I have been monitoring Common Loons for the Vermont Center for Ecostudies several years at two very different lake communities. What I noticed most this year while monitoring a Loon pair on a remote, more natural setting was the increased fear/caution response to humans. The previous lake was much more populated with 3+x the development and human/boat activity. It was a true example of city versus country Loon behavior. On the busier lake I became known by the resident pair over the years(maybe they recognized my kayak). It is as if they knew I was helping to protect them yet they were also used to the human activity. As I placed the floating raft signage in the spring, which warns people to keep away during nesting season, the Loons swam near by. As I checked on them weekly with active nest incubation I knew the respectful distance and was able to photograph the activity. Not so on the more remote location lake of the same acreage yet less than a 3rd of the development and fewer motorized boats. I carefully monitored the nest from a very safe and respectful distance, however the parent on the nest would lay low on the nest aware and afraid of my presence...it slid into the water. I was horrified that I was the cause of the departure. Never anything I would have wanted to do. This was a different culture and experience for sure. I watched from my property on the lake as others approached the cove unaware of the nest and I am sure the same departure by the nesting parent. These loons need much more space and respect. The nest failed 2 attempts in 2020 and as I have learned that it has failed for several years. Now that I am new to this lake and monitoring the resident pair I have have suggested changes in access to the cove during breeding/nesting season. Historically no signage was placed because it was thought human activity was so low and it was a much more organic approach to Loon habitation, however kayakers were aiding in the failed nesting seasons. As they paddled nearby, the parents abandoned the nest and predators took the eggs. I was completely aware and the parent left the nest when I approached at a distance to monitor and photograph so it had to be so when those unknowingly approached. This was a very clear experience with difference in location/habitat and behavior of local animals. As animals of a certain species are very similar they are different in as many ways. Melissa, your experience with the Belted Kingfisher Nest was a perfect example and hits home with my experiences too. Thank you for sharing! They are such an elusive, beautiful bird.    

I learned how Black-billed Magpies use their tails to maintain balance.  They are absolutely crazy about peanuts, and emptied the feed in less than 5 minutes.  They come rocketing in and use their tails at the last minute to stop when they land directly on the feeder.  The research made me think about how the tall grass will obscure them while they are ground feeding, so I photographed them from my second-floor window.

saw this at my feeder and watched it for a while, the took out my camera at a safe distance. I love the way that the White breasted nuthatch can feed upside-down!

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Birding at Nisqually NRW this Great Blue Heron was fishing along the pier. I sat sat a safe distance while this beautiful bird ate this fish.

Walking in a field late June when I saw a mother feeding her young on a barbed-wire fence.  Time and again she swooped over the field & pond & quickly returned with insects.  This continued for a very long time and they seemed to be totally unaware of my presence and the pictures I was taking of them.   August is their peak migration time.

I look forward to seeing the hummingbirds show up for the summer at my feeder.  This year they came but were not  drinking from the feeder so I visited a local store and they recommended I change the feeder and brand of nectar and that worked.  I have enjoyed observing them in Massachusetts but they will be migrating south soon.  This is a female Ruby Throated hummingbird..

I was walking in this road in the Yucatán Peninsula and we hear a couple of Laughing Falcons very near and we walk closer follow the call, and in a dry tree they were both. One fly away and the other stay a long time. like as if it felt good with us.

I was interested in the American Woodcock. I had never seen one in my neighborhood but thought I'd heard one once when walking in an area. For this assignment, I went to the marshy area where I thought I had heard the woodcock and sat for a while. I went in the early AM. There was a lot of activity in the marsh and at one point the woodcock just sort of waddled out of the weeds and onto an area where the lawn had been mowed. I watched it simply sit on the lawn for 20 min. or so. I snapped this photo and left.

I spotted this Surf Scoter in the marsh at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. This is a rare find for inland Wisconsin and he was working his way along the edge of the cattails on the opposite edge of an opening that flowed along the road. Using my car as a blind, I parked and waited for him to come to me rather than attempting to move closer. The bird remained in view rather than retreating to cover and passed within thirty feet of me apparently unaware of my presence. I used the same approach waiting in a hidden position while this Black-Crowned Night Heron continued feeding along the shore at the Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve and finally maneuvered into the proper light for this photo.

I went out looking for great blue heron which are found around a local lake  instead I found this beauty—a juvenile black crowned night heron  just standing there watching me!

I followed Melissa's advice and walked on the shore in the early morning at low tide.  I was especially happy to find an abundance of Western Snowy Plovers on the beach at Coal Oil Point (just west of UCSB).  These birds are listed as threatened since 1993 but they nest at this protected location each year.  Many signs encourage visitors to keep a distance from the nesting area which is roped off.  However the rest of the beach is open to walkers and surfers. I was especially pleased that a pair of these very cute young birds showed no fear of me as I watched them.  Though I did not get down on my belly on the wet sand I squatted for quite a long time.  Neither bird moved until I got up and left. My shutter speed was 1/800, my aperture F4 and ISO 160.  My lens was at 600mm.  When I look at these photos greatly magnified I can see every individual feather. Editing was in Photoshop only - haze removal and Levels adjustment.  Only minor cropping. The rear bird is slightly out of focus due to narrow range of focus (F4).

• I'm always excited when migration begins in early spring. This is when the Black and White Warblers pass through our property. This year I was only to see them for a short time. On vacation at the lake house on Nantahala we went to the Wayah Bald Tower were we spotted the Black and White Warbler that you see in the two pictures where there is no leaves on the trees. With that said, for this section of the course I decided to study the Black and White Warbler. It's a fascinating bird. Builds its nest on the ground next to a tree, log or a bolder. Prefers primary to secondary forest. Eats most bugs you find on trees as it climbs around the bottom of the trunk making its way up similar to a Nut Hatch or Brown Creeper. As I set out to see if I could observe and photo one this week ( 07/21/2020). I was able to get a photo of the Black and White Warbler. (the photo of the trees with leaves). They are now you see me now you don't. Maybe you tell that it's a Black and White Warbler.

