When navigating the "Wall of Birds" I came across a bird called the Vulturine Guineafowl. This species of fowl had the most interesting bright crimson eyes and dark plumage, with streaks of white and purple patch's providing stark contrast. I first read about this bird while enjoying a compilation of paintings and anecdotes from a painter based out of Africa. The way that the bio for this bird was written, gave me a vivid picture of the habitat it calls home. Such a cool looking bird unique to the country it stems from, it's so easy to forget about the unique scope of animals that live beyond where one immediately calls home! The Secretary bird was another that I took note of, this bird has such a regal appearance to it. After further reading and some YouTube searches, seeing this bird stalk through tall African grasslands made me feel for the critters it was hunting under foot! A unique way to dispatch prey, the essentially deliver a karate providing a quick and sudden dispatch of their prey items.

Activity 1 - Wall of Birds - favorite bird is the elusive Wood Duck.  Elusive for me because I have never seen one.  They are colorful with red eyes.  There call is distinct and sounds like it is questioning (to me). Activity 2 - my three from the backyard feeder are House Sparrow, red bellied woodpecker and yellow goldfinch.  I used the Pterson Guide.  It is an old copy. Sparrow - Great flier (Peterson had listed as a finch Yellow Finch - Finches and Bunting. Peterson had it listed as a yellow finch Red Belllied Woodpecker - Woodpecker

I explored the Wall of Birds and thought it was very interesting to learn a bit about 'exotic' birds (i.e., those from parts of the world very different from where I live). But I think I would use it more like a 'discovery' tool, randomly clicking on a geographic location, than as a go-to informational resource for specific species. The actual wall looked very intriguing and I might make a trip to Cornell (I live in NY) to check it out in person! Regarding the Field Guides segment, one thing missing was the very condensed and local plastic, folded pocket type. I got one some years ago to identify the birds that come to my feeder and it's incredible how I have been able to identify so many birds around my home from this little guide! I recently added Merlin to my tools and I love it, especially the bird song ID feature!

1: My favorite Bird from the Wall is the Toucan. I once visited Colombia where we heard a Toucan but unfortunately we were not able to spot him. 2: Yesterday i saw two magpies which are in the Family of the Ravens - i am still not sure whats the difference between a Family and a group and why in the Academy we talk about groups an in my bird Book they are categorized by families. I think the group would be songbirds. I also saw a Sparrowhawk which is a Raptor. 3: I like how a small dunnock comes to my Garden and if you don’t look carefully you would think it is one of the 30 House Sparrows but then you notice it is a little smaller and acts different from the sparrows.

Three birds I saw in the field, in the past week, from 3 distinct groups are a Great Blue Heron (Wading Birds), American Black Duck (Waterfowl), and Purple Sandpipers (Shorebirds). It's hard to choose a favorite bird, but I would say that my favorite family is Anatidae (ducks)! I got this picture of what I believe is an American Black Duck this week. 

Activity 1 & 2:  I find loons, hummingbirds and frigates pretty fascinating. Activity 3:  It is winter here in Minnesota so there are not a lot of birds around.  I do enjoy seeing and hearing (mostly) the Black-capped Chickadee.  They are often active around my neighborhood.  I also see and hear… Blue Jays, Crows, and White-breasted Nuthatches and an occasional Pileated Woodpecker.

Activity 3: In our Northern California neighborhood, we rarely see owls, but at night we hear wonderful calls from male and female screech owls. During the day, acorn woodpeckers fight red-shouldered hawks for possession of our huge oak trees.

Activity 1: My favorite bird from the Wall is the Snow Bunting because of its pattern and Albatross because of the long wingspan and long flight distance. Activity 2: (Songbirds - Creeper and Nuthatches) - White Breasted Nuthatch, (Chicken-like Birds - Wild Turkey), (Raptors - Red Tailed Hawk). Activity 3: My favorite bird from the Wall is the Northern Cardinal which is also the state bird of Ohio. I love the color and they look majestic in the white snow. I will never get bored watching them.

