I love Manyu's drawing...I have long wanted to start a nature journal, so maybe this will inspire me!

Activity #1. Yes, my notes were helpful...I noted the size and color of some birds, and what the habitat was like. In a forested area, I saw robins, flickers, house sparrows, and a couple of warblers (it is May, after all!). In a marshy area, I saw Canada geese (including mom and four goslings), gulls (we only seem to have ring-billed gulls around Inwood Hill Park), and a solitary egret (it was distant, but I think it was a great egret. And I tried to describe some songs I heard, when I didn't see the birds...e.g. the three "warm-up notes" of the song sparrow; and the "conkaree" of the red-winged blackbird. Activity #2. I actually signed up for a NYC listserve last year: ebirds.nyc. It's been quiet because of the corona virus lockdown here, but today there was a burst of emails because people are starting to see warblers: one woman saw 19 species of warblers early this morning in a park I hadn't heard of, but will now check out (when lockdown is over, that is)

Activity 2 - Found a Bird community group called Jaipur Zoo. Will connect with them.

Activity 1

I may get the e-bird app to document my bird finds, but I've never kept track before.  I usually walk around with my Bay Area Bird ID foldable, laminated chart.  The Merlin app has been helpful.  In my community garden I will sometimes sketch birds with colored pencil in a nature notebook.  When the shelter-in-place ends, I will join a birding group walk through Los Gatos Birdwatcher, our local birding shop.  In the meantime, I joined "birdy hour" via Zoom facilitated by San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.

I find it hard to take notes, look for birds I've heard but can't find, handle binoculars and or a camera!  Still it's worth it even when I look back at notes from traveling to see how I've describe or been excited about something I've seen. I wonder, can one add birds to ebird that one saw and listed on a trip a year or more ago before taking this class when traveling with a group that did birding before I knew much? I have signed up for alerts in my area and there are two rare sightings but it's been raining for 3 days! I hope to get out and see if I can spot the birds mentioned!