Last year I took a 10-week course where we did an overview of some 72 North American bird families. It was overwhelming, and I really liked the part of this lesson that showed smaller, informal categories (e.g. songbirds, raptors, wading birds) and subgroups of songbirds (acrobatic flyers, sparrows, etc.) Here in suburban Maryland outside Washington DC, birds I commonly see in the backyard include mourning doves, robins, Northern cardinals, a couple finches (house, or purple?), bluejays, song sparrows, and seasonal visits by juncos, redwing blackbirds, grackles, and cowbirds. Also plenty of invasive house sparrows and starlings. On our tree in the front yard we get white-breasted nuthatches and flickers. We are not close enough to a forest or meadow to get many non-feeder species, so those are the ones I'm hoping to find and learn.

I am a newbie to bird watching and even listen in awe of the serious bird watchers! I am in the suburbs of NYC and  I have seen the following at my bird feeder: Common Grackle, Pileated Woodpecker,  Black-capped chickadee, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, and Chipping Sparrows. My yard is filled with robins and crows! Yesterday at Croton Point Park I saw my first Purple Martin! So exciting!

I learned about the Wood Duck, when my son - in Brewster, MA - on Cape Cod, MA in USA  rescued this female from the bottom of his chimney on Saturday after 3 days of mysterious noises. Duck was not what they imagined. I discovered that uniquely these ducks have claws, as well, for securely being in trees. This also reinforced to me the need to look at both mail and female pictures to identify a bird (you can tell I am a novice), as the make Wood Duck  has a wildly colorful head. Their house is on the edge of a woods, with wetland behind and a small pond about 200 yards away. (And the men in our area seem to be cultivating very wierd mustaches during the pandemic).

Hello all! Here are my activities: Activity 1 - Love the Bird Wall! The video is quite inspirational, nice to hear what the artist had to say, what an interesting career. Although extinct, I was fascinated by the Ornimegalonyx, a four foot owl. We have owls in my area, and I can only imagine what it would be like to see that. Incredible. Activity 2 - Three birds I found outside and was able to identify; 1. Junco - we love these guys. Every year they come by and nest in the hillside behind our house in Southern California. I did not know they were in the sparrow group, they are lively and fun to watch. 2. Mallard - this is an easy one, but we have a mated pair that has been roaming our neighborhood, they are suburban ducks! Lots of neighbors reporting sightings on our neighborhood app. They are much loved.  3. Red - crowned parrot. We have a large flock in the area we live in, which is the foothill area north of Los Angeles. I downloaded the Merlin app and was able to identify the species. Interesting that the only area they live in outside of Mexico is here. All kinds of stories about the exotic bird farms that were abandoned in the past, resulting in flocks of parrots establishing themselves here. There is a photo of a flock attached to this post. They thrive here. Activity 3 - Favorite bird - Allen’s Hummingbird. Also using the Merlin app was able to identify this species. We have had 8 baby hummingbirds hatch and launch from our patio over the past five years. Most recent one just flew off  last weekend. This has become a favorite spring activity and this year with more time at home has brought us a lot of time to observe watching the mama build the nest, feed the baby, weather a storm, and the baby reluctantly leaving the nest. Usually they laytwo eggs, but this one laid only one. We think junior was pretty comfortable. He took longer than usual to leave and was pretty big!

Scrolling through all the photo and am amazed by the variety of birds that have been submitted.  Thank you for all the pictures.

I don’t have an image of a bird to post, but we recently moved to southern Massachusetts, and our yard appears to be the intersection of several Northern Flicker territories. From early morning to evening, we are surrounded by Northern Flickers, each of whom has an opinion to give ... repeatedly ... all day long 😂

It would be nice if the photos indicated where the bird is found - is it my area or somewhere far away? Hope we see more video with the prof...and less reading from the screen. Onward!

Activity 3 : Peahen , the neighborhood bird. Feathers not as beautiful as the male peacock but walks very elegantly, the kids follow her trail, she feels very comfortable when I am around and take a short flight if I make sudden move. It is big but still very gentle to other birds. Locally we believe if peahen is singing continuously that means it is about to rain.

