Joy of Birdwatching

Birds matter to me because of their beauty and the joy they bring to the world. I have many memories of birdwatching when camping as a child, or just in our backyards. As and adult, I have always been fascinated by birds all around the country. Woodpeckers are a personal favorite. Years ago, I was recovering from surgery and a pileated woodpecker came into my yard every day. I looked forward to his visits. This course has reinforced my love of birds and their import roles in the world. My family is trying to use less plastic and recycle more. We have made a bird-friendly garden that attracted many humming birds last summer. I think the coffee we buy is shade grown, but I will look into this. I never thought about that before. Now that I think of it, it seems that we have less cardinals and blue jays in my area. They used to be all over, but now I don't see them quite as often, or as many of them. I will be paying more attention to this. I hope it is just me not being as observant as in the past. I am going to be doing a lot more bird watching and I will report my findings. I just signed up for the backyard bird count. I am very excited to be a birder. Thanks for a great course!

#1 thanks to this course, my love for nature has increased, and also I’ve been able to know more about the world of birds, birding and conservation, and now I feel more confident to join a group of birders in my country. #2 I’ll practice recycling plastic, supporting conservationists, making my garden  bird friendly, and looking for that shaded grown bird friendly coffee. #3 changes in bird population: probably yes… there are some bright-color birds I haven’t seen in a while in my neighborhood in Panama. (Probably 7-15 years ago). #4 this course inspired me to go birding as much as I can, and also I’m looking forward to take the gardening course to improve my backyard.

Thinking about plantings in the yard now.  Wouldn't have occurred to me before.  Always thought those yards with "butterfly gardens" were ugly.  Now I am thinking that I could use a bit more "ugly" in my yard.  Since I am new to the bird count, this has been a real learning experience.  From this course, I plan to focus on note taking and yard planting.  I also think I will ask my daughter to help me purchase an affordable camera with a longer lens than my iPhone to photograph "my" birds.  See attached for my biggest find this year.....a Pileated WoodPecker.  Sadly he damaged so much of the tree over time that I had to take it down.  It was too close to the neighbor's wires.  I hope he will find another nearby tree to visit.

Thank you for this course! I have thoroughly enjoyed each section and have since joined my local birding society.  With the help of tools, like e-Bird, I have become quite the amateur birder.  With that of course, is making my surrounding property 'bird friendly'.  Shaded and sunny areas, plants that local birds enjoy, nesting sites, feeders in the cold winter months.  It is truly amazing how many birds congregate at the feeder in the mornings - Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Chickadees  - both Black-capped and Arboreal... even a male pheasant!  Summer brings Hummingbirds... even a rare sighting or two!  There are some I have yet determined to ID, but will do so. I also enjoy the quiet observation of bird watching and as a photographer, enjoy that aspect as well. I promote birding to my neighbours who also now enjoy all of our coastal sightings. Thank you again!

I love birds, I love looking at the various birds in my area, as well as the beautiful variety of birds across the world and across time. Too many beautiful and unique bird species have been brought to extinction by human action, including the famous Dodo Bird. Looking at birds calms me down when I am stressed, and it is always a treat to see favorites like owls out in the wild. I follow several of the recommended ways to help birds thrive, my yard is xeriscaped with native plants and flowers, as well as a garden in the backyard with flowers that promote certain types of insects which birds are drawn to. I keep my cats indoors, making them content to simply watch birds instead of hunting them. I have worked to reduce plastic use, and do not use heavy pesticides in my yard. When I was a child, I would go to summer camp at the local Audubon Society, and I remember it being such a rare treat to see any kind of predator bird, particularly the red-tail hawk. I look forward to seeing more and more birds in my area, as I continue to hike and explore the mountains, and waters of Northern Arizona.

Why do birds matter to me - I'm not really sure. I'm fascinated by them and their amazing diversity. They are beautiful in motion and standing still, when they do stand still. I know that what ever is going on on my life, I can look to the birds and feel grounded again. They have helped me through some rough patches just by being birds. I like knowing that there is something beyond me and my small part of the world - beautiful, wonderful birds. I hope that explains why birds matter to me.

This course has whet my appetite for birdwatching.  I plan to take a feeder bird course and a shorebird identification class.

I am currently living in Taiwan and do not have a large community or support group, but with birds I’m never alone and always have nature around.  I have loved your courses and getting to know the birds here.  Ive started journaling, and sketching the birds i see and like.  I am torn between choosing to go birding and staying home to sketch/paint my favorites from a previous trip.  Great courses, Well done!

