This is a poor photo taken from my phone. Discovered this Yellow Headed Blackbird at a little city based nature park. I love the wild throaty call it makes. Makes them easy to find because my eye sight isn’t great. Makes bird watching hard being so blind. My kids make fun of me. But I love to feed the birds and try and find new species I haven’t seen before.

Hello from California, I am really enjoying this class! I have been a casual birder for several years, but am really discovering many new things. From the Bird Wall, I spent a lot of time just exporting species that I have not seen, but hope to some day. From the U.S. the Greater Roadrunner has always fascinated me and I recently took a trip to Joshua Trees National Park (just before the shelter in place started) hoping to see one. I was not successful, despite learning that one could be often found hanging out in the parking lot of the Park Ranger station. I did see a few other new species...a Black Throat Sparrow and California Thrasher. The Eurasian Hoopoe  was also fascinating....I had read a bit about it and its strange plume on its head. Humming birds have also been a big favorite, and I keep a feed in my yard that is owned my a very aggressive Anne's hummer. It is amazing how close they will get to me sometimes  if I go out the check the feeder when they are around

Hi everyone, here is another photo I was able to get today while birdwatching.  I am sure that this one is a Brown Thrasher.  He was out near a small pond in WV.  Thanks!

Out today to do some bird watching, and saw this guy.  Was able to get a photo and I believe this is a Orchard Oriole.  Can someone confirm my this? Thanks, and stay safe. Mike J.

It's redwing season in central New York. Got this photo yesterday at the Montezuma NWR. Saw several other birds that we had to spend time in the field guides to identify; not so with this guy.

This course is getting me to go into depth in a topic that I have always wanted to explore, but never had the time. This Bird Academy is great and has made me realize that I have always loved birds.  I have been going through all my digital photos and a surprising number are about birds.   I am fortunate to live in an area where there are typical suburban birds and also plenty of water fowl.  My favorite all time flyer is Anna's Hummingbird.  I keep a few feeders topped off as well as planting a hummingbird garden.  My yard gets visited by California towhees and sparrows ( I think a white crested sparrow) and I see plenty of brown pelicans, terns, gulls and egrets on my walks.  Because of this new found interest, I think that I have been able to identify a black oyster catcher, a curlew and a killdeer!! That was pretty cool!  Thank you!

Hello, I am enjoying the course, especially during the virus lockdown.  I live in a senior community and we are being encouraged to stay in our apartments while this pandemic lasts.  However, I can get out (with mask and social distance) for a walk down to a small pond on the premises.  I have seen quite a variety of herons down there.  I've seen the great blue, either a little blue or a green heron and also the black capped night heron.  I'm not sure I am distinguishing the little blue or green heron  properly (help).  My thanks to the Bird Academy and its instructors for making this course very interesting for an amateur bird watcher. David Bagwell

I am enjoying this course and live in Rhode Island.  My all time favorite bird is the crow.  I find them fascinating and have watched a documentary about them that shows how smart the crows are.  Currently at my feeder are alot of American Goldfinch and house sparrows.  I like the Goldfinch because I can easily identify them.

I saw this little guy the other day in a medium sized tree in the parking lot across the street from me. I can seem to identify him in the field guides I have. I live in Portland, Oregon and saw him in the afternoon of a late April day. Any ideas fellow new birders? Cheers.

Staying in place in Minnesota. Working on Bird Academy Classes and ebird lists. I love the loons and they are returning to Minnesota for the spring & summer. Listening to their call in the evenings from across the lake is a reminder life is good. Picture is from a lake where the young loons gather as a group before leaving for Florida and the gulf coast for the winter.  Normally there are only a couple of pairs on the lake but in the Fall the young birds (25+) gather here, from other lakes in the area, before leaving together.

I've always loved birds and said I would learn about them 'some day.'  That day is here!  I am in the Appalachian foothills of north Alabama at the moment.  This house has Eastern Wood-Peewees  that return to build a nest over one the doorways each year. They perch in the open long enough that even I can see them can see them with the binoculars (among the skills I need to practice). Indigo buntings are around here but I did not see one this time.  I was thrilled to see several Pileated  Woodpeckers this weekend.  As I child I saw them in our backyard in central Alabama but I have not seen them there in decades.

I'm enjoying the course.  I live in Northern Wisconsin and regularly see chickadees, bald eagles, nuthatches, downy & hairy woodpeckers and we have an osprey nest on our road.  The past couple of days (including yesterday afternoon), I enjoyed the visit of a yellow-bellied sapsucker.  Not sure why it's called "yellow-bellied".... Does anyone know? Seeing all your gorgeous photos, I need to resurrect my good SLR camera.  I've gotten lazy and have just been using my iPhone but really need to zoom in more to get the kind of photos I'm seeing on this thread.  Thank you, everyone.

Hello from southeastern Virginia (Gloucester County). I'm a definite beginner and loving the course. Right now I am able to ID only the more common birds. In the last two weeks I've seen ruby-throated hummingbirds, turkey vultures, barn swallows, blue jays, mourning doves, and Northern cardinals. It's a start! A few years ago this bird landed on our outdoor porch, apparently stunned. We stood watch and the bird eventually flew away vigorously. I think it is an indigo bunting, one of the most beautiful birds I've seen at my home.

