Activity 2:  It is very interesting to watch the behavior of birds at our feeder.  The House Sparrows visit the feeder in flocks.  They eat seeds on the ground and on the feeder.  Occasionally the House Sparrows squabble with other birds to protect their spot at the feeder.  The Red-bellied Woodpecker and the Downy Woodpecker enjoy eating the suet cake.

Activity  2. Feeder has been busy this  morning.  The Bluejays  like to come early. They give  out the  call that food is here. Soon lots of Bluejays are taking turns for the food. Sometimes  there is a scuffle, but one flies away and comes back  when the coast is clear. Then the Cardinals  have their turn. Quietly she eats while he keeps  a lookout.  So nice to watch.    

Activity 2:

• Pine Warbler
  • These stay at the feeder for about 10 seconds eating and watching
• Carolina Chickadee
  • Quick.. grab and go
• Mourning Doves
  • These birds stay for minutes even sit in the platform feeders until another bird comes along
• Blue Jay
  • Calls before approaching the bird feeder and loads up on nuts and seeds before flying off. 

We have a community pond in town where I like to take afternoon walks.  This time of year it is filled with coots and few ducks I'm having trouble identifying.   Last week I was walking and noticed the coots gathered into a tight group when usually they are spread out all over lake.  I looked up and noticed a bald eagle soaring overhead and now assume that the tight grouping must be a defensive move on the coots part.

I know only a few bird calls like Canada Geese on the wing, crows cawing, herring gulls screaming, and blue jays scolding.  There are so many calls by warblers and song birds I don't know yet.  Perhaps learning bird calls is like learning a foreign language?

House Finches stay longer at the backyard seed feeders.  Sometimes they look around and then go back to eating.  They stand n the lower dish or the perch.  The white-breasted nuthatch and Carolina chickadee fly in and away quickly when feeding.  I usually see more birds feeding in the late afternoon before dark.  This seems to be a favorite time of day to fill up.

On my walk outside, I noticed a large flock of European starlings in a tree -- their "caw-ing" sounded similar to that of the Red-winged blackbird. There must have been 20 or so of them perched up in the tree, calling at each other. Then all of a sudden they all flew away at the same time. The way that they're able to move and act together can at times be mezmorizing.

Activity 1: Saw a house sparrow enjoying a bath in a puddle on our pool cover. Bird looked very large and puffy while fluffing its feathers and maneuvering in the water to wash itself. It would dip part of its body in the water then shake and puff the feathers, and used its head to preen, with chirps here and there. This all happened repeatedly over the course of about 2 minutes. Then the bird flew to the top of the nearby fence post. I noticed how small and trim the bird looked sitting on the fence post compared to when it was fluffing and bathing. What fun to watch this! Prior to my newfound interest in birds I would not have paid much attention to what birds were doing. So much to see. A whole new world has opened up! Activity 2: Watched the Cornell Sapsucker Woods Feeder Cam. The European Starlings tend to bully other birds out of their spots on the platform, even if there’s plenty of room for everyone. Mourning Doves tend to coexist with other birds on the platform and move out of the way of other birds. Hairy woodpecker pecks at the hanging feeder and stays awhile, then leaves and comes back. Red-breasted Nuthatch is skittish- flies to a hanging feeder, grabs seed and quickly flies away. Blue Jay flies to the hanging feeder with peanuts, grabs a whole peanut and flies away with it. Activity 3:  Listened to birds outside in my backyard. Dozens of European Starlings perched in 2 trees calling to each other. Heard more than one Blue Jay in a tree calling to others. Heard a Mourning Dove. Also heard chirps, probably a House Sparrow.

We recently had an earthquake in Melbourne and my mind went straight to birds sitting on nests as it is springtime here! Here is a link to the video of our local peregrine falcons nesting, I believe it was the male incubating at the time: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2021/sep/23/the-moment-melbournes-peregrine-falcon-reacts-to-the-citys-historic-earthquake-video?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1632356910   To start with he crouches down to protect the eggs, I guess! But once they realised nothing was going to fall she got up to look around before flying off! Both males and female peregrine falcons incubate the eggs, if you watch the live stream you can see them switch over every now and then.

Activity 1.  I had read recently of how roadrunners drop their body temperature at night and then the next day will spend time in the sun to warm up.  After having read that information, I was able to witness a roadrunner sunning itself, standing on a rock with its back to the sun and wings slightly spread apart.  Exciting that I already had the information before seeing the behavior. Activity 2.  I have the pleasure of attracting Ravens to my feeding area.  I don't use standard feeders, just throw food on the ground.  Ravens will stuff as much food as they can into their craw and beak, and then fly off to cache it in another location.  Then the ravens will return for more food, and basically repeat the process.  Also the Woodhouse Scrub Jays are similar in picking up food and flying off to cache it, as well as using their beak to open seeds on tree limbs.  The Juniper Titmouse I also have observed uses its beak to hammer open sunflower seeds on the tree limbs.

Activity 2: I have noticed that the Black-capped Chickadee tends to go to my feeders not for a long time. The bird will either grab a seed and fly away or the bird will stay where it is at at the feeder and open the seed up by putting the sunflower seed between its feet and hammering it open. The House Sparrows tend to stay for a bit I would say less than 5 minutes depending on how much seed and how hungry. These birds would peck at the seeds or on the ground and (Activity 2:) they tend to look up as they eat and now I know they look up to see by checking their surroundings if there are predator coming by or near. I noticed too that birds at my feeders would get very territorial for example I saw a Male House Sparrow scaring off the female House Sparrows away from the food and the American Goldfinches tend to do the same with each other by fighting over the food. A few months back I had Common Blackbirds start to take over my feeders and the smaller birds like that sparrow and finches did not want to go near them until they were either gone or would get the leftover seeds that were pushed off the feeders. I saw it as predators were by and they did not want to go near them.          

