cindy

Activity 1: n Cardinal has a short migration in the eastern US vs the black warbler which has a long migration from South America to Canada. Scarlet Tánger and the Western Tánger have a long migration in North America but one is East Coast  and the other west Coast hummingbirds have a long migration with a East/west coast difference sandhill crane has a large migration but mostly in US (all the way to Alaska)

Activity 3.  These are all the birds that were eating at my feeders or scratching at the ground ( Charleston, SC) .  Some of the birds I knew already by their shape, size, and color. (e.g., Canadian goose, eastern bluebird, ruby throated hummingbird, woodpecker) but the rest I had to observe, use Merlín and my bird book to be sure.  Also, the Carolina Wren  I used the song to help identify. Also, what I thought was a crow, turned out to be a grackle.  And I didn’t know about the catbird!   Also, thanks for the lesson on binoculars.  I am getting better with mine and might invest in a better pair. 1 eastern bluebird 2 cardinal 3 Canadian goose 4 Carolina wren, 5 house finch 6 common grackle 7 mourning dove, gray cat bird 8 red-bellied woodpecker

Thanks for posting about the dove.  I guess I didn’t appreciate it enough and now that I know it is someone’s favorite, I will give it more attention.  :)

@Jay Wow! Nice!   How do take those photos?  Could you share the setup?

Nice photo.  Where is this?

Observed today at the feeders (Charleston, SC) 1. Red-bellied woodpecker (a very large bird that has a bright red head, but also a light red belly)he likes the suet feeder and is here more often and longer since we added a new suet feeder with a tail prop) 2. Ruby-throated hummingbird has arrived.  It’s so tiny and fast that I don’t know if it’s a male or female. 3. Eastern Bluebird: 1 male, 1 female and 3 juveniles. Eating at mealworm feeder.

Laura, where are you located? What a cool experience.  We have a few eagles here in Charleston, SC, but I have never seen them other than flying.  Usually an experienced birder friend points them out to me! 😀

I learned some new things from lesson 1. I’m excited to begin my bird learning journey.  Now I want to visit those places and see those birds on the wall!  I am currently watching a family of eastern bluebirds voraciously eating mealworms at my feeder.  There is something different this year.  Three juveniles sit on the nearby perch and scream at the Parents to be fed.  The parents bring them mealworms and feed them.  Sometimes it’s just two of them (see screen grab of my video) but at one point there were 5 bluebirds all eating, screeching, and sharing.  (I’m in Charleston, SC) now I know why the mealworms were disappearing so fast.  Teenage bluebirds must eat a lot!