[PenultimateManStanding]

I watch birds all the time, every day. There are so many of them in such amazing varieties. Hummingbirds, titmouses, sparrows, mockingbirds, crows, doves, hawks, and all kinds of different birds whose names I don't even know. I see them being aggressive, and I see them preening each other. I see them making their nests. My impression is that crows are monogamous. Is that right? Thats how it appears to my uneducated eyes. They all have their own flying styles, and that's what attracts me the most. The doves are very gregarious. The hawks can fly fast as the wind. Flying through the air on a diet of bugs and seeds. That's for me.

[holmes]

I am a bird lover. Here in the high desert we have so many. When u take a hike in the spring the songs are overwhelming.
the dipper.
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7010id.html

[Atlantean_Relic]

Mockingbirds have no fear. They take on anything I ve seen them take on raccoons, cats, dogs,crows, hawks and owls.

[Atlantean_Relic]

Your mockingbirds still sound like birds. All the ones around here have gone on to imitating police sirens.

[SinisterBlueCat]

i love birds! we have tons and tons where i live!

yes, cardinals are annoying, but wow, what a repitiour they have and so pretty!

as for crows being monogamous, i am not sure about that, but around here they act like a bad assed motorcycle gang. you can hear them fly into town, and sure enough, they communicate in a way that is like no other bird i know of and who are the ones that attack the garbage set out on tuesday nights, tearing through the thick plastic to get the goods...the crows.

totally bummer this year, the wrens came and they looked, but they passed on moving in to our wren house. hmmm, i know we are supposed to leave the house alone overwinter and they will make it their own come spring, but maybe we need to give it a good cleaning out so they can start afresh?

the only problem i have with all our birds (and this is only a sometimes problem) is that they all pretty much wake up at about 4:10 am at this time of year...and they all must SHOUT how happy they are to have made it through another dark night...they do this for about an hour and a half and then they settle down again. weird little beasts.

[Chaparral]

Have yellow rumped warblers, black phoebes, bushtits, Wilson's warblers and house sparrows nesting in my yard this year and I'm in the middle of freakng Los Angeles. Ruby throated hummers and mockingbirds have been courting. There's a also a trio of feral Red lored amazons in the area. All this makes it kind of hard to get a decent yield of apricots.

[Atlantean_Relic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SinisterBlueCat', 'i') love birds! we have tons and tons where i live!

yes, cardinals are annoying, but wow, what a repitiour they have and so pretty!

[eric_b]

I went through a bird watching phase when I was 13. I had my
trusty pair 7x35 binocs. Here in Wisconsin the best time is in
the spring - late April thru early May. That's when all the warblers
migrate though. Little green/yellow/red flitters.

Plus there's the hemisphere spanning swifts/swallows which
showup in may. Spend a lot of their time on the wing, distinctive
twittering call.

This time of the year it's already starting to get light by 4:00 am.
You can tell Spring is approaching in the midwest when all the birds
start calling early in the morning. I can identify many of them just
by their call or song. It's amazing if you listen to them closely they
really seem to have a language and vocabulary!

The distinctive call of the Cardinal, the chuckle of the chickadee,
the robin, the morning dove, chipping sparrow, red winged
blackbird, grackle, bluejay, house sparrow, gold finch. Many others
I can't remember now. On my nocturnal hikes I sometimes see, but
more often hear the distinctive wheeze of owls. Watching me from
deep within the starlit foliage.

These days I'll do a lot of my birdwatching using my ears, and if
I hear something I don't recognize I'll go look for it.

[Cynus]

Nice to see so many fellow birders here. My favorite time of year is the winter /early spring. The loons, grebes, mergansers, eiders, and even some murres can be seen on the coast in the winter. In the early spring we get the ducks: green and blue winged teal, common mergansers, pintails, gadwall, long-tailed, and my favorite, the wood duck. Saw a shoveler this year too.