Instructive introduction into the fundamentals of birdwatching. Provides a solid foundation on which to build one's knowledge of birds, as a whole, and birdwatching techniques, in particular. Clearly written. Easy to understand. Enjoyable. Living by a large body of fresh water, lined with marshes and trees, riotously loud with birdsongs, now that spring has arrived, I find myself, often trying to distinguish, which bird song belongs to which bird. Already, the first module of this lesson has provided me with the tools to help me discover answers to my birdwatching questions. I now know, delightedly so, who are some of my avian neighbors; robins, blue jays, song sparrows, red winged blackbirds, common yellow throats, mourning doves, cardinals, red bellied woodpeckers, grackles, starlings, red tailed hawks, and, by the time I complete this course, I imagine I will recognize even more of the feathered residents who reside outside my windows. Thank you, Dr. McGowan.

Greetings from Eastern Massachusetts! So great to see how geographically diverse this group is. Activity 1: The Wall of Birds is amazing on it own, and the interactive feature is truly spectacular. I couldn't possibly pick a favorite. There are so many. Activity 2: March 11 was the last meeting of my Wednesday morning bird walk group. We were up along the ocean. One of my favorites of the day was the flock of Harlequin Ducks, a member of the waterfowl species. That same week, just before we were asked to stay at home, I bought a bird feeder and a large bag of wild bird food. My feeder has attracted many local passerines; chickadees (our state bird), house sparrows, grackles, dark-eyed juncos, song sparrows, cardinals, house finches, blue jays, white-throated sparrows, tufted titmice, brown-headed cowbird. Hanging around the base are mourning doves and robins. I heard a northern flicker woodpecker, but did not see it. I also heard a red-tailed hawk but didn't see it. Check out the great app BirdNET from Cornell. You can record bird songs and they will match it to their library of bird songs and tell you what it is. And it's free! Activity 3: I know this is not always a popular bird, but I am really enjoying the grackles. They look more like dinosaurs to me than many of the other birds that visit my feeder. Their colors are beautiful and I love that bright yellow eye.

Hi from Western Quebec, Canada! I live at the edge of the forest and have found that the more I learn about birds, the more I enjoy their company... Even the woodpecker (not sure what species, we call him Wesley) that drums on our metal roof at first light, or the robin that repeatedly and aggressively flings himself into his own reflection in the windows around our house. I love hearing great horned owls at night, but I think my favourite bird at the moment is the white-throated sparrow, whose sweet and simple song I remember from early mornings last summer but which I was only recently able to identify! My neighbour has said she has heard an eastern whipoorwhil in our neighbourhood, so I've my ears perked on my forest walks. Thanks for this helpful course!

I am looking forward to this course to learn more about birds. We have mostly sparrows, blue jays, cardinals around the bird feeder and off and on hawks are circling around high above.

I loved the Wall of Birds!  The artistry was beautiful!  My favorite bird was the American Cardinal -- love that bright red!  So beautiful -- especially in winter, against the snow!  Two birds I found in the guide book from my area (North Shore of Boston) -- are the Piping Plover and the Black-Capped Chickadee. I love to see the Piping Plovers scamper across the beach -- especially the little ones -- they look like fluff balls with legs!  The Chickadees will eat right out of your hand if you stand very still for long enough.  My favorite neighborhood bird is the American Robin.  Their coloring is striking -- the orange belly contrasting with the black head and wings.  I love to watch them tugging a worm out of the ground -- they don't give up!  And their song is so cheery!

My favorite bird in my neighborhood is the robin.  As I was walking around yesterday I found this whole egg on the ground.  It was cool (in both senses). I wanted to warm it up but decided it had been abandoned because it was infertile, so I left it for another creature.

My favorite bird in my neighborhood is the robin.  As I was walking around yesterday I found this whole egg on the ground.  It was cool (in both senses). I wanted to warm it up but decided it had been abandoned because it was infertile, so I left it for another creature.

