• Fernando
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      Near my house there are some Yellow - headed Caracara...  here is a picture from de field guide (I left my camera at my office)  We are in quarantine.907AC6C3-9F72-46CA-A701-E762AA7FD5DD
    • Fernando
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      Hello. I’m Fer from Panama City, Panamá. I’ve downloaded de  e-bird app. It’s really nice. here is a list of what I’ve seen. 1B98EF4A-225B-4FFA-813B-94D7D6197DD1
      • Jeanne
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        My husband and I returned from a great trip to Panama just before things became dicey with the pandemic. Panama's first case was identified the night before we flew home to California! We self isolated for two weeks after coming home. I was happy to see several new birds on the trip including the blue gray tanager, red lored Amazon parrot, pale vented pidgeon, southern bearded flycatcher, long-billed hermit hummingbird, tropical mockingbird, and more. We loved Panama and wish your country the best during this terrible pandemic.
      • Carole
        Participant
        Chirps: 14
        Fer I'm glad you have the joy of birding in quarantine and hope you and yours are doing okay.  Love your list of what is for me very exotic birds.
    • Robert
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      Great to get started in the course. My office is set up with a feeder directly outside my window providing non stop opportunities for identification and practical application of the content. While I was viewing the lesson this morning, I noticed a familiar pile of feathers in the yard. My guess is that a Coopers Hawk or Sharp shinned Hawk had breakfast earlier today. I look forward to the continuation of the course. Many thanks, BobBreakfast Bird
      • Marlene
        Participant
        Chirps: 17
        Hello Robert - I've found the same thing under some of my feeders over the years. Yes, certainly a hawk of some type getting a bite. Circle of life...  Marlene in Northeast Wisconsin.
    • Annie
      Participant
      Chirps: 10
      IMG_20200423_113802~2Greetings from coastal Georgia! This is just a photo from my phone, but this little girl is at our hummingbird feeder almost constantly. I've seen a male ruby-throat a few times in the past week or so, but this particular feeder is definitely hers! We also get A LOT of cardinals in our backyard, and we have a couple of resident woodpeckers (pileated and downy) too! I am starting to see my Carolina Chickadees a bit more...they seem to be getting a later start here in my backyard than last year, but I have my eyes peeled. Loving everyone's photos!
      • Kristin
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        I put my hummingbird feeder out last weekend (I'm in Delaware) because I can't remember when they showed up last year. :) Do you get them year round? If not, were they late this year?
      • Annie
        Participant
        Chirps: 10

        @Kristin I have heard that they're in my area year round, but honestly I didn't spot any until early March. But today I've seen at least three in the backyard - two females and one male!

      • Charlene
        Participant
        Chirps: 2
        I'm so looking forward to seeing the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds soon.  I'm further north in Eastern Ontario, so they haven't made their way here just yet.  I have my feeder (looks like it's the same one as yours) ready to go and the nectar is made and in the fridge.  I've been following the hummingbird migration map and they are almost here.  The feeder will go out next weekend to catch the first ones flying through.  Enjoy watching your feathered visitors, Annie.  They bring us so much joy.
      • Annie
        Participant
        Chirps: 10

        @Charlene Agreed and thank you! I just switched to this type of feeder last month (I now have two), and I love it! So easy to clean, and the waste is minimal. Enjoy your hummingbirds as well when they arrive!

