My first favorite bird in my neighborhood in upstate NY is the Eastern Bluebird.  I just think it's so beautiful and every time I'm able to spot one it just makes my day.  There seem to be more and more in my neighborhood over the last few years so it's likely that I see one when I take a walk.  We also have Red Tailed Hawks in our neighborhood.  My husband and I had the good fortune to see one perched on our shed and then dive down and catch a squirrel this summer.  It was amazing to watch!

I voted for the secretary bird because it’s so beautiful. My other vote went to the black necked crane because so many cranes are in danger of extinction.

My favorite birds near my home are the bobwhite quail, and the sandhill cranes. I love listening to the quails while trail running, but they can be harder to spot. The sandhill cranes are usually out in full force near the canal where I live, and I love seeing them raise their chicks. Sandhill crane chicks are some of the cutest baby birds.

2 favorite birds. First, the Purple Martin (a swallow). I live in Canada on the shore of Lake Huron. My neighbor has 2 multi-compartment birdhouses for Purple Martins which come back every year and stay for the summer. I enjoy watching them. They are attractive dark birds and fly wonderfully, swooping above the lake to catch insects. They seem to be quite sociable and chatter together when they return to the birdhouses.

My other favourite bird is the Northern Flicker (a woodpecker). The first one I saw was in pine straw under trees when I was visiting Florida. It was about 10 feet away and paid me no attention. I was able to carefully observe and identify it later. It’s a beautiful bird with many-coloured plumage, spots and stripes. About a year later I looked out the window and spotted a Northern Flicker in my back yard. It stayed there for more than an hour poking around in the grass. I was happy that it had a safe place to feed and that I could watch it as and learn.

I live in New Mexico and the Sand Hill Cranes and Snow geese are in our area now - it is such a beautiful sight to go to the Bosque before sunrise to listen to them and watch them take off at sunrise. The noise is incredible and the sight of them all lifting off at the break of day is worth the 9 degree temperature that I have encountered at times.

Very good

It's a great feeling to meet new birds.

Activity 3:

Like other students, it is hard to choose a favorite species of bird as I enjoy them all. However, I am partial to songbirds, parrots, and the many different types of water birds.

Where I live, there are what seems like countless different species of songbirds that I am lucky enough to watch. I am very happy to have nature parks around to watch these birds in their native territories and that they even visit my feeders, both of which helps me get to know them so well. I love watching the pigeons and Mourning Doves go about their business around town (they are so fun!), the sparrows and finches are very adorable, the hummingbirds (where I am we have two main species with occasional others that visit) are so full of attitude, and the woodpeckers are just fun characters that sometimes reming me of parrots (especially the Acorn Woodpeckers).

I have worked with parrots from as small as Cockatiels all the way up to some of the macaws and cockatoos. They are fascinating to me because they have so much personality and are very colorful! I have enjoyed getting to know them better in my own learning and through the Cornell classes.

With the waterbirds, there are several well-known water bird areas that I like to visit. At these places, I get to see cormorants, multiple species of ducks during migration (this year was a bit of a record in that I saw at least 8 different species), coots, Canada Geese, rails, killdeer, curlews/willets, and plovers/sandpipers. I find all of these birds adorable and anything but boring or drab! They all have so much personality and every time I get to visit them in their home, I am grateful that I get to learn something new about their lives.

Today I saw a dark eyed junco x3 , new to this so I was pretty slow with the picture!

also: tufted titmouse and a woodpecker ( hairy or downy, not sure)

 

At the local park yesterday evening I lucked out and a red tailed hawk alighted close by on a branch, my favorite local bird!

I live in CO and recently built a large water feature in our backyard. There is one section of the feature that includes a large flat stone that the water slowly runs down to its edge and creates a waterfall. Last August through mid September we had several broadtail humming birds discover this section of the water feature. It was slow flowing and shallow enough for them to bathe and get a drink. What was fascinating were the air battles between the birds for a seat on the rock. It was pretty wide so it could easily fit 6-8 humming birds, but they couldn’t tolerate having any other birds near them, especially the males. The females seemed to rule the day and had their own time bathing, but the males would fight it out. I took a few pictures and slow motion videos that would have 3-6 birds in frame either bathing or fighting each other for a spot.

 

This is how I got hooked.

 

Thanks for Reading

Songbirds seem to have the birds I’m enjoying the most. Particularly the Carolina Wren with all his/her songs. It is ever surprising how loud they can sing given their small size. Enjoying learning to classify birds in groups. Makes the adventure of birding a little less daunting.

I live in a condo but I’ve managed to make my balcony a little bird haven.  I’ve tried painting the birds, too.

The sandhill crane family I mentioned earlier.

Since starting this class, I've been visiting a pond near where I live, and watching birds with new binoculars.  I've been very lucky to watch a single sandhill crane wading near the shore.  This has been motivating me to practice using my binocs and learning how to use better.  Earlier this summer I was very lucky and observed a pair near this same pond bring their colt out to graze (Is that what it is called, grazing?) on a recently mowed park lawn.  After grazing a while, they three entered the foliage at the edge of the pond and apparently disturbed a red-winged blackbird family.  This led to a lot of diving at the cranes by the blackbirds.  They seem to be very territorial.  I lost track of the cranes, but assume they made it to the pond OK.

So many birds to be fascinated by on the Wall of Birds. I'm choosing the Osprey as my favorite for a few reasons. First and foremost because I live just a couple of miles from Osprey, Florida. I also loved learning that they can be found worldwide. Finally I saw one one afternoon out my window while I was working. It stopped me in my tracks as I thought I was looking at an eagle. It hung around a while so I got to look carefully and discern that it was an osprey.

