I'm not great at getting pictures, but cardinals are my absolute favorite birds.  I lived in Western Nebraska and Colorado for most of my life and there aren't any cardinals there!  When I visited my native state of Michigan as an adult, I heard the cardinal song and was immediately struck.  Since moving here, they have been my inspiration and my comfort.  Their appearance brightens the long, snowy winters and honestly seeing them has helped pull me through what's probably Seasonal Affective Disorder!  Their physical beauty and distinctive call is their winning combo.

I'm seeing lots of mallards with ducklings this time of year, which is also a joy.  A couple of weeks ago, I saw a Merganser with at least 20 little ones in tow.

Hoping the herons show up soon.

And, I'm making it a point to see a snowy owl this winter.

Activity 1 is incredible, I enjoyed the ancestors of modern birds as well as seeing the variety of birds on the world map. My interest in birding started with a call that I’ve never heard before and then later a siting of an owl. I spent 3 months trying to ID the owl searching owls calls on internet and reading everything about different owls. Turns out it was a northern hawk owl that is extremely uncommon in WI.
Activity 2 I loved being able to take the knowledge from the lesson and apply it to my backyard visitors. Mostly songbirds and hummingbirds, but once in a while a surprise rolls in like a flock of wood ducks that were just as scared of me as I was of them 😄
Activity 3 I can’t post a picture but my favorite bird is a house wren. They sing so pretty and are quite entertaining to watch. The fact that male picks several spots for a nest and a lady makes a final choice is cute, what a gentleman.

My favorite birds are hummingbirds because I love tiny things.

Three birds I've learned about because I think I've seen them around are the Long-billed Thrasher (songbird group), Mourning Dove (pigeons & doves group), and Cattle Egret (wading birds).

A favorite bird that I've seen in my neighborhood is the Northern Cardinal. I love its bright color.

A Cooper's Hawk I captured through my kitchen window yesterday afternoon.

I managed to get a decent shot of this common tern while walking on one the piers in Hudson River Park, NYC. I like that it's smaller and sleeker than most of the seabirds I see, and nattily dressed too, with that black cap and red bill.

This is a comb-crested Jacana I saw at Enoggera Reservoir, Brisbane Australia.. This photo gives me a feeling it is An elegant and sophisticated bird, ready to go out to a dinner dance function, carrying its deportment aloofly.  It can appear to be able to walk on water

I loved looking at the wall of birds! It is beautifully painted and extremely informative. I especially like the pencil drawings of the extinct species. I have chosen Cedar Waxing, Goldfinch, and Red bellied woodpecker as my three birds. I espied a pair of Cedar Waxwings while out on a walk earlier this spring, I have many goldfinches in my neighborhood and especially my yard as I have lots of black eyed Susans and echinacea, and they like the seeds from these flowers. And there are Red bellied woodpeckers living in the neighborhood, and they have visited my trees looking for food. Cedar Waxwings belong to the waxwing group, Goldfinches to the finch family, and Fred bellied woodpeckers are a large woodpecker. The Red bellied woodpecker was perhaps my favorite to see- they are large with rather long, pointed bills that they use to get insects from dead or infested trees. The waxwings were sort of a nice surprise- they were in a dead tree overlooking the Huron River. And the goldfinches are here every year due to the fact that I make sure to plant things with seeds that they like. I will have to take photos to upload at another time.

We have a lot of Dark-eyed Juncos on our property, and they are amazingly easy to call (with the aid of an app).

I really like yellow birds for some reason. I guess it is just that they are so striking and it was only recently that I started seeing them in the wild. We often get American Goldfinches at our birdfeeder.

This Hairy Woodpecker nested in the large maple tree in my backyard this year. He is one of several different species of woodpeckers on my property, and he has been around for many years. He has the unfortunate habit of landing in the eavestrough above my bedroom window and drumming at daybreak.

two pichshers i do not know what they are because they were flying and far away 

can someone tell me what they are?

my favorit bird i see is the ospere but i love all birds.

I always love watching the crows in our neighborhood, and see them trying to scare away the cats.  I talk to them, and seem to be interested in listening.

I live in Long Island and I saw this (house?) finch in my neighborhood. I saw this type of  bird only once so I assume it is uncommon where I live. I like this particular bird because I like small birds and the color of it just makes it so much prettier.