I enjoy watching the birds at my feeder. Mostly I see house finches and house sparrows. The finches daintily pick out the seeds and quietly eat, although there can be some squabbles. The house sparrows, on the other hand, make a big mess, scattering seed everywhere. About a year ago I watched a male house sparrow teach his youngster how to use the feeder. They first landed on the roof and dad would fly down to the feeder and take seed up to junior and feed him. After a few minutes dad left junior alone on the roof. Pretty soon the youngster flew down onto the grass , so dad started taking seed down to him. After a few minutes of this dad returned to the feeder and junior got up the courage to join him at the feeder. The adult gave him a few more seeds and finally the youngster started pecking at the seeds himself. The funniest behavior I’ve seen are the Eurasian Collared Doves. They’re too big for the feeder, but they have learned how to balance on the swinging feeder and turn sideways so they can reach the seed. It works especially well if there’s a pair of them. They perch on either side of the feeder each with one wing extended, balancing the feeder. It really is quite a feat.

When I have been walking in the mornings, just as the sun is coming up, I have seen turkey vultures facing the rising sun with their wings stretched either partially or completely extended. I finally was able to get a fair picture of what I call "morning vulture yoga."

My neighbor had a robin build a nest in a hanging planter.  Sarah had planted fresh lettuce in it and the robin decided it would make a great nest.  We watched the robin gather weeds, straw, little twigs and whatever she could find in our flower garden to complete the job.  It was only a few feet from both our front doors, but the robin didn't seem to feel threatened. She soon laid the  eggs and spent a lot of time on the nest.  Her attitude seem to change when we would enter or leave our homes.  She would give some loud chirps and start to fly very close letting us know we had to leave the area. We also noticed the robin also kept other birds at bay.  The aggressive flying also was used to keep prey or nosey bird away.. The American Robin soon had some hatching eggs and ended up with 4 out of 5 eggs making it.  Mama spent a great deal of time feeding the birds, keeping them warm, and guarding their home.  We never saw the male. After  some days and the babies had grown their feathers the mama started coaxing the babies to flap their wings and move around the nest.  I thought it would take a long time for them to fly. It didn't.  In about 4 days they were flying about.  They stayed close by our homes and visited our flower gardens for worms and water.  I'd like to think they were coming by to say hello.

I am visiting the Oregon Coast and observed some Western Gulls (at least, I think they are Western Gulls) bathing. This is a fresh water stream and they are bathing where the stream meets the beach and the ocean.  I counted 114 gulls there. It was like they were having a party. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

All the bird cams right now are fun to watch with all the fluffy chicks!  On the feeder cam I saw a starling feeding her 3 chicks.

Saw Red tailed hawk, American kestrels and Savannah Ospreys in the bird cam. While the Red tailed hawk was on guard of his offspring, the osprey couple were cleaning themselves. Saw a bunch of kestrel chics huddled together without either of their parents.   In the feeder cam saw American Robins, Black Birds and Red winged black birds. While Red winged black birds spent considerable time picking up grains, the other two species were fast movers.

Before the garbage truck picks up the garbage bags, this area becomes a feeder for black vultures

Avtivity 2. The black bellied Whistler ducks are so fun to watch at the feeder. They land away from the feeder and will watch for a few minutes. Then they slowly walk up, as if they don’t want to interrupt. Once there, one will be on the lookout while the others feed. They socialize well with all birds and ducks there.

Activity 2: I find Black Capped Chickadees stay for the shortest time then any other bird at my feeders, and they only take one seed at a time. On the other hand, we have American Goldfinches which stay for the longest time at my feeders.

Techniques for eating: It has been interesting to observe how different birds process the seed at my feeders. Tufted titmice, chickadees, and blue jays hold the seed between their feet and pound the shell with their beaks to get at the “meat” inside. While goldfinches, purple finches and grosbeaks can just crack the seed in their beaks and swallow the edible part.

We love bird cams! Since we do not yet have our own bird feeder, these cams are a fun way to observe different kinds of birds up close and personal. We have been watching a hummingbird nest cam for a couple of weeks. Those two babies are growing fast and they hardly fit in the nest anymore. It’s fascinating to watch the mother return to feed them, thrusting her beak so far down her baby’s throat it appears she might poke them all the way through! We also watch the Cornell Lab Feeder Cam every day. The blue jays will grab a peanut and fly away with it. The woodpecker hammers at the vertical trays. And then there are the squirrels...

Getting better at some call identification: Today I made out cardinal, red bellied woodpecker, tufted titmouse, Carolina wren, European starling, crow, Eastern towhee.

I went to a lake - there were a lot of Canada Geese.  Watched them for a while, mostly foraging on the grass, but one interesting behavior was that, while the others were eating or resting, there would be a couple that stood at attention - like they were standing guard. I also watched a pair of buffleheads on the lake, diving for food.  It was just a pair (male and female), although there were others in a larger group with geese and mallards further down the lake.  I think I may have a new favorite bird - they were fun to watch.

Activity 2 was perfect for me this week because I just got several bird feeders from my local Buy Nothing group. I have enjoyed watching how different birds approach the seeds. A pair of tufted titmouses (or is it tufted titmice?) take turns at the feeder and take one seed at a time. The downy woodpecker takes only the sunflower seeds, while the Carolina chickadee only takes the millet. The house sparrows will sit and eat and eat until another bird comes to their perch. Some are bothered by the nearby squirrels looking out for anything that drops to the ground, while others are unfazed. It really is fascinating! I also tried Activity 3 - sort of. As of now, I can confidently identify the blue jay and the cardinal. I am trying to learn other calls.