When driving through Iowa in the 1970s, on both highways and gravel roads, our windows would become so smeared with dead bugs we had to stop every 1 1/2 hours or so to clean the windows.  Now, 2022, we have no such problem.  The loss of so many insects just has to be a negative event, affecting so many organisms, birds included of course!

Sightings of Bald Eagles are a thrill that I grew up assuming would only happen somewhere in the United States. Into my 30’s, I had only seen one, flying overhead in Florida. Now, living by a river in Ontario, I see them several times a year, sometimes just looking out my apartment window. It is still thrilling to see them, maybe because they have made such an amazing comeback. More recently, I wondered when I had last seen an Evening Grosbeak. It had been a long time, but this fall there have been a few flocks in my area, more easily found while scouting birding locations on EBird. This crowd was monopolizing the local field naturalists’ feeder in a lovely wooded area last week. 

the lesson was very good. My favorite lesson was on the range and habitats. I understand them a lot more than I used to.

This has been a really great lesson. I already cared a lot about birds, but now I feel more equipped to observe them! I definitely try my best to love my life in a way that won’t besticket impact bird populations, or damage the planet. I have always kept my cat indoors, I try not to use single-use plastics, but now I will be more conscious about the coffee I buy too!

The more I learn about birds and the relationship between birds and the environment, the more fascinating their world becomes. Without birds, there is no life on earth, that is indisputable. I am convinced that we should strive for much greater cooperation with them in all areas of our lives, and I consider social education important. That's why I've been running a bird-nest box station for many years,because protecting our birds is our primary task. Our station is in Romonya, Hungary, where we protect nature in an area of ​​nearly 4 hectares and try to restore the greatest possible ecological balance.With dozens of animal protection equipment, we are trying to increase biodiversity and the survival of species, and we hope that, recognizing the problems, more and more people will follow suit.

I started to observe bird just 7 months ago and I am really enjoying it. I find it so relaxing. I love trying to capture that perfect picture. I am reading more about birds and just want to know more about there nature. I didn’t know that they played such a big part in pollinating. Thanks for the course for helpful

Birds matter to me because of how big of an ecological role they play.  I didn't realize that without birds, our ecosystem would be so different.  I started this course because I wanted to learn more about birds I see and have fun doing it, but now I realize how important birds are to our world.  I'm going on my first bird walk this weekend and my grandmother and I are already planning to do another Cornell Lab course.

Two years ago, I traveled through the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas for the first time in years.  The first remarkable change I noted was the explosion in the number of power generating windmills -- tens of thousands of acres of windfarms where clear skies used to be.  The second change I found was the carcasses of all kinds of birds littering the ground in these windfarms. Sadly, the federal government has exempted windfarms from the Migratory Bird Treaty for the protection of migratory birds.  If my experience in those windfarms is representative (and I have no reason to believe it is not), millions of birds are being slaughtered each year by the blades of wind turbines.  Why allow the knowing slaughter of migratory birds?  Are our windfarms destroying the environment more than they save it?

Activity 1:  One of my favorite and simple ways that birds matter is they are an easily observable, generally safe animal to get people interested in nature and conservation. My 4 year old son spotted a Mississippi Kite while I was pushing him on a swing.  Those aren't super common in my area so when he saw my excitement and I told him what bird it was, he got excited about it too.  Now he frequently talks about birds and where they may be flying (Florida is usually his guess). Activity 2: I usually wear some some sort of cargo pants or shorts when birding.  I pick up all of the plastics I can carry and take them out of the woods with me. Activity 3: I've noticed a big increase in Bald Eagles.  When I was a kid, you never saw them except for a few places on the Mississippi River.  Now I see them flying over urban areas, my house, or flying in groups of three. I saw the complete destruction of urban populations of Crows hear in Missouri after West Nile wiped them out.  Only recently are they starting to appear in urban areas again and their numbers in rural and suburban areas have boomed.  Annoyingly I've also seen the European Starling become much more prevalent and kind of displace other birds. Activity 4:  I'd like to join a birding club.  It would be neat to do some volunteer to help biologists or Ornithologists in the field if an opportunity arose.  This course and this year of birding did make me consider Ornithology, but I don't think that is going to happen.  I would like to get a spotting scope so I can make more accurate observations of distant or hard to see birds. Its been a blast learning all of this stuff and reading other people's comments and stories.  Keep up the good work!

Activity #1 - Birds have always given me great joy. I believe my love for birds and birding are inherited. As a small child my parents would take us to Wildlife Refuges and teach us the importance of all nature. The Do's and Don'ts .  Respect and appreciate . That feeling of excitement as we prepared for our outings continue today. I am blessed to have  a wonderful home  where i am able to enjoy birding everyday. Every season brings new  opportunities.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Activity#2 - Thank you for providing me with new tools in my birding journey. I will be joining EBIRD!  I am not only a bird watcher-  I am a bird watcher who wishes to continue my love for birds by learning  how to help maintain a healthy enivirorment for our feathered friends.