Activity 2 - Bird one  - Group - Song birds Bird 2 : Red Wetted lapwing -  Group - Shore bird Bird 3 : Group - Humming Bird

Namaste to  All, I am Abhimanyu from India's western state Rajasthan's capital Jaipur. This is a Hot semi arid region where summer temperature go upto 45 degree Celsius and winter temperatures are recorded as low as 5 degree Celsius. I want to express my gratitude towards all those who are sharing and motivating others on this group discussion. Special thanks to the Bird Academy for this wonderful opportunity. I assure I will read as many posts I can on this discussion, I will feel privileged to do so. Activity 1 : Bird 1 : Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster) also called snake bird because of the snake like neck. I clicked this picture in famous tiger reserve Ranthambore. Fun facts Diver, has to dry it's wings after every dive. Bird 2 : White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) I clicked this picture from my balcony. There were couple of them, I watched them from my binoculars they were looking for mice in the empty patch of land near my home. I spent 20 minutes watching them and now I can recognize the bird just from it's call which is very similar to common kite and Great Indian grey horn-bill. Bird 3 : House Sparrow ( Passer domesticus) They are like friends now in this lockdown. I started smashing some dry peanuts and serve them to birds. House sparrows and doves love this catering and are frequent visitors. I serve them food and they give me delight - Barter!

Red Tailed hawks are easily my favourite bird. They are so majestic and fiesty. I caught a pair flying low and yelling at each other a couple of weeks ago over our yard.

Activity 1:  Owls, Owls, Owls!  They are my favorite simply because they always elude me!  Activity 2: Chickadees are songbirds, right?  They were not mentioned in the lesson.  Activity 3: And again, my favorite is...Great Horned Owl.  Got a picture of a mama in the next with 2 owlets a few days ago.  Highlands Ranch, Colorado

I live in Seattle, WA. and saw this beautiful bird outside my window this afternoon. My friend (who is taking this course with me) thinks it may be Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Can anyone confirm ?

We live in Idaho and love watching and identifying birds. We love watching them come back after the winter. We have a Harry Woodpecker in our aspens that we have watched build its nest. We have Turkey Vultures that sun in the meadow. We have seen more than 20 at one time. The Spotted Towhee arrived in March. We love sleeping with our windows open and waking up to bird songs. We have our own personal sound track!

Hi!  I'm from Columbus, Ohio and my favorite bird from the Wall of Birds is, without a doubt, the Lilac-breasted Roller because I became a birder after seeing this bird on vacation in South Africa.  Before then in the trip, I was only concerned about seeing lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants, etc., but this little bird made me begin to notice the birds too and started my slow journey into birding.  I have so many favorite local birds that it is difficult to pick.  However, I have been getting out to Greenlawn Cemetery for the past two weekends with the other birders from total beginners to the guys arriving from two hours away and setting up camp at the pond.  Since Magee's Marsh in northern Ohio is currently closed due to the pandemic, Greenlawn has become a local hangout to spot warblers.  Here is a photo from last week, taken at Blacklick Metro Park, of a pair of Wood Ducks and a photo of a Yellow-rumped Warbler taken at Greenlawn Cemetery from this morning.

One of my favorite birds is the Bohemian waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus). I really enjoy watching them forage for small fruits on trees in my yard in winter.

I've always been interested in birding. My father is an avid birdwatcher and I guess I got the bug from him. My brother, from western Canada, is also very into bird watching and we like to discuss the common and different birds from our regions. I live in the country with a forest/marsh property. There are so many birds around that I can identify, but many more that I cannot (many are shy and I can only hear their songs). Since having to stay home and self-isolate due to COVID-19 I've been paying a little extra attention to my backyard buddies. I finally saw one of the Pileated Woodpeckers that have been knocking and laughing around me. At night and very early mornings I've heard a Great Horned Owl and an American Woodcock. As the warm weather approaches I am anxiously awaiting to hear my good friend Whippoorwill. Happy birding everyone, stay healthy.

The wall of birds is very cool. Three birds I have observed here near my home are the red tailed hawk, lots of scrub jays, and the common house finches with pretty red heads. My favorite that I’ve seen today is the hooded oriole. Beautiful bright orange and black!

