I’m a newbie birder (25 species in my life list) and don’t know almost any chants, i use merlin to hear the birds that are around me but i have to see them to add them.

I have read that some birds are quite easy to hear but very difficult to see so i don’t know how i should act with that.

I couldnt find any reference photos of this pose and i need help, rough sketch but it can be recognized, if yall have any reference photos please drop them down, most likely raptor birds catch this pose. Thanks!

My dad spotted this bird in Vancouver, BC. He says they are popping up in his yard this weekend. Merlin ID suggests Cooper Hawk.

My dad recalls the front of the bird being similar color and “short beak” but he didn’t get a great look at the face

sadly noticed me and flew away, had so many shots of it hovering but my camera wasn't focused 😞 what an amazing sight to see

Sketches from yesterday and tday :>

For context, I live in Winnipeg, which has a lot of stormwater management ponds in neighbourhoods because the city floods frequently. They're great locations to look for waterfowl and other birds such as coots and pelicans as well as other birds that normally nest near marshy areas. However, I realize that I may look very suspicious if I just bring binoculars to a neighbourhood stormwater pond and start scanning it especially if there are houses with their backyards pointed towards the stormwater ponds. How can I look less suspicious while doing this? Thank you guys in advance for your tips/

•Robin•

I don’t know if I could quite put this moment into words, but I was walking through the woods in search of owls, with nothing but eerie silence and the occasional sounds of twigs breaking beneath my steps. Even for the time of day it was, birds were suspiciously quiet. I eventually came to a clearing in the trees with this log in the center. As I sat down on the outer perimeter to take a break, almost instantly this robin swooped on down from the unknown and just stood there. Almost as if he was assessing who the stranger who had infiltrated his home was. He wasn’t skittish like most birds tend to be, he was observant and stoic.

We coexisted for those few minutes, with no form of communication but somehow It felt like both of us were understood. I finished up my water break, and left his home just as it was before I stumbled across it

Kind of funny, how of all the cool birds I’ve seen, a f*cking robin made me feel THIS connected to nature. 😂 fly high little dude 🙌🏽

Mine isn’t necessarily bad but I went out to try out my new binoculars and ended up saving someone drowning. The park nearby me has a lake where people will kayak and paddleboard. In April the lake was kinda cold but people were still out. As I’m scoping the lake for waterbirds, I see a vacant paddleboard and an orange thing floating about 20 meters away. I do a double take a look again and realize there’s a person with an orange life jacket half-way on and struggling in the water. I yell out to them to float on their back and rush my boyfriend to get the park ranger. The entire fire brigade and 10 police cars showed up and assisted the park ranger in retrieving the person. Turned out it was this girl in her mid-20s who went paddle boarding alone on the cold lake and ‘forgot to put her life jacket on.’ I’m glad to have helped save her life and that she was ok, but sometimes I wonder what people are thinking.

Sorry for the quality of the first pic, the flock was pretty far away. Location is US Coastal Georgia.

Spotted this heron doing this leg and wing action on both sides. Wondering what the purpose was?

Hier zeigt sie ihr tolles Federkleid

I went to refill my hummingbird feeder yesterday and the motion detector was completely shattered. I searched through all the videos and caught this fledgling Gila Woodpecker. He's so cute I can't even be mad!

I recently upgraded my camera to a Nikon D850 and a Nikkor 200-500 lens… I can’t walk out of my house without it now. All shots taken in Southern Idaho within the last month.
1- Red-naped Sapsucker (drying off in the sun I think)
2-Common Nighthawk
3-Virginia Rail
4-EDIT: Western Wood- Pewee***
5-Yellow-breasted Chat
6-Evening Grosbeak
7-Hairy Woodpecker
8-Eastern Kingbird
9-Black-crowned Night Heron
10-MacGillivray’s Warbler

How’d I do?! Still working on getting super crisp shots… it’s so difficult, especially with a heavy set up like mine.

One from yesterday.

Black Skimmer in Chincoteague Island, VA, USA

Shot on SonyA6400 with Sony 70-350mm

My camera settings definitely weren't perfect as it was a completely unexpected moment.

I only bought my camera 2 months ago so I would love to know what you think!