    • Vicki g
      Participant
      Chirps: 21
      Greetings, I began this class yesterday, and look forward to continuing on and perusing these discussions and the pictures you post. I am very much a beginner, and - on Cape Cod in MA, USA - glad to have lovely spots to watch for and watch various shore birds, aside from "backyard" birding. This morning was happy to catch sight of two bald eagles soaring above the osprey I had in my binocular's sights ... and a couple of snowy egrets. My friend so a common loon, but not me. She said we saw 10 species this am, but I'll need her to list the others for me (which duck, which goose, what else). - Vicki G. (I think I need to go back and see were to tag with name)
    • Paula
      Participant
      Chirps: 19
      Taking pictures of birds is really hard!  As a person who loves to take pictures of flowers... at least they stay still!  That said this morning I saw a blue jay (and there are lots in my neighborhood), as well as a bird I've never noticed before.  It was small, an bright yellow, sort squat/fat the way some sparrows are when 'sitting up'.  I think it might be a yellow goldfinch but there are screens on my window making it even harder to see. The bird was in a river birch.  We have lots of songbirds in my neighborhood and I gather a wide variety of sparrows (took a walk with ebird the other day and realized there were many types of sparrows out there). As and aside I'll say, that while I've always noticed birds it wasn't until I went on a trip to Costa Rica with folks were were knowledgeable and birders that I became excited to try and learn how to do this better (including finding the birds with my binoculars before they fly away!).  Very much looking forward to this class.
      • Cathy
        Participant
        Chirps: 45
        I agree that it's often hard to photograph birds, as they do flit around so quickly oftentimes!  I moved my only little pair of binoculars close to my desk at home, since I'm now teleworking I can perhaps at least get a good look at some of them when I see them.  Thanks for sharing.
    • Maureen
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      Saw a pair of breeding American Goldfinches this morning at the feeder! So cute!
    • Jason
      Participant
      Chirps: 7
      Hi, I'm a new birder. I've always loved being outdoors and exploring nature, but I only started observing birds on  my walks very recently, and I'm really enjoying it. Activity 2: on my walks recently, I've come across Great Blue Herons from the wading birds category, Song Sparrows from the songbirds category, and Ring-Billed Gulls from the seabirds category. Activity 3: so far, I think my favorite bird from my area is the Cooper's Hawk. I've seen a few of these in recent days. There is an area near my home with large nests in big trees where I frequently see hawks, including this one. Highlight was seeing two Cooper's Hawks mating in a tree! I love coming across them because they are rare to see and so striking in their poise and their grand soars. (My photo isn't very good -- just from a smartphone.) IMG_2523
      • Amy
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        Nice! I have never seen Cooper's hawks in flagrante. On my daily walk, it surprises me to see wood thrush -- in town!
      • Patti
        Participant
        Chirps: 2
        I think your photo is great! Patti
      • Katie
        Participant
        Chirps: 5
        Thanks for sharing this pic! I took these pictures on 3/27 in Richmond VA but never settled on an identification. Looks the same as your picture. A0805C6C-A786-4986-92A5-03A1AD62CA456D4B97E7-E37E-492F-8307-62D1F6D961EB
    • parrish
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      B852BF1F-0667-461F-9605-BFB9B989382BHi I live on the Gold Coast in Australia , this bird is a black necked stork always great to see this bird it stands over 2 meters tall and has a massive bill and looks amazing.
      • Donna
        Participant
        Chirps: 11
        Beautiful photo!  Thank you for sharing it.  I think that storks are amazing birds.
      • Paula
        Participant
        Chirps: 19
        wow!  Great photo of a cool bird.
      • Annie
        Participant
        Chirps: 10
        I love those eyes! Such a neat-looking bird!
      • Katie
        Participant
        Chirps: 2
        Wow!  Thank you for sharing - what a beautiful bird!
      • Mary
        Participant
        Chirps: 5
        Shazam!
      • Glenda
        Participant
        Chirps: 9
        Great photo!
      • Cynthia
        Participant
        Chirps: 6
        What an amazing bird.  Australia and New Zealand are on my list of places to visit next year! One gets complacent about the birds we see everyday and I am finding as I read through these posts how diverse some of the birds around the world are.  I also realize that the birds in my own backyard are beautiful too.  Daily I see Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, Redwinged blackbirds, Gold Finches, Starlings, Grackles, Robins, Juncos, a number of different sparrows, Cowbirds, Woodpeckers, Coopers Hawks, and lots of Mourning Doves.  I have to say the Blue Jays are my favourite.
    • Kristine
      Participant
      Chirps: 4
      Hi! I'm a new birder! Excited for this course! Since I began birdwatching, I've noticed so many more species in my urban neighborhood than I ever expected. It is so fun. Activity 1: I saw a Shoebill online recently, and I'm obsessed. I love huge weirdo birds. I immediately sought it out on the Wall of Birds! Activity 2: Pigeons and Doves group: there are tons of pigeons living very close to my house, and Mourning Doves can frequently be heard. Blackbirds group: Spotted a Grackle party in a tree. Raptors group: Saw my first Cooper's Hawk this week! Activity 3: My favorite neighborhood birds are the pairs of Northern Cardinals that hang out and chase each other around near my building. The females are often described as "plainer" but I love the nuances in their coloration. Theirs is among the first bird songs I ever learned to identify.
      • Amy
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        Not a wonderful picture, but this cheerful fellow was admiring himself in the window the other day...Cardinal2
      • Annie
        Participant
        Chirps: 10

        @Amy I love that photo! He looks like quite a character. :-) I didn't get a picture, but there was a cardinal couple in the backyard the other day who would take turns coming out of our azalea bush and sun themselves. The male would preen himself a bit and fluff up his feathers. They are so much fun to watch.