My favorite coffee lately is a forest-friendly, shade grown brand called “LifeBoost.” Honestly, it might be one the tastiest beans we have ever had. It’s a small step that I didn’t realize I was taking in protecting our beautiful, feathery friends… but now that I know I will never go back! One thing I would like to do better is reduce the amount of single-use plastics we use as a family. :)

We read through the comments. People are doing lots of wonderful things to help birds. We do have some commentary, however, about the science. We are also behavioral scientists. We wonder how the numbers are determined to compare current populations with those of 50 years ago. And, how would you actually gather data to know that a billion birds are killed by cats. Is that extrapolation? And what might that process  be..statistically? It is great to use citizen scientist, but aren't there serious concerns about the reliability and validity of the data collection? Are there psychometrically sound integrity checks? It would be interesting to hear about the actual science--data collection techniques etc. For example, when we lived in Mississippi, there was )(still is as far as we know) a hummingbird sanctuary. Every year, there was tagging, monitoring, measuring etc. real science. It's just that sometimes when they authors write that the numbers are based on citizen science, we sort of, in a very friendly way, have questions about the veracity.   We do really like Dr. Kevin McGowan. He is our favorite ornithologist. Ok, he's the only one we know. But, we bet he would still be our favorite! His love of birds and the science of ornithology is incredibly infectious.

I enjoyed this topic, i have my camera and binoculars beside me everyday and take them every where i go. I try and bird watch at least once a day even if it is 30 min. I like sometimes you can identify a bird by the way they fly. Will definately do more courses, the bird of prey one is next. Also i literally just joined Birds of Ontario group

Activity 1: I have loved birds for a long time and see the interconnection with them and our ecosystems, but it was very interesting to learn more about their importance in dispersing seeds for many plants and trees to reproduce. Our amazing earth and all that is on it was beautifully and wisely created. Activity 2: I started using less plastic by avoiding plastic bags for kitchen waste. I am doing this by composting in a local program in the area where I live. I use reusable bags for grocery shopping, and I started to buy more in the bulk section, where I bring my containers from home, so I avoid consuming nuts, coffee, and legumes that come in plastic containers. I try to buy mostly organic. I live in a second floor of a building. The first two years living here we would hear a bird colliding with our windows once in a while, so I printed some owls and glued them inside in certain parts of the glass. It has improved the problem significantly. Although it does not look very nice it is an easy solution until I get some window stickers more appropriate to address the issue. Also, although the lesson did not mention... I am more aware of turning off or dimming my lights at night in migration season. Activity 4: I will join a birding group where I live to connect with more birders in my area. I will eBird more so I can contribute with my sights to the community of scientists. I will buy reusable utensils to carry with me when I am outside so I can refuse disposable cutlery if I eat out.

Activity 2: We have been working with students to use iNaturalist to support Citizen Science. The students get pretty excited when they realize how easy it is to take a picture of something, submit it to iNaturalist and then get an indication of what it may be. We encourage the students to get as many observations as they can, sort of make it a game. It's always fun to watch them compare what they saw and see who found the weirdest looking insect or most beautiful plant.

Activity 1:  Birds are my main animal enjoyment as I do not have any domestic pets. They bring me so much joy. This course has reminded me of their environmental and ecological importance, too. Activity 2: I could make my windows safer. I currently have shiny sun catchers handing in them, which has helped a lot, but isn’t perfect. I’m also in the early stages of planting native plants in my yard for birds and pollinators. Eventually, I hope to remove at least 1/2 of our lawn area and replace with native plants. It’s a work in progress. I’m not a “zero waste” person, however our household has significantly reduced our use of plastic, including switching to bar shampoo, conditioner,  body/hand soaps,  no packaging dishwasher detergent, and we use laundry detergent sheets. There’s always more that I can do, and I am motivated to do so.   Activity 4: This course has totally fueled my journey of beginning birding. It’s been a pleasure and I look forward to learning more.

Activity #1: Birds are evolutionary wonders. I marvel at their ability to adapt to so many environments and so many lifestyles. Nothing is more fabulous than being able to fly and there is no cooler evolutionary story than one that shows descent from dinosaurs. I have often said that if I could spend a day as another animal, it would be a bird, specifically an owl. There is nothing like waking up to the singing and calling of birds. They make me happy. But more than that, they play critical roles in ecosystems because many other organisms depend on them. This course has made me more aware of the variety of birds that are around me every day.