Watch the Birdie!

Fun! Thanks, Capn Rick!

Good one - a lot to figure out in this puzzle. Thanks!

Fun one, thanks. Initially thought all of the group names would come into play, but (a) not a lot of vowels there, and (b) some of them seem ambiguous. Then I remembered the clue at 31D. :)

Loved the twist at the end! Bravo, Capn!

Baby bear meta.

I had the "One Under" from the start, but it took me a bit to catch on to the E part of it. Very clever, Cap'n Rick. A great way to start my week. Thanks!

What a great meta!

Started with the groups and learned a lot about birds this morning. Thanks, Cap'n.

I also got caught up in the six unique group names for a bit. 41A headed me in the right direction but not too specifically. For some reason my brain switched to “keep your eye on the birdie” but CRANE did not work. I finally alit on the right letters.

Another "bird nerd" here. Loved it!

Nice! I pretty much backsolved, realizing that I could get the letters for "murder" from the entries under the birds, and only had the "bird-E" realization after that :-)

My submission was CAWrect! Can’t wait for the nest one.

Got it! With some help. Nice! Thanks, Cap’n!

What a great meta! Poked and prodded at it for a while, and then the clue at 31D finally clicked. Very fun. Thanks Capn Rick!

Good one! A murder of crows is my favorite! Thank you, Cap’n!

Had to resort to test solving notes to refresh the old memory, but have now once again arrived at the answer to the Cap'n's puzzle along with the rest of you buoys and gulls.

So I had TAOIST (instead of TAOISM) crossing with LETME (instead of LEMME), giving me TURDER. Not sure why that's not the right answer.

Anytime I park my car outside, it's targeted by those &%$#@*& turders!

That was clever and fun, thanks!

Wow that took a while to catch on! I totally missed the golf “one under” meaning… even though I’m a big golfer!). Instead, I read BIRDIE as “bird E” (rather than one under) — since each one had an E in it. Then, since I was sure DESCENT was key (because it’s smack in the middle, and about birds), I finally I tried going down from the E in each. Seeing MURDER emerge was exciting. I think I remember seeing that word/meaning in a puzzle pretty recently? Good challenge!

Had combo experience of rjy and HeadinHome. Definitely keyed off DESCENT but EREADER was also helpful. Never thought about meaning of golf in the title until reading comments here. Worth an Eagle anyway - great job Cap’n! Thanks!

Wow. Getting it certainly makes you feel clever but... boy, you have to think is he really doing that?

The title just hit me, the Bird E- brilliant! I did not get the aid from E reader I was supposed to until I ran out of other options. I saw the E finally in all the bird names but then tried to use it many different ways. Then I surmised if EREADER went down the E might too. I got MUR and knew where you were going.

Well THAT was interesting! Nice puzzle Cap, it went from “this is gonna be a snap” to “Curse you Cap’n” to “Oh my God, That’s it”

I’ll admit I didn’t get the trick at all. I just started trying all the common birds I could think of and after about a dozen tries I got the right one.

Extremely clever and fun as per usual! Thank you. I saw the bird synonyms and learned what a descent was so went to the sedge, gaggle thing, then the Bird -E and one under for Murder >> CROW. Before I solved I was so proud of the new word I learned so yesterday I quizzed my mountain bike friends if they knew what a group of woodpeckers is called? A bevy of complete strangers walking by overheard and joined our herd for the discussion. None knew the answer but all were quick to let me knew what they did know: Murder of crows and what different local woodpeckers looked like! Very funny slice of human nature while enjoying nature!

Was on the right track all along (looking to spell out a group name and looking below the six themers), but needed the final nudge to complete the missing link as to where to look. Well constructed

Nudged off the board. WOW!!! What a clever puzzle. This one is really a feather in your cap. Thanks Rick!

Fun meta! Liked your slightly cryptic nudges - def needed some of them! :)