I've always enjoyed birds, it's in my blood. My parents raised us with a sincere interest in the natural world and my mother is an avid birder. But it wasn't until we moved to a new house, out in the country, partially surrounded by woods, that I first felt the total exhilaration that comes from bird watching. We only have a couple feeders, but I plan to get more. I think my favorite part is sharing the excitement with the kids. Our best day we counted 22 different species in our own backyard. Now, I am a complete novice. I'm sure I misidentified one or two but we were only counting for fun. And we got some pretty impressive visitors on our list, including a Pileated Woodpecker and a Broad Winged Hawk. Though the family favorite was the feisty female Ruby Throated Hummingbird. I've named her Hortense and will probably devote at least one post just to her. I won't list every bird we saw but there were four different types of woodpecker and lot's of little ones at the Finch feeder. We've yet to have another day quite like that one but to be sure, I'm out there for at least some part of each day with my bird book and binoculars. I'm learning more everyday, matching calls to their owner, and I've bookmarked the Cornell website to help with Id's. It's a great sight. If you've never used it and you're a beginning birder like me it's your go to identification page, with sounds and all.
Here's the link:
All About Birds.
photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pmillera4/13963984847/">PMillera4</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
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