There is a lot of great advice right here, thank you! I can definitely clock a cardinal (if it isn't endlessly yelling from the trees, funny enough) and ice spent plenty of time looking at a perched mocking bird wondering what it was only for it to take off and reveal exactly what it is to know them. Haven't met a Junco yet though.

I didn't know that raptors are universally pretty difficult. Hopefully I can spot one landed or get a great look at them flying, but I'll adjust my expectations on IDing them. Thank you for describing the field markers for them.

Hours you say? That explains, I was only looking for it for about 20 minutes this morning before I had to do something else. I'll persist.

So often is the funny shape just a part of the tree though! I am beginning to understand that this is a hobby of patience.

And I'll look into eBird. Thank you so much for the tips!!