I wondered if other posters might enjoy a thread in which folk can list new additions to their life lists. I’m fine with anyone posting any other info/questions about their birdwatching activities.
I’m a pretty casual birdwatcher. But I always like this time of year, when the migrators are passing through. Those frustrating warblers should be showing up any day now… I’ll have to add up my lifelist - I suspect it is shy of 150.
Over the weekend I added Fox Sparrow in my suburban backyard west of Chicago. One of those nice experiences where you spot the bird, make an effort at remembering the characteristics, and when you look it up in Peterson’s/Sibley’s - you actually find it! 
It was cool because after seeing it on Saturday, I saw it again on Sunday.
Within the past week I also added Eastern Towhee. Pretty bird - also in my yard. This time I took a pic, and got the ID from Merlin (what an amazing tool!)
So, what new birds have YOU seen lately?
I love birds! I love identifying them when I see them and also try to identify them by their song. I use the Merlin app quite a bit. I’m not hardcore - you won’t see me tramping around with my binoculars dressed in a scouting uniform 
I’ve seen most of my area’s woodpeckers; downy, hairy, pileated, sapsucker, and flicker. A while back I spotted a woodpecker I’d never seen before. It was all black. So I went to Merlin and found that it was a black-backed woodpecker. I guess it’s kind of rare to see one. They’re mostly in deep, coniferous habitats and further north. I spied him in the woods behind my house. Never saw one again.
I enjoy bird watching. My most recent ‘lifer’ was the red-bellied woodpecker a few weeks ago at a regional park in Maryland.
Red-bellied Woodpecker Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
I’ve never seen a sapsucker. Reminds me of this instructional video.
If you work at it, you are supposed to be able to distinguish peckers by their hammering! But I’ve never put in the effort. I always distinguish between downy and hairy because “down” suggests getting smaller, and the downy is smaller with a shorter bill. Pileateds are amazing birds. Once I recognized their calls, I realized they were quite common at a place we used to frequent in Michigan. Never seen (or heard of) a black backed. Ever see a redheaded? Funny that they are the typical “Woody Woodpecker”, yet I see them quite infrequently. And I used to think flickers were uncommon - until my sister pointed out the white patch above their tail when flying away. Knowing that, they are one of the most common birds we see while biking around here.
Red-bellieds are also cool birds. Do you recognize their “churrr”? In a previous house, we had a nest in a tree behind us. Once familiar with the song, I heard it ALL THE TIME!
Where does everyone log their sightings? I looked at Cornell online, and it wanted so much info that I gave up.
I log them on a list on my computer! 
The I generally tell my wife, my sister, and one friend.
About as low tech as you can get!
I use e-bird. It’s a bit of a pain to set up, and I don’t always log what I see there, but it is convenient once you get it going.
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a new bird. Probably the jackdaw I saw last fall when I was in Greece.
That’s what I do too!
When I first heard a pileated, I thought it was a jungle bird! I found a few pileated wing feathers when walking through the woods a month ago. I have a decorative jar in my entryway that I put the feathers that I find on my walks. I had a feather identification app on my phone that I used a few times. The last time I went to use it, it was no longer available.
I don’t record any of my sightings other than check off the page in my Stan Tekiela field book.
Just don’t let any game wardens or US Fish and Wildlife officers see that!
My first pileated was perched very prominently about 15’ up on a tree right near us, screaming her head off. I almost didn’t believe the area had such big, beautiful birds (well, in addition to the hawks, vultures, grouse, sandhill cranes, occasional loons…
That same place, in SW Mich, during part of the year one of the most common birds is Baltimore Orioles. I just loved sitting out there and seeing all the jewels fly around.
Of course, one gets spoiled by what is common to you. Looking out my front window, I see Goldfinches year around. And out the back, cardinal after cardinal…
I know! I will never be able to invite one into my house. 
I guess I don’t understand why you can’t pick up a feather off the ground. I guess you couldn’t prove that’s how you got it. But I would have a hard time not picking up a cool feather.
Caspian Tern.
Birdwatching can be so challenging. Last week, my sister and I biked to a reservoir. We saw several water birds, but they were too far away to identify, and our phone photos were too blurry for Merlin. So today we brought some binos and Perterson’s. We STILL were having trouble. Saw a couple of big terns, but couldn’t specifically ID. I saw some shovelers, a pied billed grebe, and some others we figured were red-breasted mergansers. Fortunately, we ran into a guy with a spotting scope, and he IDed the Caspian terns, and verified the shovelers and mergansers.
Even with decent binos and a resource, it can be hard to come up with a definite ID.
Oh - last week we saw a mute swan as well. Pretty hard to mistake THAT for anything else.
Saw my first common grackle (quiscalus quiscula) last night. Didn’t get a photo, but made a recording of the distinct sparking-wire call.
I just started a bird book for the first time this year. I know next to nothing of birding, so they’re all new to me.
Saw a Peregrine Falcon on the way to a doctor appointment in February.
Saw a pair of partial albino Red Tailed hawks on the way to a different doctor appointment in March.
Just this morning I played song sparrow calls from my phone(YouTube) on my front porch. It worked! Another positive ID! The only sparrow I’ve been able to I’d so far has been house sparrow.
I’m just now preparing to go for a walk in the park for the first time this year. It’s been a rough couple months, and I haven’t had much lazy leisure time lately. I’m looking forward to seeing something different than backyard birds.
Wish me luck!
Have fun. Download Merlin - free app. Wonderful for identifying /learning bird calls. First step is learning what you hear/see all the time around you. Then you try to ID them. Once that is a part of your, you will be sensitive to when you see/hear something that is different.
I will download Merlin when I find time to replace my glitchy phone. Thanks for advice, all is welcome.
Mrs. Trees and I saw a big ol’ turkey on our walk. It didn’t have all that plumage and neck stuff a big tom has, so female? We don’t know. It was really big though. We were really impressed.
We live in woods/country adjacent exurbs. we get a lot of the same critters you get in the country, but smaller, so it was a treat that our first turkey of the year was a big woodland turkey.
I was walking around the lake not far from my house yesterday and saw a bird circling above. It looked like a hawk, but had a curve to its wings and a light breast. I took a cell phone pic and posted it to an FB bird group. My first osprey ( Pandion haliaetus )
