Activity 2: I noticed about 7 different species at our feeders outside my office.

• House finch
• Tifted Titmouse
• Goldfinches
• Juncos
• Sparrows
• Downy Woodpecker
• White Breasted Nuthatch

I noticed that the house finch stayed on the feeder longer than any of the others and there appeared to only be one. The goldfinches are pretty feisty at the feeders chasing each other off. The downy woodpecker prefers the suet and pecks at for quite awhile. The juncos tend to stay under the feeders and pick up dropped seeds.

I witness a variety of birds at my feeder who display different eating habits. I have noticed that cardinals, house sparrows, and woodpeckers tend to stick around the longest. Both cardinals and house sparrows will open sunflower seeds using their beak while woodpeckers will peck at my suet or grab an individual seed and fly away. I presume they stick around the longest because they can easily eat the food while at the feeder, and their larger size allows them to displace other birds. The tufted titmouse, however, tends to grab one individual seed and then peck it open while holding the seed with its feet, or grab one and fly off if he feels threatened. The few times I have put peanuts out I noticed blue jays shove as many peanuts as they can into their food pouch and then fly away. In addition to my feeder I love watching birds at my local park which has a small wetland area. I remember last summer I was observing a blue heron near the shore when a male red-winged blackbird came up behind him and started pecking him and flying away and repeating. After this lesson I think the blackbird was displaying mobbing behavior and protecting its territory.

I went to a local park at the Hamilton Bay and observed American Coots.  I also had the luxury of seeing a Winter Wren.  While both species exhibit unique adaptations suited to their respective environments, American Coots dabble, dive and grazing for their food, whereas, the Winter Wren have a very different approach to feeding.  They like the dense vegetation or leaf litter on the forest floor.  Unlike coots that utilize both aquatic environments and terrestrial habitats for food sources, Winter wrens are more specialized in their feeding habits.   There were trumpeter swans there and it was easy to distinguish their sound from the other birds around me.

Activity 2: I put out seeds for many birds that come to my yard. How long they stay depends upon the weather, how much us humans move near their feeder, territory claiming if finding food has been hard or it is breeding season, or if there is a predator. Usually though, they stay for several minutes each time they visit. When they do visit, the smaller songbirds like to eat sunflowers fist, then later the millet when the sunflowers are gone, and then nyger seed when they feel like it; the doves prefer the millet. As the birds eat, they will take one seed at a time and if it is a sunflower seed they will take a bit longer to remove the light covering on the seed. If I put out fruit the songbirds will take one to a safer eating area in a bush or work at the feeder to open the berry skin. I have a plant that provides nectar for hummingbirds and only one at a time will show up and will visit all of the flowers to get enough food, then they won't visit again until they feel there is enough nectar again in the flowers.   Activity 3: Depending upon the time of day, if it is not raining or hot, and the time of year!; I can hear around 15 or so birds in one day.

Very good

Activity 1: Today I watched a male mallard swimming in a shallow pond with a lot of vegetation.  I noticed vegetation hanging out of its bill while swimming, and I wasn't sure if it was still eating the plant or if it was there for eating later or if it didn't notice the hanging vegetation.  There was another male mallard swimming closely behind, and both moved their heads quickly side to side as they swam closer to the shore of the pond.  They encountered another pair (male / female) of mallards who both quickly swam away when they approached.   Then they met up with another group of mallards, making it 5 males and 2 females bobbing their heads underwater, seeming to feed on underwater plants near shore.  There was one male mallard feeding very close, and it pushed the bill of that second mallard away. I saw drying/preening behavior, rising up out of the water and flapping its wings.  Also  shaking it's head to remove water after bobbing underwater to feed.  There was also shaking off just the tail feathers, then standing on a log near the surface to get mostly out of the water and preen underside feathers, also lifting a foot to wipe off the foot with its bill.    

Activity 1: When I was at the lake, I saw a Red-winged Blackbird strutting on the beach.  He had his wings  facing forward so that his red and yellow wing bars were very obvious.  I believed that he was probably displaying mating behavior; but it is also possible that he was defending his territory.

Activity 2: I often see a female ruby-throated hummingbird (no ruby throat) at my hummingbird feeder, but I haven’t caught the male there.  I wonder what he does instead?

Activity 1: too hot to sit outside, so I watched the Cornell bird feeder cam. a female blue jay at the feeders spent the first minute or so looking out for predators. Then she ate from the box and from the vertical feeder on the pole.  Meanwhile, the duck in the background bathed itself and preened its feathers.

Activity 2: I don't have a bird feeder up in the summer so I watched the Cornell feeder cam. I noticed that the Hairy Woodpeckers would remain on the feeder the longest and would eat their fill. The Downy Woodpeckers would also spend a good long time at the feeder but would not remain quite as long. It was interesting to see the size difference having the birds next to each other. The blackbirds would often eat a few seeds before flying away and would seemingly return later. They would also eat from multiple locations. The Common Grackles were pretty similar to the blackbirds.

