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.