The owls stand out to me on the wall - they are nice looking creatures.  I can't recall the other ones I "liked" - I was trying to boost some of the birds that looked like they didn't get many votes.  :)   Love the peregrine falcon - amazing speeds.  And the penguin (emperor perhaps?) that can dive nearly 2000 feet under water.  All the bird superlatives were pretty cool. I walked around today and looked for birds in my neighborhood - suburban Kansas City - I found some but they were too far away and people-shy to get quality photos on my iphone.  I will put some food in the bird feeder outside my kitchen window and maybe have better luck. There are these hawks that circle high up in the sky in our subdivision - I think they might be red-tailed hawks but I am not for sure.  I also like the crazy sounding owls, I think they are "barred" owls, that wake me up sometimes... they emit different, loud sounds - sometimes it sounds like cackling, almost like an excited monkey.  Then other times they make a tongue rolling sound that sounds slightly like the phrase "who cooks for you."

I started this backyard feeder in March, and I've enjoyed the beautiful birds who have visited, and I'm trying to learn as a new one shows up. This cardinal and bluebird are frequent visitors.

Activity 1:  I concentrated on the birds of North American, and the Common Loon brought back happy memories of childhood vacations on a northern lake.  The Carolina Wren was the bird on the mural closest to my current location (Virginia), and it is one of my favorites with its distinctive tail position.  Carolina wrens were the first birds to begin feeding in my yard when I started putting food out in January 2020.  The painting of the Wood Duck was beautiful -- such colors!  They seem native to Virginia, so I'll have to keep my eyes out when I am near water.  I also clicked on birds in Africa since I loved the novel "A Guide to the Birds of East Africa" by Nicholas Drayson.  That inspired me to see the movie "The Big Year," and I'm now waiting for the book to arrive.  Activity 2:  I have seen birds from four of the groups at my feeding station:  songbirds, woodpeckers, hummingbirds (appeared two days ago) and pigeons/doves.  I hear owls very regularly but have not yet seen one.  I have seen a hawk in the neighborhood twice, and I'm anxious to see it again when I know more about it.  This course will inspire me to explore beyond my own yard.  Activity 3:  It is hard to pick a favorite, but I think I'd choose the White-breasted Nuthatch.  Even without my glasses on in the morning, I can identify the nuthatch by the way it climbs down head-first.  I haven't been able to get a good photo with my phone.  Maybe I'll have to take the Cornell Bird Academy course about drawing/painting birds.

Activity 1. I used to work at a steel mill in Hamilton Ontario where we would watch the Caspian terns fishing in Hamilton Harbour. Because of the ambient noise of the mills, I never knew what they sounded like until listening to the sample in the wall of birds! Thanks!

This course is amazing! Thank you all for sharing photos of your local birds. My favorite birds live near the water. I took photos of a Canada Goose, Red-Winged Blackbird, and a Mute Swan on a walk by the Genesee River in Rochester, New York.

Activity 1: I actually ended up reading all of the birds on the wall. Out of all the interesting plumage, mating displays, and nesting habitats I find myself drawn back to the Horned Lark simply because it looks like a bird supervillain. I also really enjoyed the dinosaur information because of how alien they look. Activity 2: I started amateur birding about two years ago, just looking up local birds out of curiosity. I'm in Ontario, Canada in the Greater Toronto Area. The following are my favourite birds found in my area from three categories discussed in this lesson: 1. chicken-like birds: the ruffed grouse 2. owls: eastern screech owl 3. songbirds: black-capped chickadee Activity 3: My favourite local bird has to be the Great Blue Heron. They're one of the most identifiable birds and are probably the first ones I did identify even before birding. I enjoy watching them in ponds or marshes, patiently stalking prey, or watching their distinct shape fly overhead. (Eastern Screech Owl; red morph variation. Known locally as Rufus but I named him Fred)

I'm writing from an agricultural area of New Jersey. Our home is surrounded by a number of mature trees which I assume is the reason I can hear so many birds singing. It would be nice to know who they are.  I love to spend time in the woods and discover something new each time I'm out. Today I caught sight of a small dark grey bird with yellow patches that seemed to match the description of a yellow-rumped warbler. I am amazed at the work of the artist who did the wall mural.  She must be an amazing birder by now!

This is such a great course and I love this forum. I am at home in Northern California taking advantage of this quiet time to accelerate my relationship with birds. I have always had a multitude of hummingbirds at my feeders and finally decided to attempt to identify the different species. I believe I have seen the following four: Anna (most common here), Allen, rufous and a black-chinned. I also received a beautiful hand made owl box from my grandchildren for Christmas which will be mounted in my backyard in time for next year's breeding time. Currently I am able to watch by webcam, a neighbor's Barn Owl sitting on four eggs. Recent sightings include a black hooded oriole, a western bluebird, several downy woodpeckers atop the palm trees, black-eyed juncos, violet green swallows, oak titmouse, multiple jays and spotted towhees.

I'm 'Staying at Home' in New Mexico.  We have plenty of little songbirds around the house, woodpeckers & nuthatches looking for insects in the trees and Cooper's Hawks looking for songbirds. I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts and looking through your photos.  Thank you for sharing! I love birds and am definitely a beginner when it comes to naming birds on sight or from their calls and I struggle with field guide use.  Some of my local favorites are Lesser Goldfinch, Cooper's Hawk (or is that a Sharp-shinned), the Ladder-backed woodpecker and Sandhill Cranes. I have a special fondness for the little groups of Bushtits that pass through from tree to tree busily 'tsit, tsit'ing.  I've included a few photos of my local feathered friends.

I live in New Orleans and for the last few days I've seen a pair of Mississippi kites circling my neighborhood. I also saw a swallow-tailed kite elsewhere recently. I absolutely love the way they fly, it's just beautiful. Apparently they come here to breed and then head back to Central and South America for the rest of the year.