Annie

Activity 1: Rather than jotting down notes, I usually try to get pictures of birds to reference later, though without a good zoom lens that's not always possible. Yesterday, though, I heard a bird song that I wanted to identify, so I used the recorder app on my phone and then compared that to songs on the Merlin app. I am honestly weakest on identifying birds by their calls and songs. Some of them have so many, and some of them just sound very similar to me, so I have a hard time distinguishing. It's an area that I want to work on. Anyway, using my recording, I determined that I was hearing the song of a Carolina Chickadee. :-) I was only a little embarrassed at my ignorance there. I see those little guys in my yard constantly, and I hear them chattering to each other constantly, but I didn't recognize their song. I think I will continue to make recordings for reference so I can hone this skill. Activity 2: Not a lot is going on with local birding clubs right now due to COVID-19, but I did join the eBird Alert for Rare Birds in my area and get those emails daily.

Activity 2: The Northern Cardinals at my feeders will park themselves at my feeders and eat seeds there typically. They'll stay for long periods at a time if not disturbed. I also spotted some courtship behavior the other day in which the male cardinal was feeding a female. The Carolina Chickadees are more likely to hop on the feeder for a moment, grab a seed, and fly off again and then repeat. Same thing with my Tufted Titmice - they'll take a seed and eat it elsewhere. The doves are usually on the ground by the feeder and will graze there, though I did see one on my feeder today! Like the cardinals, the doves tend to stick around for a while as long as they aren't bothered. There is a red-bellied woodpecker who also enjoys our bird feeder. It will stop and eat seeds for about half a minute before flying off again into the trees. I saw a brown thrasher trying somewhat successfully to get some suet from our woodpecker suet feeder. It balanced awkwardly but managed to get a little before giving up and going elsewhere. Our crows do the same thing. They peck a little at the suet feeder, but as it's not built with them in mind, they don't spend too much time on it.

Activity 1: Two similar birds that are easy to tell apart are my Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice! Though the body shape is similar, I can always spot the tufted titmice from a distance because of their adorable crest. I also love their little round eyes - one of the cutest little birds! Activity 2: We have three different types of woodpeckers in our yard. Similar colors, different sizes and slightly different shapes. I didn’t even know about two of them until this week! The pileated woodpeckers have always been easy to spot, but Merlin helped me identify two smaller woodpeckers - the downy woodpecker and the red-bellied woodpecker! I’ve seen them both on at least two different occasions now! Activity 3: Hummingbirds - they whiz around and light on my nectar feeders. They are also territorial and are always fussing with one another. Cardinals - they love my conventional feeders and are usually easy to spot on all of those. The mourning dove likes to hang around on the ground by the feeders and gets the seed that other birds knock off the feeder. Activity 4: I don’t know if I have an absolute favorite, but I have been enjoying learning about crows lately! They are the biggest of the small birds (or smallest of the big birds), and I can best tell them from Common Grackles because their eyes are all black whereas the grackle has yellow eyes. I can also tell from their flight patterns how they differ from ravens (thanks for that video!). Also, the crow has a caw sound (of their many sounds) whereas ravens do more of a croak. I love seeing crows in groups. We’ve been rearranging the feeders around in our backyard to see what works best, and I spotted about three of them walking around and checking everything out when they thought we weren’t looking. They are so curious and have such an interesting community. If you see one, you know there are almost always more nearby.

@Kristin I have heard that they're in my area year round, but honestly I didn't spot any until early March. But today I've seen at least three in the backyard - two females and one male!

@Amy I love that photo! He looks like quite a character. :-) I didn't get a picture, but there was a cardinal couple in the backyard the other day who would take turns coming out of our azalea bush and sun themselves. The male would preen himself a bit and fluff up his feathers. They are so much fun to watch.