Activity 3:   I saw the most unusual thing on Valentine's Day.  A hawk was in my bushes thrashing around.  I thought it was killing one of the chipmunks or squirrels or rabbits that roam my backyard.  At first I thought it had probably already done terminal damage and I couldn't stop it, but it kept on.  Finally I went outside and yelled and threw tennis balls at it - don't worry, I can't hit the side of a barn, but nothing would make it stop.  Then I saw that there were two of them.  I thought -- are they mating?   They carried on forever.  It was pretty rigorous. Then when the action stopped, I thought that one of them had killed the other one, but the upright one dragged the prostrate one out of the bushes by one foot.  The prostrate one got up and they both flew off together!  I think from what I could see with the thrashing and the bushes impeding my view was that they were Cooper's Hawks.

Activity 2:  The Wren is in the songbird group.   The Cardinal is in the songbird group. The Brown Thrasher is in the songbird group too.  The Common Loon is a swimming bird.

 

I voted for the Carolina wren, Brown Thrasher, Common Loon - what a magical song, so mystical, and the Cardinal.  We have three of these in our backyard, but the loon calls to me across some ethereal, Camelot-like setting and beckons me to a enter the mist to a world of imagination.

Activity 3 - One of my favourite birds The Cape Batis is a small, stout insect-eating passerine bird in the wattle-eye family. I like this bird because it is secretive, although allows one to get close enough to observe it.

Activity 1:  I picked the wood duck. On my first birding tour in California, this was one of the many birds I saw. It was beautiful. What is even more interesting about the wood duck is what our tour guide shared about the ducklings. They live high inside a tree and then, when ready, fall to the forest floor.  You can find many videos online of this happening. Very amazing.

Activity 3:  I pick the northern cardinal. I see him all the time in my backyard (southern Ontario)  and his call is so distinct that I always look for him. The female is difficult to spot (of course) but she sometimes makes an appearance or I can hear her as well.

Activity 3: I have chosen an Indigo Bunting. We have recently moved to the US from the UK, and I am still thrilled to see such brightly coloured birds in our neighbourhood (such bright colours are much less common in the British Isles). I have only seen the Indigo Bunting twice in a neighbour's magnolia tree, so never managed to nab a photo, but they are such a beautiful, brilliant blue. We are working to fill our garden with native plants and flowers, so hope to attract lots more birds in the coming months.

• Activity 1.  I chose the Scissor tail fly catcher.  The males coloring is beautiful.  I am sometimes treated to their striking flight while on walks in my neighborhood.


• Activity 2.  I’m not altogether sure what is being asked of me for this activity.


• Activity 3. I like this picture of a green heron that I took.  It was a lifer for me and I was in awe as soon as I saw it.

In Activity 1, I chose the Bohemian Waxwing from the Wall of Birds.  It is such a beautiful bird: "elegant", colourful, easy to distinguish by its characteristic call.  I am used to see Cedar Waxwings where I live, in Eastern Ontario, so I was interested in comparing to the Western species.  I like how they move in groups, and the loud noise they produce when there is a large flock in a tree.

Regarding Activity 2, I can say I finally got a better idea of how to distinguish warblers from finches... I know it should not be too difficult, but for some reason, unless it was clearly a goldfinch, I was always in doubt between the two.

For Activity 3 I choose the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  Living in Ottawa, Ontario, this is the only hummingbird I will be able to see during warm weather season, at least in my backyard.  For the first time this Spring I decided to hang two hummingbirds feeders from an old lilac, but did not have much hope if seeing it coming to feed from them.  To my big surprise, one little Ruby-throated hummer was visiting just 10 minutes after putting it up!  And has been returning continuously since.  I am not sure if it is the same or not.  At some point I saw two of them.

I am always amazed at their flight, their speed, and how little they care if humans are close by.  My goal is to be able to distinguish individuals in the future, and even take good photographs.

Just moved to a new home and put out a couple feeders to be able to study birds in this area better.

I am trying to ascertain the species of this bird.  I believe it is a common grackle, yet these are the best photographs I have of it.  They were taken on two different days so I'm not sure if they are the same bird.

Activity 1:  First lesson activity gave me an opportunity to identify the Dark-eyed Junco who is lately singing in my yard.  I was able to confirm it was a Junco by the pink peak and listening to its song and comparing the song to the Cornell app.  I also learned the bird's bill color was a way to distinguish this bird from a Black Phoebe, also seen in my neighborhood.  The Junco had first attracted us because its song was very different than the Song Sparrows.  Interesting how many Song Birds.