Activity 1: Today I watched a Great Blue Heron wading on the side of a river. It waded in a protected shallow section where there was little current. I noticed it walking upstream. When it would reach the end of the area, it would fly to the downstream side and wade up again. Most of the time, the heron was looking forward with its head up. It presumably was looking for fish and predators. I presume if it was only looking for food, it would have directed its head more toward the water. I also noticed that it would occasionally turn its head toward its back to preen its feathers. Two other behaviors I noticed and don't have an explanation for are: 1) the heron would occasionally shake its head back and forth, and 2) it occasionally would drop its head down to the level of its body as if crouching. Some possible explanations that I can think of for the head shaking are that it could be trying to get fish or water down its throat, or that this helped it see its prey better. The crouching behavior could have been to camouflage itself by enabling it to blend into the environment better. If you know the reason for these behaviors, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Activity 3: I sat in my backyard and could identify the House Wren, Northern Cardinal, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and the Eastern Wood-Peewee. I ran Merlin at the same time. It also picked up the House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, American Goldfinch, and the Red-Winged Blackbird. I often confuse those birds with other birds. I named off all of the birds that I can identify by song and came up with a list of 18. Merlin has been a big help in teaching me their vocalizations.

Activity 1:  But instead of one bird I watched an Eider Duckling Daycare where I saw  5 adult females and about a dozen ducklings.  The adults led the ducklings into shallow water where there was a lot of seaweed.  The adults mostly watched while the little ones put their heads in the water to feed.  It was hard to get a picture of the ducklings because their heads were down, feeding.  The adults only occasionally fed themselves, they mostly stood guard. After about 30 minutes the adults moved toward deeper water & the ducklings followed.  It seemed one little duck always lagged behind.  Here are some of the pictures. One picture shows the whole group & one shows a duckling feeding while the adult watched.

I went outside and recorded on the Merlin app the bird songs around our home.  In six and one-half minutes these were the birds that Merlin identified:  osprey, American robin, Baltimore oriole, red-winged blackbird, cedar waxwing, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, house sparrow, Canada goose, and Lincoln sparrow.  All but the last two birds were recorded in the first 45 seconds.  Of these, the American robin, the grackle, and the Canada goose were the only ones I could identify on my own.  I am trying to use this app to learn to identify these birds by their songs and also to use my binoculars to find the birds around my neighborhood and at a nearby nature center.  I have much to learn, but I am enjoying this. I am excited to learn that there are many birds in my neighborhood that I don't see at our bird feeders.

Activity 1:

• When the crows visit the feeder, I can see most distinctly how similar they are to blue jays. They too prefer the peanuts in the shell - though they try to collect as many as they can in one go. The other common trait is that they usually start at the top of the feeder and then flip down to the platform feeder, as if they were a gymnast.
• This morning I got to witness a cardinal pair courting ritual! They both landed on the feeder and looked at it a bit, then the female flew over to the bougainvillea, followed shortly by the male. They sat side by side on one of the branches while the male put a peanut from the feeder into her beak.

Activity 2: 

• Most of the songbirds (northern cardinals, titmice, Carolina chickadees, warblers) I've observed arrive at the feeder, check out the options available, seize the piece they want, and fly off to enjoy it elsewhere (I'm assuming). The titmouse always flies off with the seed or nut into the trees. Occasionally the other songbirds will stay for a short while to eat for a bit.
• The blue jays and American crows will usually alight on the top "branch" of the feeder to survey what is on offer, then will swing themselves down to on of the lower levels. The blue jays will often meticulously weigh each peanut (in the shell) before deciding on the one they want (heaviest?). The crows on the other hand try to collect as many peanuts as they can fit into their beaks at once.
• The red-bellied woodpecker and the downy woodpecker both will stay for some time at the suet feeder, pecking away at the food on offer.
• The doves (primarily mourning doves) tend to hand out in large groups for long periods of time, sitting on the various platforms and "branches", sometimes eating, sometimes just sitting there.

Activity 3: The blue jays calls and the red bellied woodpecker are easiest for me to identify from inside since they tend to be on the louder side. It amazes me just how many bird sounds I hear when I sit outside, particularly in the early morning.

Activity 3 I listened outside for 5 minutes using my favorite app ever!!! Merlin is the best. I distinctly heard 4 different species- spotted Towee, yellow rumped warbler, house finch, European starling and Merlin also identified a Bewick’s wren

I have a feeder in my yard that I keep an eye on.  The Eurasian collared doves hate having anyone else nearby and fly away noisily, but the nuthatch doesn't care if I'm going in and out of the house.  The Nutall's woodpecker eats a few bites through the bottom of the feeder before flying away, the dark eyed junco prefers the ground, picking up anything the others has knocked down.  The scrub jay will come to see, but it really prefers the ground or the oak tree, not the feeder, and so do the robins.  Most of the birds only approach the feeder one at a time, if another bird, even of the same species, flies up, off the first one goes.  Does that mean the space is too small to share? The Oak titmouse will share the feeder with the warblers, I know there's a ruby crowned kinglet around who doesn't show up to the feeder at all. We have a hummingbird feeder, too, so I get to see several of them year-round, they perch on a nearby branch and sing.  Today there was a hummingbird fight that was loud enough to get me out of the house, two very territorial males, I think one was migrating through, because this was not typical chase-away behavior.

