This past summer in Rochester, NY I saw two peregrine flacons harassing a red-tailed hawk that was flying over. The peregrines would take turns flying about 30-40 feet above the red-tail, which was flying, and then diver bomb it. At the last second, the red-tail would flip upside down and extend its talons in the direction of the diving peregrine, which would then pull away. They did this for about 5-8 dive bomb attacks. Eventually, the red-tail flew off and settled down in a tree. Were the peregrines hunting the hawk, or trying to drive it away?

Activity 1: A couple of Croaking Ground Doves was bringing dried plants and hairs (the type one might find inside a vacuum cleaner) on our movement light outside. Clearly they were trying to build a nest. It didn’t go very well since all their building material was falling down. Some other Croaking Ground Doves or Quiguaguas as they are called here were taking dust baths. All About Birds looks like a website that can provide a lot of information on birds. I’m considering getting a monthly or yearly subscription. Activity 2: I was observing birds from the Cornell Lab Feeder Cam in Supsucker Woods. Common Grackles came in a group of 7 and sort of scared 2 Red-Winged Blackbirds and 2 Mourning Doves. But these guys came back. Unlike Grackles that ate altogether, Mourning Doves didn’t let the 3rd Dove land on the feeder. Grackles, Doves and Blackbirds stayed for a long time helping themselves with seeds. Blue Jays were more of solitary eaters: the second one came after the first one left. Red-Bellied and Downy Woodpeckers came at different times and left fast. They attached themselves vertically to a feeder that looked like a tree trunk. Grackles and Doves sat on trays and Blackbirds, Jays and a Northern Cardinal ate from perches. None of these birds would grab just one seed and leave. Activity 3: The birds around my house are pretty much the same all the time: Turkey Vulture/Jote, Rock Pigeon/Paloma, Andean Gull/Gaviota, House Sparrow/Gorrion, Rufous-collared Sparrow/Chincol, Croaking Ground Dove/Tortolita Quiguagua, West Peruvian Dove/Kukuli and Oasis Hummingbird/Picaflor del Norte. So I can hear them daily, except Turkey Vulture and Rock Pigeon that are only visible to me from the far. (I never heard a sound from a Vulture). They prefer to stay on top of the apartments across the highway in front of our house. And I can only hear Sea Gulls, so I walked around to make sure that they were Andean Gulls picking on city garbage. According to Merlin bar charts, they are here all year round. About 2-3 years ago I started hearing a beautiful song of a Shiny Cowbird/Mirlo. Since then I can see groups of them outside on the trees and cables in the mornings when they come for food.

Activity 3: Although only one bird species was vocal at the time, I now have an understanding of the behavior. I could hear the urgency in a robin's call in my parents' backyard, so I ventured outside to see what was provoking it. I spotted the neighbor's cat crouched in the flowers below the birdbath. Thanks to the robin's mobbing, the cat's hunting attempt was thwarted and no birds were harmed!

I think this guy/girl is very cute. Do you agree? Here is my reason: He/she is all puffed up, looking at the camera, and half-spreading his/her wings. Look it his/her ADORABLE CUTE SMALL BEAK!!! Also, he/she is a juvenile.

Activity 3:  I could hear the flight calls of an American Goldfinch, the calls of a Carolina Wren and a Grey Catbird while outside today.

Activity 1: I think I was watching a staling at feeder. It seemed to peck a few times at seeds then raise head and eat. It flitted from one feeder to next. Activity 2: watched feeder cam which showed many birds. Some picked once from suet but most went to seeds. Blue jay seemed to peck several times in a row. Downy woodpecker pecked in upright position atvfeeder. Also saw pleated woodpecker. Some stayed a while and tried several feeders. Some went to one and flew away. Activity 3: really hard. On Cornell webcam. Heard a blue jay give a squawk when it left. Mourning dove wings beating when they flew. Heard some background song but couldn’t identify. Saw lots of birds though and with merlins help could identify some

Activity 1: I think I was watching a staling at feeder. It seemed to peck a few times at seeds then raise head and eat. It flitted from one feeder to next. Activity 2: watched feeder cam which showed many birds. Some picked once from suet but most went to seeds. Blue jay seemed to peck several times in a row. Downy woodpecker pecked in upright position atvfeeder. Also saw pleated woodpecker. Some stayed a while and tried several feeders. Some went to one and flew away.

Activity 3:  Late afternoon in my backyard. Heard a woodpecker.  Mourning dove. Some kind of squawk, maybe catbird? Miscellaneous chirps, unidentifiable. This is really hard.