Yellow Headed Blackbird

Two birds that I hadn't seen before - Yellow-rumped Warbler  

Activity #1:  The Wall of Birds I had so much fun with this interactive website!  It was fun to explore birds from the various regions of the world and to hear how they sound.  I selected several birds.  The two birds that intrigued me the most was the Wrenthrush from Costa Rica/Panama and the Paradise Tanager from South America.   Thank you for making The Wall of Birds website.   Activity #2:  Backyard Observations 1) Pigeons/Doves - Mourning Doves 2) Raptors - Red-tailed Hawk 3) Woodpeckers- Red-bellied Woodpecker and Snowy Woodpecker 4) Song Birds- Northern Cardinal, Blue Jays, Catbirds, House Wrens, Red-winged blackbirds, Black-capped Chickadees, Nuthatches (red-bellied), Tufted Titmouse, Common Grackles, Blackbird and Mockingbird.   Activity #3: Favorite Bird in My Neighborhood 1) The Hermit Thrush is my favorite bird in the world.  It has the most magical song that totally calms me.  The Hermit Thrush is a simple looking speckled brownish bird that likes to stay deep in the forest/woodlands.  I hardly ever see this bird, but I hear the song of this bird often. (This photo was found online from the Cornell Lab) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hermit_Thrush/id

Phainopepla - this is my favorite bird. Not only is the name fun to say (took me a long time to figure that out but it really just rolls out), but it has unique flight and sound patterns (they can even imitate some other bird sounds). This is a description I have  - not sure if I compiled it or borrowed it -- The Phainopepla 16–20 cm long with a noticeable crest and a long tail; it is slender, and has an upright posture when it perches. Its bill is short and slender.  The male is glossy black, and has a white wing patch that is visible when it flies; the female is plain gray and has a lighter gray wing patch. Both sexes have red eyes, but these are more noticeable in the female than the male.  They build their nests mainly in mesquite trees near a mistletoe plant.  Some believe that the bird actually “plants” the seeds.  An individual may eat at least 1,100 mistletoe berries per day if available.

Activity 1 - loved the bird wall video and perusing it - which I will go back to - but mostly am excited to add this to my list of destinations for hoped-for road trips for the future! I loved the artist describing how she can get the artwork for a bird into her "muscle memory' by working at it on a scale so much smaller that the wall mural. I was quite surprised by that! Activity 2 - 3 birds: Robin in the songbird group is quite common in my area (Cape Cod MA) and in fact in the summer they put on an amazing concert at dusk many evenings. in same category I assume is Yellow Rumped Warbler, which my gransdson and I were introduced to  few months ago by someone we passed, while walking in a conservation area. They were collected in high bushes and in the light of that day it was rather challenging to see the yellow rumps.  Swimming bird - yesterday I saw some mallards with their striking green heads. My friend saw a common loon, but I could not find it - now I will look for them in the future. WADING BIRD: I have recently seen Great Egret and Snowy Egrets on my visits to marsh area and was confused by extra "hair" on neck and back of some snowy egrets, so found on your site that those are the wispy feathers distinguishing the adult breeding snowy egrets. Activity 3 - a favorite new bird is the Glossy Ibis, which I distiguished thanks to asking an experienced birder (itentified by size of photo lens) who was leaving an area I was entering, if there was anything I should watch for that he had seen. This bird is gorgeous! Its brown/tan neck camoflages it in the marshy reeds, but one you catch sight the full bird - such gorgeous colors of green/blue, purple. As I guide I checked in described - first there was just one in amongst some snowy egrets, and then more and more joined the one.  Loving this course, Thank you.

For Activity 3 I selected a bird popular here on our farm in Virginia, the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). We have a population of hunters, foxes and coyotes yet we have seen this bird thrive and grow in population over the years.  Always believed to be not very intelligent they seem to prove otherwise raising young and surviving.  Hunters comment that they seem to know the season and become quite invisible. We respect this breed the utmost. This photo was taken about 75 meters from our home.