I am not new to bird watching.  I have been doing it since my 4th grade teacher shared her interest and then my father joined in and built bird feeders and houses so we could watch our backyard birds together.  Everywhere we have lived I have bought bird books for that area (Eastern/Western North American Birds, Eastern Africa Birds, Asia Birds).  I'm taking this course because I have never studied birds in depth.  I know the common ones in my area but I want to know them better.  I've already learned a few new things in just this first section. Activity 1: The one I chose was the Wandering Albatross.  This species fascinates me from their length of time spent in flight to secreting salt from their eyes. It is truly amazing Activity 2: Three birds that I love to watch in my area and want to learn more about are the Great Blue Heron which fishes in my pond.  They are in the Long Legged Waders group. The Indigo Bunting which frequents my bird feeder and darts in and out of the bushes.  They are in the Songbird Perching group. The third one is the Red Bellied Woodpecker which has been pecking at my dead apple tree for insects. They are in the  Woodpecker group. Activity 3: I have so many favorite birds but the one right now is the Chickadee.  Photo from the Cornell All About Birds.  I have a pair building a nest in the pipe of a wagon wheel in our front yard.  I love listening to them and I need to verify whether it is Carolina or Black-Capped.  I just read that I can determine that best by their song so tomorrow that will be my assignment.  BTW I live in Kentucky.

I took this picture this morning, (4-25-2020)  at the Heron Rookery, Morro Bay, California.  This is, I believe, a Snowy Egret.  The feet give it away! We have many Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets on the Central Coast of California.  Because they are fairly common, don't usually move too quickly, and are pretty striking, they are easy to identify.  As a beginning birder, it is fun to be able to instantly identify a couple of birds.  They can be quite funny to photograph, and are always stunningly beautiful.

The birds we're most familiar with in our region resonate with this course. Re Raptors: The Golden Eagle is a new favorite and a local birding expert guided us on identification during their spring migration last month. A visit to the National Eagle Center last year let us know that many are misidentified as juvenile bald eagles. Other favorites are the Common Loon (Waterfowl and the Minnesota state bird) and the Pileated Woodpecker (less elusive at Sax Zim Bog and our forested regions vs our backyard). The Wall of Birds is astounding and brought forth the array of birds from Africa----expanding our world view beyond the safari.

Activity 1 My favorites on the fantastic Wall of Birds were the Common Loon, Blue Heron and Pelican. I chose these birds because I see them in my area but I had never heard the call of a Blue Heron.  Very cool. Activity 2 I have Juncos and Black-capped chickadees (Songbirds) at my feeder and some Merlins have just returned to the  yard (Raptors). I saw my first Red-winged blackbird (Songbird) of the season yesterday. Activity 3 My favorite bird at the moment is the Bald Eagle. We have a mature pair and at least one juvenile on our farm. I haven't been able to capture a photo of the juvenile but here is one of the adults.

I am not able to access the instructional videos. I just get the short introductory one (1:17 minutes I think) . Surely there are more. I am listed as subscribed. I live in Canada. Could that be the problem? I posted a question to customer service but haven't heard back. Can anyone help me? Is anyone else having this problem?   Thanks, Birders!   Kathy

Activity 2 outdoor bird identifying.   Swimming birds/waterfowl. We live on a lake that has been frozen until the last couple of days.  All of a sudden, there was a whole flock of white birds  with dark heads and grey birds with rust colored heads swimming together on the lake.  We used our bird book and Merlin and found that they are Common Mergansers.  14 male and female.  And then Buffleheads joined them. in the afternoon, a male and female Mallard pair walked up on our shore as friendly as can be.   And of course, the ubiquitous geese cruise up and down honking away.  I really want to know what they are saying.  Just before sunset, a female Merganser caught a little fish and mayhem broke loose.  The male chased her all the way down the lake (probably three football field lengths) trying to take the fish away.  The battle was on!  To my grave disappointment, he succeeded in stealing the goodies; but what a fascinating display to watch. And another fun thing was to identify the crow ( by his flying pattern.  Flap flap flap instead of the Raven which is flap and glide.  Thrilled by the little things, I guess.