towards the end of this course I will learn more about birds and be able start journaling about them. The images below are my first attempt.

 



 

 

This baby bird ran up to greet me a couple months ago. Every time i look at that face, those fuzzy head feathers, it makes my heart sing.

The iridescence of this European Starling knocks me out.

I like this Steller's Jay that visits my back porch.

In my Nantucket neighborhood, there is a salt marsh where dozens of willets live. I love shorebirds and waders, and I especially love the willet, with its protective spirit and its beautiful white wings in flight.

For activity #2, the three bird groups I’ve seen in my Phoenix backyard are Woodpecker-Gilded Flicker, Parrot-Lovebird and Chicken-like-Gamble Quail! Beautiful!

I love all birds in the flycatcher family. They are all so acrobatic and graceful. I live in central Illinois and am thirteen years old. During spring migration this year, I spotted a vermilion flycatcher in my back yard. I was writing an essay on songbird behavior so I didn't have my camera with me. Here is one of my favorites that I photographed. This is an eastern-wood pewee. I actually managed to locate its nest and get a close look at the babies. I sat motionless, camouflaged for about thirty minutes until a female flew up. I got this picture a few days later.

I am a pretty advanced birdwatcher. But since I'm self taught, I never learned some of the basic stuff. This course is very helpful to me. I am enjoying it a lot.

I have enjoyed watching and listening to the barn swallows in my neighborhood. They swoop through trees and above houses, only offering a momentary glimpse of their beauty.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.allaboutbirds.org%2Fguide%2FNorthern_Cardinal%2Foverview&psig=AOvVaw0FX6xa10VMs8C7HSInJRCX&ust=1594919367761000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCMC7hOjfz-oCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

I am guessing this little fellow is a house sparrow. He is not a favorite but I do admire the tenacity. I live on the western. slope of Colorado and miss cardinals. Our neighborhood has mourning doves, finches, hummingbirds, golden eagles, and surprisingly, killdeer.

Here is a Beautiful Northern Cardinal.

He was really in a Posing mood this day,   he sat still for quite some time, allowing me to capture a few wonderful shots before he took off.

This is a Wonderfully colorful bird found in the Sky Islands (Including Madera Canyon, AZ).   It is called the Elegant Trogon.

I love the Greens, Red's and White contrasts, as well as it's interesting call, which sounds like a dog barking.   People come from long distances for a chance to see and photograph this bird.

I moved to Green Valley AZ one year ago from Minnesota.   I love the Variety and Beauty of the Birds and Hummingbirds here.    Here are a Black-headed Grosbeak and a Broad-Billed Hummingbird.

Activity #3

This is a male of Antillean Euphonia (Puerto Rican race) in my house in Puerto Rico. It is one of my favorite backyard birds because has a melodic song and their colors are awesome.

 

Activity #3 Favorite backyard Ground bird is Gamble's Quail. Male will find the highest point around to make his calls, top of houses, trees, chimneys; they walk really fast and is great to see the little ones with mom, dad running around the neighborhood.

Belted kingfishers are my favorite birds that live around here. I don't see many of them but every once and awhile, when I crawl out of my house for the day, I hear this chattering sound and that's when I know there's a kingfisher at the pond. I love to see them fly, but I have never seen one fish. I would like to see them more but I'm too lazy to get out so I enjoy them when I can.

I completed the first lesson today and am so excited to further my bird interest and watching skills!  My backyard is full of birds despite it not being wooded, and being surrounded by neighbors.  I have a feeder just outside my back bay window, and so far this spring/summer I have seen 33 different species of birds!  A couple are just summer visitors to our area, so they've been exciting to spot.  There have been a variety of groups represented in the yard and at the feeder.  We had a Red-Shouldered Hawk  (Raptor) decide to enjoy its lunch in the middle of the yard, and a beautiful Common Grackle (Black Birds) stopped at the feeder.  He had a beautiful, shiny dark blue head that just makes you appreciate what nature can produce.  And rounding out the three groups is a Common Yellow-Throat Warbler (Warbler).  A common year-round favorite in my yard and neighborhood is the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.  I love it simply because the only place they are found in the wild in the United States is in St. Louis, MO and its suburbs.  There is a great history to that reason.  They are skittish little birds so combined with my photography skills that makes for blurry pictures.  They closely resemble the male house sparrow but can be slightly shorter and narrower.  Their heads are a darker brown than that on their bodies and wings- which are streaked with black and flecks of white feathers. Their bellies are a tan color. They have a black mask that flows into a black bib, and white on the sides of the head with a black mark on each side.  Hopefully I'll eventually be able to get a decent photo to share!

I'm including photos from three different groups from my backyard. From the raptors, we have a red-shouldered hawk, whom we have named Pierre, since we often see him (her?) with frogs legs hanging out of his mouth. From the songbirds (finches and buntings), we have a male goldfinch. From the hummingbirds, we have a male ruby-throated hummingbird, the only hummingbird found in my region. I live in Maryland, USA.

 

We are so lucky to be housesitting our friend's home on Camano Island, north of Seattle.  The first photo is  Anna's hummingbird, which if kept fed, now spend all year in coastal areas in Washington State.

My husband and I have been mesmerized watching the bald eagles feeding at high tide and soaring in the evening updrafts. The second photo has 7 eagles or (5 mature, 2 immature) I believe.  We also have ospreys and at a distance have a hard time telling the osprey from the immature eagle.  The eagles were feasting on small fish being washing into shallow water on the beach at high tide.  Lazy fishermen!  I took this photo from the very steep steps that lead to the beach.  Can't get very close at all to these big guys!

My favorite of the bird groups is the raptors.  I live on a large reservoir in the southeastern U.S.  Although I was aware that ospreys were known to nest on a shallow area of the lake near my home, until recently, I had never been able to observe one.  On a whim, I ventured out on an early morning in June to see if I might spot one.  Not only did I spot a pair nesting on a hazard marker in the middle of the lake, I was able to get close enough to get some splendid photos. What a thrill!

We are so lucky to be housesitting our friend's home on Camano Island, north of Seattle.  My husband have been mesmerized watching the bald eagles feeding at high tide and soaring in the evening updrafts.

 

First photo has 7 eagles or (5 mature, 2 immature) I believe.  We also have ospreys and at a distance have a hard time telling the osprey from the immature eagle.  The eagles were feasting on small fish being washing into shallow water on the beach at high tide.  Lazy fishermen!