We have a northern cardinal nesting on our front porch. We have been using the back door to get out of our house. Also, we have a pair of mourning doves nesting in a tree in our back yard. They also love perching on the front porch railing. We have a red tailed hawk living in our neighborhood now. Great to see these birds everyday. We are enjoying the course very much too!

Very informative, love the photos and videos     Thank you   Marylu Max

Identified a Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerine)  and a Red Bellied Wood Pecker (Melanerpes carolinus) at our feeder and a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nested about 230 meters from our home.

I have enjoyed this first course from Cornell Lab!  Congratulations to Jane Kim on the amazing work she has done with the Wall of Birds!  I am always in awe at illustrators, especially biological illustrators.  I taught Biology for 54 yrs in high school and birds have been a huge part of my experiences with and without students.  We have 5 feeding stations at our home and they are fun to watch each and every day. We have had our problems with squirrels but I think I am winning!

I have always enjoyed birds but this course is a terrific opportunity to get better at identifying them! I knew we had a lot of birds around our land, as we have feeders and several birdhouses spaced over the field. This course has given me the inspiration to consciously notice and count how many different birds we actually have! Just for fun I went outside with binoculars and was able to identify 15 species (thanks to my "All about Backyard Birds" book that I purchased at a visit to Cornell Lab of Ornithology last year). We are lucky to have bluebirds and tree swallows nesting in the houses this year. I've attached a picture of one of our red bellied woodpecker friends. I'm so happy to finally have the time to learn more about the birds!

We spotted this beauty (Crested Caracara)a couple of weeks ago and I tried out Merlin to identify it  and got my answer very quickly.  Love Merlin!

There's a beautiful pair of jays I've been seeing a lot recently, this one kindly posed for me for a while yesterday.

This bird flew into our window but was ok, I think it is a blue grosbeak. We have seen him multiple times since at our feeder. The next bird I think is a painted bunting, beautiful. A pair showed up at feeder today.

The Wall of Birds is truly a great learning tool and marvellous art.  I find it hard to pick favourites but if I had to I think I would go for the Wandering Albatros. It is large, wonderful to watch fly, born in and fledges from some of the most challenging locations, travels vast distances without landing and is visually appealing. I live on the edge of the bush on the southern outskirts of Sydney Australia. The fires have gone and we are having some nice Autumn weather. There are many parrots in our area and those visiting our yard at the moment include King Parrots, Crimson Rosellas and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. The George’s River is close and we have Shore Birds in some locations: Bartailed Godwits, Masked Lapwings etc. The largest species of owls in Australia is the Powerful Owl and we are lucky to have them in our bush valleys. My favourite local bird is the Cockatoo. They are very intelligent, great to watch fly and have personality.  

Hello fellow Birders, this is my first comment as I have just started the course, although I have an interest in birds for some time now. I walk most days and am amazed at the variety of species that  I see in my 3 Kilometre venture. Apostle birds are common on my walk, they are from the “ White and Winged Chough” family ( Corcoracide).  Superd Fairy Wren is another, it is one of my favourite little birds, they remind me of my childhood days, they are from the “Maluride” family. I also have lots of Magpies around the house and surrounds, not sure what family they belong to but I love their call in the late evening, they seemed to be calling all their kids to come home before darkness falls. I hope this is what I have to do and that I haven’ t bored the pants off anyone!🙂

I just love turkeys.  I think they are among the most curious of birds that show up in the darnedest places.  My friend got a picture of this one running up the bank drive-thru lane...

Hello fellow Birdwatchers, I am very new to this and the more I learn the more excited I am. This virus life has got me thinking more and more about what to do around the house and near the house and even though I'm not that close to open nature I'm finding some amazing bird life not far from my apartment. I found a nest with at least 3-5 baby house sparrows and even caught a glimpse of the dad sparrow feeding them. There are some amazing pictures on this thread and I wish I could take one of this nest but it is wedged really close to the roofline so there's no way to get a picture without scaring the adult bird away and even then I can't get a good picture over the top of the nest. Anyways, I'm enjoying this course and can't wait to learn more and when this virus is gone can't wait to travel and see things I've only seen in books and online. Stay safe!