My favorite bird by FAR is the Northern Cardinal. There's a HUGE group of them near where I live in Burlington, VT. I like how they're the first birds you hear in the morning around dawn and the last near dusk. Since getting into this hobby I notice that my ears are so much more keen and observant to bird songsand calls. Just the other day I noticed that all of the birds in my neighborhood were in some sort of "tizzy" I kept listening and now I know why. There was an owl in the neighborhood in the middle of the day and the other birds were definitely sending the alarm. Birds are so cool!