I researched Cedar Waxwings because my usual observations of them are when they are located at the tops of tall trees on bare branches.  The All About Birds site listed various berry trees that are favorite foods of these beautiful birds.  A local photographer mentioned a park where there are serviceberry trees.  Sitting on a bench in view of the trees, I could hear the bzeee calls from high up in the trees around me.  It wasn't long before the Cedar Waxwings were flying down for the berries.  I only managed to photograph them in half-sun/half-shade but they were fun to watch.

One of my favorite birds is the Brown-headed Barbet. I loved these birds' songs long before I knew who they were, got into birding, or tryed my hand at photographing birds. I find them to be pretty shy though. In early March, I discovered one pounding away making a nest on a dead tree near Thalangama Lake, where I try to walk every day. It was so engrossed in what it was doing that it didn't even care that I was nearby. Then quarantine came, and for two months I couldn't check back on the site. Once we were free to return, and walk (with masks), I checked again over and over, and figured too much time had passed. Then one morning I spotted one of the barbets coming out of the hole, so I kept checking back, keeping a distance (bridge camera with 1200 zoom). Saw it a few times, and nothing again for the last couple of weeks, so I thought maybe the time had passed. This morning I saw one of them again, on a branch near the hole! There aren't a lot of good books on the birds of Sri Lanka, but I do have a couple I keep on hand and reference frequently. It's often the case - as in this instance - that I witness something and then learn more about it. Primary breeding season is February to July (fits my timeframe), and "the bird, working solitarily, hammers and pecks out a hole in a soft-wooded dead stump or branch" (G.M. Henry, A Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka, p. 324). I also learned from the guide that the calls I love so much are the pair keeping in touch with one another from some distance.

The Brown Pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis) is a common species today along all our coast but it was on the Endangered Species list  from 1970 to 2009 and became extinct in some states.  The cause was the use of the now banned pesticide DDT which caused pelican eggs to become so thin they would fracture before the embryo was fully developed.  There has been an enormous conservation effort to restore this magnificent species, especially so in Santa Barbara where some of my birding colleagues have done regular brown pelican counts.  They are very sociable birds both congregating and flying together often in large groups.  I know that there is a breeding colony on Anacapa Island off the southern California coast.  It is an enormous bird and because of its size it is easier to photograph in flight than most other smaller birds.  The birds I've been seeing lately along with the Black Skimmers are juveniles, the adult being mostly gray and white.  It is fun to watch them when they dive head first into the ocean to capture fish.

I spotted a Great Blue Heron last week in a nearby marsh, and was inspired by this class to learn more about this species. I started paying attention to the tide charts for my area, and read about GBH feeding habits, and am now trying to use that to predict when he'll be there again. The last few mornings I saw him there 1 to 4 hours after low tide, but this morning I was there an hour before low tide and he wasn't there. As I was leaving I saw him in a different spot, not in the marsh, but way out at the tide line of the beach. Now I am wondering if he goes up to the marsh only after low tide. Will have to keep checking to find out. This photo was taken four hours after low tide.  

I live a block from Alice Keck Park and walk my dog there often in the mornings.  One day I noticed a juvenile Great Blue Heron in the pond.  I walked home and got my camera, then waited for about an hour while watching this bird's movements.  Suddenly he spotted and caught a large fish and held it in his bill.   The fish was obviously too large for him to swallow, so he had to drop it.  I shot multiple frames. I often bird in the evenings at the Andree Clark Bird Refuge in Santa Barbara.  I was seated at the third viewing platform when a young Black Crowned Night Heron flew in and landed on the bench not more than 15 feet away from me.  He was quite comfortable sitting there and watching me for several minutes.  It was a wonderful experience!  These birds are breeding in this area as I have seen several juveniles there as well. Dika Golovatchoff

I shot this goldfinch feeding on a sweet-gum ball in mid-January this year at a city-owned swamp near my house.  The behavior surprised me because I had always though of sweet-gum balls as being useless outdoor Legos. So I did a bit of research and found out that sweet-gum balls provide a critical source of food in mid-winter to several species, particularly goldfinches, at a time when other food sources are very scarce.  It gave me a new appreciation for the role of the sweet-gum tree in the environment, that I wouldn't have known without the experience of taking this picture.  

The online resources are such a great help!  I have loved watching and photographing Great Blue Herons for some time.  We are blessed to live on a small lake in Florida where we have a fair amount of birds and the occasional American Alligator.  This GBH was fishing for breakfast one recent morning and I was able to capture a few frames.

I, too, am intimidated by the quality of the photographs submitted thus far. They encourage me to improve. I try to be a faithful student and follow directions, so I decided to research two birds that I had hoped to see yesterday. They were the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and the Black-capped Gnatcatcher. Both had been seen on on the slopes of Montosa Canyon which includes their natural habitat of isolation, slopes and mesquite trees. Unfortunately on a gray day, I neither heard nor saw them. It was uncharacteristically quiet in the canyon. Eager to fulfill my assignment, I switched to the only birds I was hearing, Bell's Vireos and Northern Cardinals. My Bell's photos were very poor and the Cardinal was pretty far away. It was the best I could do. I did my research but not on the bird I photographed, the commonly seen Cardinal.

I very much appreciate this lesson on responsibility. I have a question from a later lesson. You recommend using a teleconverter. My camera is a Nikon D5300. My long lense is a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 80-400 1:4.5-5.6G. What teleconverter do you recommend ? Thank you very much 🙏   Phil Fitzpatrick bgaldoflife@yahoo.com