Activity 2: I watched the Cornell Lab Feeder in mid-afternoon and saw several Mourning Doves and Grackles. The Mourning Doves fed from the floor surface, while the Grackles fed from both the floor and perch feeders. The Grackles held seed in their beaks, often rotating it before eating it.  Blue Jays also visited, mostly taking seeds from the perch feeders. They took larger seeds and often flew away with them.  I saw one Blue Jay that held two seeds at once in its beak and flew away with them. Red-winged blackbirds also came, not staying long, just taking seed away from the perch feeders.  The feeder was also visited by two woodpeckers, I think a male Hairy Woodpecker (looked like the longer beak type) and female Downy Woodpecker (shorter beak).

Activity 2: I watched the Panama Fruit Feeder around 1:30 pm on Aug 15. Nobody was there for a few minutes, then one bird flew onto a branch. It was a small bird, with a distinct yellow cap, black back, and yellow chest.  From eBird, I tentatively identified it as either a Yellow-crown Euphonia or a Thick-Billed Euphonia.  It stayed on the branch for a while, constantly looking around. Then it came in a little closer, flying onto a perch above the fruit, also constantly looking around, and stayed there for a while longer.  Finally, it flew onto a banana and started to peck at it, still always looking around.  It stayed on the banana and fed for a bit, then flew away. It seemed that it was constantly on guard at the feeder, always checking around for incoming competitors.

Activity 1: I watched a pair of Galahs sitting on a fence engaged in preening behaviour.  They both preened their own breast feathers and then took turns to preen the head and neck of their partner. Activity 2: My backyard bird feeder (in Canberra, Australia) attracts mostly Galahs, sparrows and crested pigeons, with the occasional visit from Crimson Rosellas and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos.  The Galahs are usually waiting when I put out the Wild Bird seed mix.  There is usually one Galah on the feeder, one on watch and a few others queuing up waiting for their turn at the food.  The one on the feeder usually gathers a few seeds in its beak and then grinds or cracks them.  I am fascinated by the way these birds also use their beaks as climbing tools to get on and off the feeder.  Once the Galahs have had their fill the sparrows and pigeons move in to clear up the leftovers.  In my front yard I watched a Red Wattlebird feeding on an Eremophila plant, pushing its beak right down into the bell-shaped flowers to get to the nectar. Activity 3: I can recognise many of the calls of the common birds in my neighbourhood - the Australian Magpie and the Kookaburra are unmistakeable!.  I can also recognise the Crimson Rosella, the Raven, the Magpie Lark, the Red Rumped Parrots and the Faiy Wrens.  The Koel is a seasonal visitor to the area and is another unmistakeable bird call that I have heard a few times lately.

I have a few Anna's hummingbirds who hang around my patio feeders. A few times I have seen one of the males flying erratically- and close to the ground. I had worried that he may have been sick or injured but today the angle of the sun was just right and I noticed he was eating small insects- catching them while he flew. Also I have a lot of white winged doves at my feeder. They are a bit too big to perch on the feeder, but will try anyway- often landing on top of one another to force their way to the feeder. And while house wrens and house finches eat from both the feeder and the ground, Aperts Towhees only eat seeds that have fallen on the ground. I have not yet seen them perch on the feeder.

I was watching the sapsucker woods live cam and I noticed that some of the grackles at the feeders were pointing their heads up or looking up while others were minding their own business. I think the ones that were looking up were acting as sentinels looking out for predators. And I was watching the Panama live cam and a grey cowled wood rail came up to the feeder and ate the bananas for a while. Not many other birds came up to it while it was eating except for some snow bellied hummingbirds. Also at the Panama feeder, I saw some type of euphonia and some southern bentbills i think. The euphonia was more solitary and ate much slower than the bentbills.

Activity 1: We have a charming little Oak Titmouse in our yard and one day we saw him pecking on our Wisteria.  We did a bit of research and found out that Oak Titmice do peck on wood however, they have an uneven tap while our Acorn Woodpecker have a specific rhythm they stick to. Activity 2: We noticed that our House Finches eat almost all of our seed in one day, but the Oak Titmouse will drop by, take a seed, and leave.  The White-breasted Nuthatch does not take any seeds and we just see a blur of white and black. Activity 3: We have learned to identify the song of the Spotted Towhee which is three beats and a trill.

Activity 1: I watched birds on the Cornell Feeder Cam. There were so many different species. I noticed mourning doves, red winged blackbird males and females, grackles, a woodpecker, and a chickadee. I noticed that when a bird got close to the grackles, they would scare them away. All of these birds were eating seeds. I did not know that woodpeckers eat seeds, although I do sometimes have one show up at my bird feeders. The mourning doves and grackles would sometimes call. I am wondering if it is to tell other birds where the food is or to keep together. I also watched the hummingbird camera. I just watched it for a minute or so and I must have seen about twenty hummingbirds. It was so neat! There were a couple different types there. I know one was the ruby-throated hummingbird. There was a type with a black head and I was wondering why a black head would benefit them.

