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Message: <blockquote data-quote="David in NC" data-source="post: 3190166" data-attributes="member: 111913">Had the little guy yesterday (Monday) for about 6 hours.  We ate when he got here, then went out and watched my feeders for about 45 minutes.  He really is getting good on Cardinals (male and female), Goldfinches, Tufted Titmice, and Robins, even sometimes with just a glimpse.  He's learned the "flap-and-glide" flight of Chikadees and Nuthatches (and it's a hoot getting him to demonstrate it with his hands) o<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />I'm letting him use my Vortex Viper HD 6x32s when he is with me.  I gave him a pair of Meade 8x32s that were pretty cheap, but these have a narrow field of view, and one barrel seems to be getting "cloudy" for lack of better words.  Sure he loses 2x but for the feeders this is a non-issue.  Also, he still has trouble finding birds with bins even though he sees them with his eyes, so I figure the MUCH wider FOV will be handy.He did get bored after this and asked if we could go back to a location I took him on our first birding day and I was glad to oblige.  We drove there (about 20 minutes away) and did all of it by car.  This area has old buildings, large fields, a creek, several ponds, some lightly wooded areas, etc., so it is a good place to go that's safe and that I know I won't stir up too much attention driving around in circles, driving out dead end roads, etc.I don't have our full list handy (it's in my phone which is charging) but we saw some good birds, including some Ravens, European Starlings, two baby hawks (wouldn't even want to guess as they were in the top of a tree with the sun behind them...red tails I'm going to go with) which may be fledglings (?)  I'm sure I seen the fluffy down-like feathers on their upper body and one fanned it's tailfeathers out, which were brown and white.  Also on the way home we stopped by a local fairground with a LARGE grass parking area and we spotted two meadowlarks also.We came home and he did his homework and then we went back out to watch the last runs on my feeders.  He went inside (bored again) and missed a large bird that flew over.  I couldn't even call what this was-goose-like shape (and could have been a goose) but was alone.  It was going toward water so I'm wondering if it was one of the "waterbird" varieties.  It was not a heron-that I'm sure of.Another super birding day!</blockquote>

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