A bird I've captured quite a few times near me, and probably my absolute favorite shorebird, is Killdeer. It's such a joy to hear the high pitched chirping on occasion when I visit nearby shorelines. The black and white stripes are so adorable! Here is an adult w/ an immature that I saw recently:

Here I captured a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole with a red "necklace." Absolutely stunning! Next picture, I have a group of mallards waddling along on a stormy day. Here I have a male, a white domesticated mallard, and what appears to be a hybrid of the two. Any opinion on the identification of the mallards?

My son liked this Killdeer the most on our most recent trip.  Way in the back is a black bellied whistling duck, rare for Milwaukee WI.

I've been enjoying watching Great Blue Herons form a new colony at the urban ponds not far from our house.  I think they are currently sitting on eggs! This was historically a sewage treatment catchment area that got re-puposed and rehabbed into wildlife habitat in urban Seattle. It attracts waterfowl, marsh birds and of course birders, who are always fun to talk to and willing to share their knowlege.

This guy in backyard yesterday.  Waxwing not sure if cedar or bohemian

I have always enjoyed looking for and listening to birds but I am just learning more about identification.  This past year I have been trying to identify the birds I have seen on our property which includes open meadows, a forested area and a stream.  Some of the favorite birds I have observed include wild turkeys, a great blue heron, and great horned owls.   Two of my favorite songbirds that I have observed are the scarlet tanager and the Baltimore oriole.

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My current favorite is a barred owl. This pic is a barred owlet in my back yard. It's been fun watching this little one and its sibling bumble around and discover the world. I also enjoy watching the parents hunt and deliver prey for the babies.

My current favorite is a barred owl. This pic is a barred owlet in my back yard. It's been fun watching this little one and its sibling bumble around and discover the world. I also enjoy watching the parents hunt and deliver prey for the babies.

I don’t have any pictures, but recently a mute swan family near me has given birth to 8 cygnets! what group are swans in? Waterfowl?

I'm loving discovering so much more about birds!  Managed to get this shot of an indigo bunting.  I had heard of them but never seen one before.  Really exciting!

We found a rufous hummingbird, a towhee and a dark-eyed junco at our new birdfeeder at our house!

This Scarlet Tanager inspired me to take this course. Today I've seen a nuthatch (which I didn't previously know was a "tree creeper", a mourning dove, and the usual blue jays, grackles, and cardinals. Cardinals I know are finches, grackles are blackbirds, but blue jays? Also finches maybe?

Cardinals are one of my favorite birds that frequent our feeders year round.  Bird watching and photography is a new hobby and I am enjoying adding to my list of observed birds.  I am fortunate that the small town I live in is also a designated bird sanctuary.

I always enjoy seeing the American Goldfinch show up at the backyard feeder in the spring.

My favorite bird is the. Hummingbird, but I have seen it only once near my house this year. I tried to hang a feeder at the edge of a porch , shade, somewhat closed in, Instead of in a fruit tree and have not been able to lure one to that spot. looking at the wall  of birds was wonderful 3 species: the humming bird, the woodpecker, the finch? Is that correct?

I spent some time watching birds from my porch by a lake in upstate New York this morning. Here's what I saw: lots of mallards, several ruby-throated hummingbirds, a dark-eyed junco, a blue jay, and a (I think) hairy woodpecker (whom my husband has named Harry). I didn't see our local common loons, but did hear them.

My back yard ends where the brackish mash begins between Georgia and Florida.  I am just beginning to learn about birds.  I found the breakout presented in this first lesson very helpful.  Some birds I have been able to broadly identify are:  mourning dove, ibis, great blue heron, humming bird, blue bird, cardinal, woodpecker, vulture.

Carolina wrens are reportedly present here in Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain but not sure I have seen one. am trying to learn call, Recently had a hawk right outside our kitchen window I think it was Broad shouldered hawk but not sure

I've been paying more attention to the birds in my yard, recently, and have seen 20 different types, in at least 4 groups. Robins, sparrows, Downy Woodpecker, Ruby throated Hummingbird pair, Cardinal to name a few.  A new bird for me was a Indigo Bunting that was on my window feeder. It's hard say which bird is my favorite. I enjoy being able to ID them by sight or sound. I was able to lure a male Cardinal closer by using eBird audio!

This is the Coopers Hawk I used to see (but not as much now, as the trees are all now leafy! BTW, i live in Mississauga Ontario.  Sandra

There is a small woodlot abutting a local park that i go to during these Covid days. I found this little warbler and wonder if someone could tell me what it is.  I'm surprised at what I found as it's a very busy location! There's also a Cooper's Hawk with a nest.. thank goodness, there was a birder watching me one day and told me what hawk I'd been seeing. Liking the bird course so far.. Sandra

This morning in my backyard in Claremont CA, I saw:  western scrub jay, mourning doves, band-tailed pigeon, house finch, monarch butterfly, mourning cloak, cabbage white, baby bunny.  Hoping the black hooded oriole comes by for lunch again. It is 90* and no wind nor rain.

Activity 3--favorites in my neighborhood. I never get tired of seeing great egrets in the ponds of my neighborhood.  I associate them with early morning not only because that's when I usually see them but because they seem to match the still and calm of that time of day.  So slender and elegant, and so very bright white.  They're very zen.  :)  Another favorite that I often see in the same environment is the tree swallow.  They're so much fun to watch--they dart, they circle, they buzz the surface of the water.  If the light's not right, it's hard to see their beautiful color, but their head and shoulders are brilliantly blue and their fronts are gleaming white. Honestly, though, almost any bird can be my favorite at the moment that I see it or hear it, especially when it's unexpected or when it's something I haven't encountered before.  :)

Lesson one was very helpful as we placed birds in groups. Now I can place birds in categories based on their description. As a new birder it is very difficult to identify birds. The bird that stood out on the Wall of Birds was the Hispaniolan Spindalis. I enjoyed observing the bird and placing it in a particular grouping. The grouping I chose was songbirds.