I've become fascinated by birds since moving here to Sarasota as the large wading birds are all around. I've also seen lots of songbirds and seabirds. I saw a flock of Wood Storks flying one afternoon which was a beautiful sight with their black and white wings, so distinctive. It's also fascinating to see the Black Skimmer when it's feeding.



But my favorites are the wading birds. The meditative stance of the herons is beautiful to behold especially the large Great Blue Herons. I've loved most of all meeting for the first time the Anhingas. Their neck movements back and forth are distinctive as is their spread-wing stance they commonly do to dry their wings since they don't produce oil to repel the water. They're amazing swimmers, able to stay underwater for seemingly long periods of time, and when swimming only their long necks are seen above the water line which I believe is who they got their nickname as snake birds.

When I can not identify a bird, I pay close attention to what I can observe. Behavior is a big one for it often gives me clues as to where I might find it in a birding guide.

Black Capped Chickadees and American Crows are a couple of favorites to watch and study.

It is August, 30 and I live about an hour northwest of Detroit. I have not heard robins singing early or late in the day. I suspect, but do not know, they might be molting. This is a challenging time for birds.

I have been using Merlin to use calls and songs to I.D. birds I do not see . I just found the Eastern Kingbird in this way. I never did see the bird. It is one bird I know by sight. We used to have one next near the farm house. When we would go out to hang up wet clothes to dry, it would dive on us.

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Activity 3: It's hard to pick a favorite bird, but I do really enjoy the hummingbirds that share our yard in the summer. They are fearless, hovering only 2 - 3 feet in front of our faces (including our dog!) to get a good look at us. I love to hear their chirping, and it always makes me smile when they "buzz" us as we sit outside. I believe the picture is a female ruby-throated hummingbird, but I can't say for sure.

Activity 2: I have become very interested in bird watching over the past few months, watching frequently at my local park and my many bird feeders. One bird I notice often at my feeder is a white breasted nuthatch, who I learned belongs to the tree creeper family. I also have a downy woodpecker who visits, which is grouped in the woodpecker category. My local park has a small wetland area where I often see both great egrets and great blue herons, who are classified as wading birds. The wading birds have been my favorite so far. I purchased binoculars and watch them at my park multiple times a week!

SP:

Soy principiante en el mundo de observación de aves, llevo un par de años pajareando y hasta ahora las aves que más han captado mi atención son las tangaras, tucanes y carpinteros, amo sus colores, comportamiento y cantos. La especie que más ha captado mi atención y que sueño obtener una fotografía espectacular es Celeus Spectabilis.

EN:

I am a beginner in the world of bird watching, I have been birding for a couple of years and so far the birds that have caught my attention the most are tanagers, toucans and woodpeckers, I love their colors, behavior and songs. The species that has caught my attention the most and that I dream of obtaining a spectacular photograph is Celeus Spectabilis.

While sitting at a mangrove estuary, a downy woodpecker perched on a sea grape branch near me, and navigated its way up and down the branch, picking and poking at it. Being the inexperienced birder I am, I initially wasn't convinced it was a woodpecker, since it was picking rather than pecking. This was despite the markings and size and even his birdcall matching the description in my field guide. When I got home and did some further research, I discovered that the downy woodpecker does indeed glean on smaller branches that larger woodpeckers would not be able to navigate. I was excited for this new knowledge! No pictures were good enough to share.

I’ve seen most of the birds one would expect at my birdfeeders (one for thistle, one for black sunflower seed, one for hummingbird nectar). Now I’m trying to learn more about local birds that don’t eat seed or nectar, and that involves learning to identify them by sound as well as (or instead of) sight. Since I started this lesson I have heard a red-eye virio, a blue-headed virio (listed in Merlin but not in my old Peterson guide, and a wood thrush.

My favorite bird at the moment is the red-winged blackbird, mostly because I saw a lot of them this spring and learned to identify their sound. Last year it was the black-capped chickadees and goldfinches that come to the thistle feeder.

The bird wall is amazing! I used it to see if I could discover why Australian birds sounded so foreign to me when I visited there years ago. I now realize that European birds are quite different from our (North American) ones, too.

Hi! I’m Yoel from Colombia. I recently started bird watching while on a trip to the coffee zone in Colombia. To my surprise I have watched and listened to so many birds in the neighborhood I live in Medellin since I came back. Here is a great kiskadee I saw today. Is impressive these fantastic animals have been there all along and I just started noticing them!

(Activity 3) I live in Seattle, WA, where there's a very large and gregarious community of American crows. I always enjoy seeing them patrol my neighborhood in pairs each morning, perched on the highest points they can find and cawing about their findings to each other.

Activity 2: Find birds—either outside, online, or in your field guide—from three different groups that you learned about in this lesson. Even if you don’t know what kind of birds they are, can you narrow it down to one of the groups?

Bird #1: Great Egret

Group: Wading birds

Location: Jamestown, Rhode Island USA



Bird #2: Barn swallow

Group: Songbirds

Location: Jamestown, Rhode Island USA



Bird #3: Canada Goose

Group: Swimming birds/waterfowl

Location: Stamford, Connecticut USA

Green heron - he makes a statement both in sound and in view. Awesome!! And a great fisherman in my fresh water pond.

Activity Two:  We left our feeders up for the summer this year and have had fun watching all the birds that still come to the feeder.  We have had at least 2 different Red-bellied Woodpeckers, as there was one on each feeder the other day.  We also have many song birds: Rose breasted Grosbeck, lots of cardinals, tufted titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, a song sparrow to name a few.  We live on a creek, and driving to the store, at the bend of the creek, I saw a heron.  But he did not look like most of the Great Blue herons we see; he was smaller and darker.  When I got home, I looked him up.  He was a Small Blue Heron.  I was glad to see him, as I think he was migrating.  Wish I had been able to get a picture.