I’ve noticed birds cleaning their beaks on the branches.  Also the American Goldfinch seem to like the black oil sunflower seeds and will stay on the feeder to eat them.  When they venture over to the mixed seed feeder they fly off if a sparrow comes.  The sparrows stay at the feeder for quite a while.  I have learned that a certain call I have wondered about is from a Bluejay, and I often hear Chickadees.

Activity 1: It is a very busy morning at my feeder cam today. We had some snow this morning and it seems to have let up. The birds are very adamant about feeding today since they possibly know about the low temperatures coming this week. I observed a lot of dominant hierarchy as birds would leave when a bigger bird would arrive. The black capped chickadees would land and quickly fly off when the Nuthatch or woodpecker would follow to return after they depart. I noticed that the birds are coming in one at a time, taking food and leaving. The woodpeckers are a lot more observant and curious. Activity 2: The Woodpeckers take the most time eating, and the female downy woodpecker stays the longest up to 45 seconds or longer always looking to the left and right before or while she takes food. The Red Bellied woodpecker is also curious but takes Sunflower seeds and leaves. The Black Capped Chickadee take the black oiled sunflower seeds the most, the nuthatch takes the peanuts, and the Downy Woodpecker takes nuts. Activity 3: I couldn't hear many species other than the few feeding at the feeder cam. The most vocal were the Chicadees with a short chirp chirp 4 times when landing and taking off.

At the hop through feeder, we get Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches, three types of jays, Spotted Towhee, and two types of chickadees with an occasional visit from Wild Turkeys.  The Stellar’s Jay and juncos prefer the ground, but will go to the feeder.  All clear out when the turkeys come. The chickadees flit in, grab one seed then go off to either hide it or occasionally go to a branch to use as they pry the seed open. The chickadees prefer to come when it isn’t crowded. The Spotted Towhee also prefers the ground (hopping forward and backward under the scub oak or juniper bushes) but usually hangs out in the hop through because there isn’t ready ground cover to hop under. Other birds give the towhee the whole feeder when it arrives. The House Finches gather as a group and linger. They spend time finding the sunflower seed they prefer then hold it in their mouth until it cracks open. There are a couple females that chase off other species her size from the feeder, like the juncos.  But, there is a slate Dark-eyed Junco that holds its own. The house finches also spend time on the ground with the juncos.  What has surprised me is that a few juncos have been working on the suet. It isn’t a graceful process with fluttering of wings to keep balance. They give way to the Downy Woodpecker, who gives way to the Scrub Jay, who gives way to the Northern Flicker. The Red-Breasted Nuthatch comes to the suet when no one else is around.  Takes a couple pecks then drops down to the water bath and takes a drink before going back to the suet.  The highest activity seems to happen late morning around 10:30.

My ears definitely work better than my eyes!  From my bedroom window I can easily identify house finches, white-crowned sparrows, northern flickers, black-capped chickadees, blue jays, mourning doves, Eurasian collared doves, western meadowlarks and red-tailed hawks. I am not as good as identifying birds “in the field”.  I think it just experience.  I have spent a lot of time listening to the birds at my house.

Various Wild Birds Feeding     (Activity 2)       These are various bird species at our feeders last winter. Specifically drawn to dried soldier fly larvae.

Activity 1: I watched the Ontario FeederWatch cam and saw a Blue Jay foraging on the platform feeder. It was hopping around and pecking through the seeds on the tray. It also kept looking around checking his surroundings. It did not make any calls when I was watching and did not appear to take any food to cache for later. Activity 2: I tuned into the Cornell Lab Feeder Camera and there was a lot of activity. A Downy and Hairy Woodpecker were both on the suet feeder pecking at it at the same time. Two America Goldfinches were on the seed tube feeder eating at the ports. A Black-capped chickadee landed on the platform feeder grabbed one seed and left. Two tufted titmouse also landed on the platform feeder and quickly took seeds and left. Also some large birds (ducks or geese) too far away to identify were swimming in the background and appeared to be looking for food in the water. A Red-bellied woodpecker also stopped by the suet feeder to grab a small bite and then fly away. Activity 3: I watched and listened to the Ontario FeederWatch Cam and the first birds I saw and heard were seven Evening Grosbeaks. I did not know their call since there are not found where I live.   At home I can identify most of the regular birds in my yard by ear. I love the sounds of the Mourning Dove, Black Phoebe and the California Scrub-Jay.

Activity 3: While listening outside of my window I heard two different bird species. I believe I heard a European starling and I know that I also heard a red-breasted nuthatch because I was able to see the bird making its call. This was a great exercise and I need to practice identifying birds by their calls.