Daniels bird-watching advice is good. I've been birding for many years now, although I don't have the same problem of filling my time that Daniel has- I have the opposite problem- too little free time. But the birding idea is a great one. I do 80% of my bird watching in my own yard. Feeders in winter attract many species, and my gardens and birdbath attract more in summer. Right now there are fledglings everywhere, and the hummingbirds have returned. I have a finch colony in the junipers in the front yard, and small sparrow colony in the blue spruce in the backyard. Mourning doves are more numerous this spring that I have ever seen them, although the malard pair that has been frequenting our front lawn for the past several springs has not returned this year. Just this afternoon, what looked like a lesser goldfinch darted across my patio. And of course all the small birds attract the occassional sparrow hawk. My day job out in North Salt Lake is well-situated to spot many wetland species and raptors. A few minutes with the binos at lunch almost always yields some interesting bird observations- even when it's too cloudy to look at the sun.