Activity 1: My favorite bird pictured on the Wall of Birds is the Great Blue Heron of the eastern USA. I live near the Florida Everglades, and grew up fascinated with them. They're so big and beautiful, and will always be my favorite bird. Activity 2: Songbirds (house sparrows), chicken-like birds (my neighbor keeps pet chickens), wading birds (egrets and ibises are common in my area) Activity 3: It's a draw between chickens and grackles. My neighbor keeps free range chickens that spend a lot of time in my yard, and they're fun to watch. One has even laid two clutches of eggs and hatched chicks in my garden, and they're just so cute. As for wild birds, I love grackles. The way they move looks so mischievous to me, and I like the blue sheen on their feathers.

Activity 1 - I'm in North Carolina, and I've always liked herons for their graceful flight and focus when hunting.  We have green herons in our neighborhood hunting frogs in summer. Activity 2 - Woodpeckers, waterfowl and songbirds Activity 3 - The eastern bluebird is a frequent visitor to my feeder. We live with a greenway behind our property with grassland beyond that.  I've noticed sharp-shinned hawks perch on my birdfeeder hunting for squirrels and other small mammals.

It seems that every time we study the "intelligence' of birds, they are smarter than we knew prior. I love to take the time to watch a bird or flock of birds to see what they are doing and trying to figure out why. As I observe nature, birds are the most common animals I see. A friend says, that  she sees many more insects, but I guess because most are small and during the winter in Michigan I see very few insects and mostly indoors.

Activity 1:  I can’t get over how many years an albatross can continue flying over the ocean.  That they have salt glands over their eyes so they can drink sea water is incredible.  I never imagined that anything like this was even possible.  Definitely a cool bird!! Activbity 2: I love orioles and mourning doves, but discovered there are more variations of them.  I also enjoyed discovering the different types of swallows. Activity 3:  My favorite is the Baltimore Oriole.  I watch for them here in Wisconsin in the first week of May and it seems to signal the end of winter.  Some of the males have such intense orange and I love trying to figure out how many pairs are visiting my feeders.  It’s always fun to try and figure out where they are building their nests and I never discover them until winter  when all the leaves are off the trees.

We are visiting the Pacific Northwest and I’m getting see Snow Geese, Tundra and Trumpter Swans for the first time. Through the local Audubon group I’m also learning about conservation efforts and how these birds interact with local agriculture. (Hearing great stories about snow geese who get drunk on rotting potatoes…) I’m from Colorado, and I’m also seeing lots of shore birds I didn’t see there. Looking forward to this course.

Yesterday I was out walking, and I came across three crows having a lovely conversation.  We throw our pumpkins over the fence at the end of the season to feed the wildlife.  We live across the street from a canal that runs through our town, and we have a lot of wildlife living there.  Two of the crows were checking out the pumpkins and reporting back to the one on the wire up in the sky.  I really love crows! I think my favorites are the house sparrows.  They are always so busy hanging out in our eaves and trees raising their families.  I am a very new birder so I have a lot to learn.  I do not get tired of seeing and learning about them!

Hello Everyone! I live in Barcelona, in the very center of town. I went out for a short walk with my dog and as we were walking in a very tiny park (because there are no many here) I heard a very interesting bird singing. I used the Merlin app to identify the bird and it was a Spotless Starling. I didn't have the opportunity to take a picture but it was a very beautiful singing and I thought it was incredible to see a bird like that just around the corner in this concrete jungle! :) Felipe

Activity 3: I love when I spot a ladderback woodpecker at my feeder (or... it could be a downy).  Recently saw a cooper hawk swoop through the yard - just because he can - and scare everyone else away.  And also love seeing gambel quail and roadrunners in my morning walks in the desert.  I live in New Mexico.

This is a wild turkey who used to come to our porch in southern  NJ.My daughter named it Gibi.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Activity 1: The bird that caught my attention and is also one of the birds that made me grow an appreciation for them is the Lilac-Breasted Roller found in East Africa. My wife and I recently went on a safari and while all of the animals were cool to see, I found myself very interested in the birds. I came back from Africa with a newfound appreciation and now I go to my local bird watching spots and have discovered so many that I never would have known are in the big city of Chicago! Activity 2: The 3 birds I learned about are the Peregrine falcon which can dive at speeds over 200mph! I also thought that the Albatross covering over 600 miles in 9 hours is astounding. Then there is the other albatross that can go 5 years without touching land. Birds are cool indeed. Today I went to a local forest preserve and on one tree alone I saw 3 different woodpeckers (Hairy, Downy, and Red-Bellied). Activity 3: I have to go with the Northern Cardinal. It is the state bird of Illinois and when you really take a moment to look at them, they're so beautiful