Activity 1: Building nests This is a nest that is currently being built/weaved by a "Southern Masked Weaver" I was watching the weaver carry strips of bamboo leaves to build his nest, extremely fascinating how these little birds can build such intricate nests only with their beaks. I could not get close enough to take a photo while the Masked Weaver was weaving and I did not want to frighten him, so while he was away collecting more building material I took a close up shot of his nest.

We have four blue jays that come to our feeder.  When we have sunflower seeds, they take one at a time.  But they love peanuts and when we have peanuts without shells in the feeder they manage to take 3 or 4 at a time, shoving them down into their mouth.

Why is the Birdnet app only available for Android phones?  When will it be available for iPhones?

Activity 3: I usually could identify calls from American crow, Black-capped chickadee and American Coot. I usually use the BirdNet App to help me identify. Those birds are common near where I live.

I observed birds on the Panama Fruit Eater cam. I observed 4 different bird species eating together at the feeder. One small finch like bird was at the feeder in a group of about 5 of the same species. They spent their time alternately eating and looking around. One of them acted as the sentinel for a period of time. In general they flew in one at a time, but flew away together. The different species did not seem to mind each other, although the smaller birds would move over to make room for bigger birds.   Listening to bird sounds outside my house- I can identify four specific birds by sound now. In my yard cardinals, carolina wrens, wood thrush and a yellow billed cuckoo are very common.

I saw a blue jay way up on top of an evergreen tree just happily fluffing and pruning his feathers.

Some house wrens have set up shop in a nest box attached to one of the pillars of our 2nd floor deck so we have been able to really observe them closely over the past few weeks.  The male started by sitting on top of the box endlessly whistling his beautiful mating song.   Since finding a mate and building a nest we've been constantly hearing their tsk-tsk-tsk scolding song.  The female (I'm guessing) sticks her head out of the box and gives the song, then I hear the mate answering her from one of the trees on our property or from the woods along the back.  The most interesting habit we've observed a couple of times is one of them trying to "mix it up" with the squirrels that like to climb up to the feeders on our deck.  The wren will "dive bomb" at the squirrel, flying back and forth sometimes seeming to peck at the squirrel as the bird makes its pass.  The squirrels don't seem to be paying a lick of attention, but eventually saunter off just to get the wren off its back.  Just today (Aug 1), about a month after first seeing them, I heard the little chirping of the hatchlings from inside the box.  Can't wait to see if they'll poke their little heads out the hole!

Activity#1 I watched a pair of Flickers for about a half hour one evening- the were foraging on the ground  for food at first, and one was feeding the other. Then later I saw them again foraging on the ground for food, but near what looked like an old tree stump, an still one was feeding the other. I didn't know that Flickers were ground birds, really, and although of course they feed their young, these two both had adult plumage and markings, even though one was slightly smaller than the other. So I thought that it was an adult feeding a juvenile, and maybe teaching it how to find food. Activity #2 This is a very good activity for me at present. I have just put up bird feeders around the yard, including a finch feeder and a stocking full of thistle seed. I also put some suet in a suet cage and some peppery bird seed in a bird feeder. One of my neighbor's cats likes to come by and the birds are especially cautious if they see it, so I am trying to position the feeders away from any larger plants. The goldfinches just take a seed at a time, and stay a short while, as do the house sparrows- but that may be because of the cat- while the larger birds, such as the jays and crows, with eat quite a lot of bird seed. I had a juvenile red winged blackbird that wound itself around d the suet cage and ate quite a bit- whereas the downy woodpecker that comes only spends a short time at the feeder. The goldfinches haven't bothered with the thistle seed- they seem to prefer the peppery mix. And some birds will eat on the ground, such as robins and crows, and jays. Activity #3 I generally hear a lot more species of birds than I see, and I only know a few of the bird songs. But I have been able to find birds after having heard them sing. And I now know the robin's alarm call that it makes as I am walking near its nest or on a path that runs by its nest.

#2 I just added a humming bird feeder since not too many flowers in the back yard, the humming bird found the feeder the first day, and very territorial to other humming birds. They also eat bugs (I think) off this cactus, then head for the feeder, they only feed for a few seconds, ready to chase others out but they come different times during the day. Yesterday was cleaning the beak off the clothespin I am using to hold the feeder from the wire, was very funny.

There are some Eurasian Collared doves, which now I know they are not natural for this area or the US, sometimes not sure if I am watching her or the opposite, but I have a dog water bowl in the yard and she comes regular ( and other birds) to drink, I can tell she is watching were I am sitting almost look as she is tip-toe behind the bush to drink the water. Survival mode in the dry desert.