The Cornell Lab Bird Academy › Discussion Groups › Joy of Birdwatching › Activities: Exploring Birds
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Activity 3 My favorite bird is the Eastern Bluebird. I have two pairs that have bested in the bluebird boxes on my backyard fence posts this spring. The first clutch has already fledged; the other has been hatched for about 2 weeks. It’s so fascinating to watch the mama and papa flying back and forth and working diligently to feed their young ones. The beautiful blue of their feathers is just gorgeous. I never get tired of seeing them!
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Great photo!
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In activity 3, I chose the house sparrow, my favorite bird. The male has facial markings that kind of remind me of a clown! It is such a surprise to see them at my feeders, even though some consider them territorial, because my "customers" are mainly house finches and Anna's hummingbirds. House sparrows are my favorite bird because of how beautiful the markings are.
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Activity 1: I enjoyed looking at this wall and learning about the yellow-billed magpie. I would love to see one of these if I ever go to California. Activity 2: Last week I went to Eagle Marsh Nature Preserve and found 37 species over two days. My three favorite sightings were green herons, spotted sandpipers, and red-headed woodpeckers. Activity 3: I commonly see blue jays hanging around my backyard, and these are my favorite everyday birds.
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Activity 1- I really enjoyed the bird wall & will come back to it as I could have spent hours looking at all the birds! I’m drawn to birds with color on them. I enjoyed reading about the orange-bellied leaf bird, Lilac-breasted Roller and the Four-colored Bushshrike. Activity 2- today I had a very vibrant, male cardinal eating out of my feeder! Normally the House Sparrows run other birds off, so I was glad to have him there. I’ve seen several hummingbirds at the park I walk at by my house, always fascinating to watch. My friend and I use the phrase “just a Robin” or “just a red-winged blackbird” since they are in abundance where I live (Iowa). We wonder if they would seem more exciting if we didn’t always see them. Activity 3- my favorite bird is the American Goldfinch, which is also the state bird. I love the vibrant, yellow color & the whimsical way they fly!
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Activity 1: https://montereyart.org/uncategorized/jane-kim-migrations/ I wanted to see new birds and explore this exhibit for my birthday. I live in Northern CA. It was interesting. I liked the interactive wall and it looks like South America has the most birds. Activity 2: Yesterday went to a local regional park. Last year is was all dried up. This year water abundance, new nest boxes for the Tree Swallows, but wondered about predation since California Gulls were in abundance. Finally viewed and photographed a Common Yellowthroat, real treat. And, as I am enjoying this class just watched a CA Scrub-Jay take a bath. Still trying to figure out if picture is Wood Pee-wee or another flycatcher. A hummingbird ran it off, and no time to capture any sound. Activity 3: I like top predators, what can I say. The Peregrine Falcon was my favorite as a kid. Red-tailed Hawk
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Hello! I Sometimes go on bird walks, and one of the most common birds I see are House sparrows! Able to eat almost anything, these small, cute birds capture my heart- And my binoculars! -A Birder
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I enjoyed the Wall of Birds. Like another commenter, I read about the oystercatcher, a bird I had never seen until I was in Scotland in 2017. I was so excited to see the first one, and subsequently I saw big groups of as many as 30 or more. Very beautiful bird. I also read about the Splendid Lyrebird, which my husband and I saw in Australia while in the back woods at the second-largest rock there. My husband thought it was some kind of dinosaur, which of course in a way it is. The noises that they make are extremely strange, including mimicking a camera and a chain saw.
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Hello Daphne, I was wondering if you happened to get a picture of this flock? Along the CA coast we only catch one here and there. Maybe Scotland has an abundance of food they love? Interesting.
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I enjoyed Activity 1, where I got to look at the Wall of Birds. One of the birds I learned about is the American Oystercatcher. They live by the shore, and eat bivalve mollusks, such as mussels and clams. I also enjoy eating bivalve mollusks. My favorite is oysters on the half shell. I would like to see an American Oystercatcher. I live by the shore, so I might see one soon. According to the eBird bird tracker, there haven't been many sightings within walking distance of my house. However, they are very abundant in an area 25 minutes away by car. I hope to visit that area soon.