Activity 1:  While exploring the interactive wall of birds one that caught my eye was the ‘I’iwi on the Hawaiian Islands.  I love its bright red color and its unique beak. I hope they find a way to stop mosquito carried diseases from threatening them. Activity 2: Birds from 3 different groups are: -        Hummingbirds – I enjoy watching Anna’s hummingbirds when they come to my feeder. -        Pigeons and doves – I always love hearing a Mourning Dove. -        Sparrows – I enjoy when a bird I don’t see often like the White-Throated sparrow is in the yard. Activity 3: One of my many favorites is the White-crowned Sparrow. I love their black and white striped crown.

Activity 1 - I have recently moved to NC., from Central America. I am enjoying this course so much as I start learning more about the birds in the area. But I could not help choose (and feel nostalgic) as one of my favorites the Turquoise-browed Motmot since it was a common bird for me to listen and see back home. Activity 2 - Through the Merlin app and my new bird feeder I have already been able to identify my daily visitors: House finch, Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Chichadee. I was happily surprised of how quickly they discovered the feeder! Activity 3 - One of my favorites is the Eastern Bluebird which I see gathered in groups in sunny grassy spots.

Activity 1: I’ve really enjoyed looking through the Wall of Birds and learning about so many different species of birds I’ve never heard of before - it’s hard to pick favorites (especially with such beautiful illustrations!). The Whiskered Treeswift of Southeast Asia caught my eye with its striking colors and whiskers! Apparently treeswifts are closely related to the swifts mentioned in this lesson, but are distinguished by their crests and/or whiskers. Having seen videos of the Birds of Paradise online, I also read about the King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise and its incredible “head streamers.” I am so amazed by the colors and unique characteristics of this family of birds!   Activity 2: One of my favorite birds is the Cedar Waxwing, which I have seen and heard a couple of times when traveling to the northwoods of Wisconsin. They aren’t in any of the groups we’ve learned about so far, but the Wall of Birds has them as their own family, named for the red tips on their feathers. A bird I see almost every day is the House Sparrow - they seem to be almost everywhere in suburban areas! They’re part of the Old World Sparrows family along with the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Hairy Woodpeckers and Downy Woodpeckers are also great fun to watch. I read about them in my field guide. Although they are very similar looking, I learned that you can distinguish them by the size of their bills.   Activity 3: It’s been awhile since I’ve seen one, but I frequently hear the recognizable calls of Blue Jays around where I live (upper Midwest). They have quickly become one of my favorite birds to watch and photograph with their striking blue and black plumages. I had lots of fun watching several Blue Jays in the mornings when I was on vacation in Wisconsin. I'm quite happy with how this one turned out!

I am loving the prehistoric "dino-birds" on the Wall of Birds. Anyone who has ever kept chickens can easily imagine a bird-dinosaur-reptile connection.

I enjoy the company of Black-capped Chickadees for a number of reasons. Intelligent and vocally expressive, they are fascinating up close, and after being around them for a while, its easy to tell what they are thinking.

1: My attention was caught by the wandering Albatross. That bird family has always caught my eye in nature films and docuseries. Something about their freedom of flight over the ocean for years at a time draws me in. Seeing one of these amazing birds has now been added to my bucket list. 2: I have always loved flamingos which I believe the be in the wading birds category. One bird I have seen in the wild is the amazing but tiny rufous. These birds belong to the distinct hummingbird group. There are actually so many of these in my parents town that they have created stickers that say "Don't be a rufous" (if you know you know). Then the last bird that I have seen and could categorize is the amazing Golden eagle. These birds are amazing with their majestically wide wingspan. I would put these birds in the raptors category. 3: One of my favorite birds that I have seen recently in the red tailed hawk. These birds are beautiful soaring above a cabin in the woods. They have a beautiful rusty red and brown color to them and when they sit on trees they are poised and ready. I could watch them soar through the sky looking for prey all day. I find that so far the raptors group has been one of my favorites.