    • Carol
      Participant
      Chirps: 12
      Activity 1- I enjoyed exploring the wall of birds. A number of favorites are ones we see at  Lake of the Woods, and I so hope we can travel there this summer. Those are Great Blue Heron, Pelicans, Bald Eagles and Loons. I love the loons song at nite. Activity 2 - I am envious of all the birds in some peoples yards. So far I have seen Songbirds - lots of Juncos at our feeder. I am waiting for the American Goldfinch to arrive. Bluejays have been around all winter.  I have seen lots of Raptors on drives  through the Pembina Valley as their numbers are increasing now, lots of Red Tailed Hawks ( picture attached). Another Raptor I saw that was so beautiful was the American Kestral.   We have also seen swimming birds- a number of Mallard pairs on our drives. Activity 3 - one of my favourite birds we saw on a walk this evening in a creek at a local park. They come back every year. Luckily I took my binoculars with me. It was a male and female Wood Duck. Attached is a picture from another year.0B4A46400B4A4651wood duck edit
      • Donna
        Participant
        Chirps: 11
        Awesome photos!  I love how you captured the movement of the birds and the beauty of their varied colored feathers.
      • Paula
        Participant
        Chirps: 19
        Wonderful photos and as Donna said, great at capturing their feathers and colors.
      • Glenda
        Participant
        Chirps: 9
        Very nice photos! Thanks for sharing.
      • Sandra
        Participant
        Chirps: 31
        Great pictures. At my grandparents cabin in the summer we fell asleep to the sound of the loons. It find it calming.
    • Cheryl
      Participant
      Chirps: 4
      I was so excited the other day to come upon a flock of cedar waxwings. I was really happy I had my binoculars. They don't stay around my area for long, and they're easy to miss. I also saw a Northern Flicker that morning as well. I recently bought a finch feeder and this really nice niger seed/sunflower chip mix. I have about 5 or 6 goldfinches that area eating me out of house and home right now, but I love it! Chickadees and robins are my favourites, though. Where I live they are very common. Robins have such cheery voices. And, the little black capped chickadees come to eat sunflower seeds at my feeder all year long. I am really hoping to get better at identifying the little brown and grey birds in the woods behind my house.
    • cindy
      Participant
      Chirps: 16
      Observed today at the feeders (Charleston, SC) 1. Red-bellied woodpecker (a very large bird that has a bright red head, but also a light red belly)he likes the suet feeder and is here more often and longer since we added a new suet feeder with a tail prop) 2. Ruby-throated hummingbird has arrived.  It’s so tiny and fast that I don’t know if it’s a male or female. 3. Eastern Bluebird: 1 male, 1 female and 3 juveniles. Eating at mealworm feeder.
    • cindy
      Participant
      Chirps: 16
      I learned some new things from lesson 1. I’m excited to begin my bird learning journey.  Now I want to visit those places and see those birds on the wall! E58A0CAC-7825-4C19-9C21-A93FFC76C681 I am currently watching a family of eastern bluebirds voraciously eating mealworms at my feeder.  There is something different this year.  Three juveniles sit on the nearby perch and scream at the Parents to be fed.  The parents bring them mealworms and feed them.  Sometimes it’s just two of them (see screen grab of my video) but at one point there were 5 bluebirds all eating, screeching, and sharing.  (I’m in Charleston, SC) now I know why the mealworms were disappearing so fast.  Teenage bluebirds must eat a lot!
    • John
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      Greetings from Australia. I've attached a photo of a Grey Fantail taken on a birding walk not too far from my home in Melbourne. For once small bird cooperated and stayed still for a few minutes.75K_0134
      • cindy
        Participant
        Chirps: 16
        I imagine you have some incredible birds in Australia.  I think I might go look on the wall! Thanks for sharing your photo.  Stay safe.
      • Paula
        Participant
        Chirps: 19
        How charming, you almost wonder what it is thinking.
    • Gary
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      My wife and I have recently been enjoying visits from a barred owl. We often see it in the woods behind our house around breakfast time. It may be hunting mice around our compost bin. I got these photos from about 10 m with an extended zoom Nikon 995.6DDEB6C7-D3DB-4390-BA11-B6BFC94B0DA2 A747461A-C83B-4996-8D7B-FEADAF939977
      • cindy
        Participant
        Chirps: 16
        What a great picture.  Thanks for sharing.
      • Cheryl
        Participant
        Chirps: 4
        Such beautiful photography, thank you for posting. I am jealous, I rarely see owls.
      • Carol
        Participant
        Chirps: 12
        Great picture. I rarely see Owls except Snowy ones on telephone poles
      • Debbie in Golden
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        My main birdwatching goal, for now, is to see an owl. I only started birdwatching last week.  Those are beautiful pictures and they inspire me.
      • Kristine
        Participant
        Chirps: 4
        It's so beautiful!
      • Wren
        Participant
        Chirps: 4
        That picture is amazing! I love owls but I rarely see them in my neighborhood.
      • Donna
        Participant
        Chirps: 11
        Incredibly beautiful photos!
      • Juliete
        Participant
        Chirps: 1
        What a gorgeous picture!
      • Paula
        Participant
        Chirps: 19
        Awesome pictures and what a great expression on the owl's face in the second one.  I also love how you can see the different feather shapes and textures.
    • Deborah
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      Topic 1.  I have a Barn Owl print by Mort Solberg and was curious to learn about the Barn Owl and its song.  I also like to see the Blue Heron when I go to the zoo so I was curious to hear the song of the Blue Heron.   Topic 3.  I have a hummingbird feeder in my backyard.  One hummingbird in particular is I think the Allen's hummingbird.  It is my favorite!  It has an iridescent coat with a pink throat.  The body is green in color and is slender compared with the Anna's hummingbird.  It brings me such happiness to see all of the different hummingbirds feed from the feeder!  It is such a blessing!
    • Maureen
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      I really enjoyed the first lesson.  It was an unseasonably cold day and very windy so there were no birds around all afternoon. However, just now (7pm ) I just saw a bald eagle flying alongside a gull. It was hard to know which was chasing which but fun to see!
    • julie
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      Birds bring me into the moment, forget about covid 19 and help me feel connected to nature. I always enjoy the song of the house finch, meadowlark and catching a glimpse of a goldfinch. Swimming birds are very challenging for me but love seeing wood ducks. The avocet is probably my favorite wading bird- very elegant. Barn owls have faces like cats and I hear them outside my window at night. I had my first spring visit by a hummingbird today!
      • Amy
        Participant
        Chirps: 3
        I think birding does that for us all.BlueHeronDunes
    • Laura
      Participant
      Chirps: 3
      We saw a juvenile bald eagle in our yard. He flew in large circles, and then swooped down and caught a large fish from the river. He took a few seconds to secure it, and then flew away. We could hear the flapping of his strong wings. Magnificent (but of course no camera near by!) My favorite birds are the small little birds that brighten my day ... white breasted nuthatches and goldfinches. There are many birds on our property, and I am looking forward to identifying them! Excited about this course.
      • Kate
        Participant
        Chirps: 2
        Wow! What a treat to experience!
      • cindy
        Participant
        Chirps: 16
        Laura, where are you located? What a cool experience.  We have a few eagles here in Charleston, SC, but I have never seen them other than flying.  Usually an experienced birder friend points them out to me! 😀
    • Mark
      Participant
      Chirps: 10
      8CECB9C3-7F81-4701-B95D-F7D8CC39B13BEven though it’s one of the most commonly seen birds in my neighborhood, I never get tired of seeing a Northern Cardinal.
      • cindy
        Participant
        Chirps: 16
        imageI agree with you!  My Mom gave me this.  I have a pair of cardinals (angels) that visit my feeder every day.
      • Cheryl
        Participant
        Chirps: 4