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My favorite bird by FAR is the Northern Cardinal. There's a HUGE group of them near where I live in Burlington, VT. I like how they're the first birds you hear in the morning around dawn and the last near dusk. Since getting into this hobby I notice that my ears are so much more keen and observant to bird songsand calls. Just the other day I noticed that all of the birds in my neighborhood were in some sort of "tizzy" I kept listening and now I know why. There was an owl in the neighborhood in the middle of the day and the other birds were definitely sending the alarm. Birds are so cool!
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My favorite birds are anything found near the water! Though the ruddy ducks have recently migrated away from my area, I loved getting the chance to see them in their breeding colors. Other favorites are Great Blue Herons, and recently I've been spotting a Kingfisher nearby... though I've yet to see it go fishing! Maybe someday :)
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Activity 1: Wall of Birds I have a lot of favourite birds, but the three-wattled bellbird really caught my attention while looking at the Wall of Birds. They are so unique looking and have beautiful colours! Activity 2: Birds from three different groups While looking through some photos that I took while on walks or from my backyard bird feeder, I found three of my favourite species from three different groups that we learned about in this course. One was a pileated woodpecker (from the woodpecker group) that I had spotted pecking at a rotting log. I had never seen a pileated woodpecker prior to that, and I was absolutely amazed at the size and the brightness of the crest! Another is the mourning dove (from the doves and pigeons group). I see them often in my backyard and think that they are so adorable. They often perch on my back deck all fluffed up in the early hours of the morning.
Finally, the red-winged blackbird (from the songbirds group) is another favourite that I occasionally see in my backyard. The males are so stunning when they fly across the yard with their red wing patches on full display.
Activity 3: Favourite bird As I previously mentioned, I have a lot of favourite birds! One that I haven't mentioned yet is the American goldfinch. I love their bright yellow colour and sweet song.
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Here is my pileated woodpecker image for Activity 2!
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Favorites in my neighborhood: Northern flicker, American goldfinch (I think!) and wild turkey. I like the northern flickers because it was fun using the "v" on the back of their necks to identify them - one of the first times I've used a clue like that to identify a bird. The goldfinch is not overly common, so seeing the bright yellow from time to time is exciting. And the turkeys are just so interesting, big, and active, especially in the spring when mating begins.
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Favourites: Great Blue Heron, Loon, Cardinal (couldn't find blue jay or harlequin duck), Harris' sparrow, wood duck. I prefer the artist's version of birds in bird books because they show the best view for identifying it in the wild. Also I would like to draw/paint birds, am enrolled in an online course in soft pastels at the moment (portrait) In a large park nearby, there are songbirds in a wooded area, they perch and will fly to seeds on an outstretched hand: chickadees, and only the most courageous red-winged blackbird. There was another, light grey, with buff underside, I did not know it's name, and was intrigued by this visitor. Woodpeckers and owls can be heard. Working on Activity 2, and 3.
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Is he an American Robin? I used the Merlin ID app. Bird spotted 7:24 pm EDT April 19, 2023 in Baltimore City, Maryland 21211. Either way he is very one of my favorite birds simply because of his colors and attitude, my proximity to him didn't see to phase him. It seems he even turned to look at me.
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yes, that's an american robin!
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Activity 3 - My favorite bird is the Northern Flicker. This species is my favorite because of his striking appearance and long bill. I also love the way he pecks at the ground as he hunts for insects. My mom and I have seen them returning to our home in southern Minnesota this spring and the previous spring as we participated in Project Feederwatch. They have very long bills to help them hunt for insects, a black stripe running under each eye, and a beautiful black bib. There are small black spots underneath the bib. When the flicker flies away, you can see a large white spot on his rump. In my field guide I can see two types of Northern Flickers, the yellow-shafted and red-shafted. When I have observed the flickers in my neighborhood fly away, I have seen yellow on the underside of the wings. This helped me identify them as the yellow-shafted type. The red-shafted type has dark pink on the underside of the wings.
