Thanks for this product and forum, I really appreciate it. I've been working on some projects for 1-2 years and found Inkscape very good and easy to use. However, I'm trying some more advanced projects and I just can't figure out how to remove the bottom part of the circle (under the black bird). I've searched the forum, went back and forth in the manual, (even did the first 4 tutorials), but I'm sorry, I just can't do it right. Thanks for your help.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

Do you want to completely remove that bird shape from the red circle, so that it's something like a donut with a bird-shaped hole in it? Oh well actually, it won't be exactly like a donut, because I see that the wings extend slightly outside the circle. So this will really cut the circle into 2 pieces. If I understand correctly, I think you'll want to use Difference. Select both shapes, then do Path menu > Difference.

If you still need to have the bird afterwards, you can duplicate the bird first, then use one of them for the Difference operation. That's because the bird will actually be consumed in the process.

You might find this sort of collection of mini-tutorials helpful...especially if I don't understand what you want to do....because I see that there are other things in the image, so I'm not sure about the "big picture" as they say. We get a lot of people asking for transparency in various different situations. So I made the collection to hopefully address most of those situations. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6616

If none of this does exactly what you want, no worries, we'll figure it out. Just post again with explanation why it didn't work

Thank you for replying, and so quick. I tried doing what you said, and it wasn't quite what I'm after. What I want is on the right (Green circle). I want to remove the bottom part of the circle, everything that's below the bird, and I want what's below the bird to be transparent. (In the illustration, I simply covered up the green circle below the bird). But what I'd like to do is split up the circle, and get rid of the bottom part so it's transparent. The bottom edge of the black bird needs to be smooth. I fooled around with nodes and tried to do it like FHMC tutorial, but can't get it right.
Thank you for the link, I looked at it and I'm not sure those are the best way to do what I want. Thank you for your help.

Oooh ok, so when you said 'remove the part under the bird', you meant under, as in from top to bottom. I thought you meant under as in z-order.

Next question -- you said it needs to be transparent. But rather than transparent, could it be deleted? Because if it becomes a separate piece, and you make it transparent, it will be hard to select. Ok, you can do this in pretty much the same way I already described.

First, duplicate the bird. Select one of the birds and the red circle, at the same time. Path menu > Difference. That will turn the red circle into 2 pieces. Select them (or don't deselect), then do Path menu > Break apart. Deselect everything. And now you'll be able to select the bottom part of the red circle, and either make it transparent, or delete it.

Next, I notice a space between the bird and the green circle. Assuming you mean to keep that space, you could move the remaining bird downward slightly. Or another option might be giving it a white stroke.

It could also be done via node editing, but it's really much easier with a path operation....unless I still don't understand what you want to do. Let me know if this is what you wanted. Or if not, we'll keep trying

Yes, thank you so much! It worked! That is what I wanted! Thank you, thank you. I was trying for hours. It really is simple once you follow the right steps. Thank you very much.