        @cindy I am lucky to get quite a few cardinals to my feeder. There's one silly female that climbs right in, she's really too big to do it comfortably. She looks all squished up, and she seems to be the only one that does it. But we are lucky to have so many in the woods behind our yard.

      • Carole
        Participant
        Chirps: 14

        @cindy My dad always said the female cardinal reminded him of my mom.  Mom wore the same color lipstick.

      • Paula
        Participant
        Chirps: 19
        One can hear them in my neighborhood calling one another quite often. It would seem as if one is on one side of my building and the other on the opposite side.  They are sometimes shy and hard to spot, but you can always hear them.
    • Audrey Sue
      Participant
      Chirps: 5
      Northern Cardinal hanging around my back yard.received_3230637626949143
    • Jeannie
      Participant
      Chirps: 2
      • I took a hike today at a local nature center. I think I identified a prothonotary warbler near a bird blind and some swallows flying around a lake. I am working on identifying the type of swallows.
    • Paula
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      These Little guys on my front porch!  Robins I think!baby birds
      • Julian
        Participant
        Chirps: 11
        Cute!
      • Cheryl
        Participant
        Chirps: 4
        We get robins that nest in my fern every year and I never get tired of watching the hatchlings grow up. But they can be noisy!
    • Debbie
      Participant
      Chirps: 1
      • The Golden Crowned Kinglet is my favourite bird in the spring. It is such a small and fast bird to catch in the moment. On this male you can see a touch of yellow on his head about the eye and his red swatch further back on his head. 1E79BF14-6CFE-4F6C-A3C6-00C771E4ECAD
      • cindy
        Participant
        Chirps: 16
        Nice photo.  Where is this?
      • Donna
        Participant
        Chirps: 11
        Beautiful photo!
      • Sandra
        Participant
        Chirps: 31
        So cute. I love the little fluffy birds, like the Chickadee and Nuthatch.