I don’t keep a life list, but I know when I see a new bird. We were at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain last week and saw Sardinian warblers.
On the Marais on the Cotentan peninsula here in Normandy we saw a couple of black winged stilts.
Birds with extraordinarily long legs. What’s even weirder is, if you check the wiki, their range is all the way up the Atlantic coast of France but not the UK. Which is why we’ve never seen them before, I guess.
j
Those are RIDICULOUSLY long legs. Neat bird!
Saw a bird that I didn’t recognize near a small pond (almost totally dry now, we need rain). Couldn’t get a good picture, but noted the white breast and brownish wings. Also recorded the high-pitched squeek squeek call. Did some research and it seems I saw my first killdeer. (Charadrius vociferus)
Now that you recognize it, I suspect you’ll see/hear them all the time. Dark ring around the neck, no? Around Chicago - and seemingly many other places I’ve travelled in the US - they are by far the most common wading waterbirds.
We were happy to see Chilean Tinamous (Nothoprocta perdicaria) on our vacation.
Not really a “birdwatcher”, but have seen lots of activity in the yard lately.
One little guy (I call him Bird Friend) follows me around the yard in the evening. He perches the same places all the time as I go around watering stuff. No idea what he is. Grey, long black tail, and when he flies, his wings have big white stripes down the middle, like D-Day transports. Medium length pointy beak.
Another little guy (Mr. Fabulous) is a magnificent little creature. Bright orange body, red head, yellow wings. Really neat to see in the yard. Been eating berries of this bush out back. Bird Friend eats there too. I think me might be on his way elsewhere. Haven’t seen him in a day or two.
Finally, got a murder of 5 very nasty, obnoxious crows hanging around and I suspect stealing the neighbor’s eggs and worrying the little birds. They are constantly making a rukus and some brave little sparrows are always chasing them away, but they persist. I don’t really like them, as I had problems years ago when I had a wife who had chickens. But now the new people next door have the foul fowl, and they have returned.
That’s my bird business.
Your bird friend could be a mockingbird:
That’s pretty darn close!
They’re loaded with personality, too.
Any idea what Mr. Fabulous might be?
Also, Bird Fried does this weird thing when on the ground feeding. He half-spreads his wings and kinda flutters. Reminds me of old-timey Dracula movies where he does that thing with his cape.
Bird Fried does this weird thing
KFC?
I don’t know what the hell happened here, but I meant the mockingbirds have loads of personality - don’t know what the other bird could be.
Western tanager? Might depend on the viewing angle.
That sounds like mockingbird behavior too.
Same body type, but brilliant full red head, orange body and yellow wings. Crazy, I know!
So, is Bird Friend actually mocking me? 
Hmm. You might Google that plus your region. Some kind of oriole? Western tanager is what comes up when I look, but I’d be happy to put the description and your general location into my bird app (PM me if you don’t want your location in the thread).
On a recent bike ride on a rural rail trail, I saw a big flurry of wings off to my left. It was a barred owl, swooping down on something in the grass.
He was a big guy, maybe 2 feet tall.
When he saw me, he flew back up to a nearby branch. I cycled on for a few feet, then turned back for another look. We both held still, staring at each other for about a minute. This was around 4 p.m.
(Central Massachusetts).
Some amusing comedy routines on birdwatching and noises.
So, it turns out Bird Friend ain’t no Friend At All!
I look today, and he’s on my deck, pecking on my new, expensive tomato plant! Ruined 3 ripe tomatoes! Had to bring it inside till I devise a way to thwart his thieving activity.
Bastard!