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Activity 2 – One of the birds migrating north right now where I live in southern Minnesota is the Canada Goose. Their loud, distinctive honks and the way they often fly in large groups in a “V” shape makes them very fun to watch and a reminder that spring is here! They are in the swimming birds/waterfowl group, family Anatidae. Sometimes when I am driving in the countryside I see Red-tailed Hawks. I love these big, beautiful birds! I have seen one or two of them flying around so far this spring. Red-tailed Hawks are raptors and are in the family Accipitridae. Just recently my mom and I were walking to the doctor when we saw a Killdeer in the unplowed field by our house. My mom was commenting on how pretty he was. He had a black-and-white striped head, a brown body, and short legs. He gave a pretty call as he flew a short distance away from us, staying close to the ground. Killdeer are shorebirds and are in the family Charadriidae.
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Activity 1 - The Wall of Birds was so cool! There are so many neat birds from all over the world to learn about on the map. I especially enjoyed listening to their vocalizations. Here are three of my favorites: Great Gray Owl - I love their large, round faces, and I learned that they hunt during the day and are found across the north in both the eastern and western hemispheres (I always thought they were only in the western hemisphere). Sunbittern - I really like this bird's colorful markings that he shows when displaying for a mate. His call was also really cool! Common Loon - I was awed by the mysterious, ghostly call of the loon. I really appreciated being able to hear it because, although this is my state bird (I live in Minnesota), I have never heard the call before. In the painting of the loon on the Wall of Birds, it was also very interesting to see how far back on the body the bird's feet were placed.
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Activity 3: A favorite bird of mine that visits my feeders in the winter is the cardinal. When studying I learned that Cardinals are in the song bird group and then in the Finches and Bunting sub group. I love seeing the bright red color of the males especially on a wintry day against some
white snow. The inquisitive looks they seem to give when they tip their head makes me think they are listening to me as I listen to them. Here is one of my favorite pictures I ever took of a cardinal at my feeder.
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Activity 2: Raptors – Eagle My friend works on a barge on the Ohio River and sent me this neat picture he took of an Eagle so I read up on it in the Raptor group. Songbirds - I love songbirds and look forward to seeing them around my feeders in the winter. The cardinal is my favorite. Hummingbirds - In the spring I can’t wait to put up my hummingbird feeder to welcome back these energetic birds.
I enjoyed learning more about all 3 of these groups as well as other groups I studied. There is so much to learn and enjoy about birds.
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Activity 1. I could spend hours on the interactive map. What a treasure. Three birds that caught my eye and that I enjoyed learning about today were: Hartlaub's Turaco from Kenya. I like its showy feathers and monkey like sound. African Paradise-Flycatcher I was drawn to the beautiful long tail on this smaller body and it’s pretty sound. Whiskered Treeswift of the Philippines - I learned they use their saliva as glue in nest building They have a chattering call but it is not too shrill.
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Lesson 3 I don't have a favourite bird but I am very excited to see the Robin's return here in Eastern Ontario. It means that spring is arriving and it's my favourite time of the year.
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I love birds! But my "spark" bird was definitely the crow. Here is our resident crow we call Couscous!
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What a terrific photo!
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I love all birds but especially raptors. This is a Sharp Shinned Hawk that just arrived in my neighborhood a few weeks ago. Here it has taken down a Mourning Dove.
Here it is waiting and watching. I hope to see much more of it so I can continue to observe it's amazing character and habits.
This is an Inca Dove. This bird drove me crazy at first with it's incessant "Who hoo, Who hoo," and then I figured out what it was and I fell in love with it. They are a tiny ground dove with the most lovely wings.
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Activity 1: The barn owl I love them. Barn owls are my favorite bird, and I hope to one day see one in the wild. Activity 2: I see many red tailed hawks around my house and my friends and I found a nest at George mason near the sports fields. When we go on hikes sometimes we see a couple of great blue herons here and there. Finally, I have a bird feeder set up in my backyard and we see two mourning doves under it or near it, every day. So that's Raptors, Wading birds, and Doves
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Activity 3: My favorite bird from around my neighborhood is yellow, black, and white. You can find it eating seeds from the feeder or from flowers, The American Goldfinch! I love them because they are so brightly colored and they just pop out on the feeder. My next favorite is the eastern bluebird. They always perch on the wire next to our house.
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