In the last 2 days, I have had 3 immature rose breasted grosbeaks visit my feeder. When I saw the first one, I thought it looked like a grosbeak but the coloring was all wrong. I looked through manuals and Merlin and found out they were immature birds! That was fun.
I decided to take this course for several reasons. I have been trying to learn the birds in my backyard and realized that many are very similar. Careful observations are required to discern similar species such as Down and Hairy woodpeckers.
But I've also been taking drawing and watercolor classes recently. I think that combining this all together in nature journalling will strengthen all of those skills: my ability to identify birds, my ability to sketch and my watercolor techniques. Observing nature will make me not take everything so seriously -- quick sketching and lots of it will help me get better as opposed to treating each attempt as the Sistine Chapel!