A little osprey drama #birds

Tail movements, including spreading or flashing, can be an alarm signal to alert other birds of potential photo-ops. #birds

Dipper dance! A fledgling American Dipper practices its new moves. #birds #bird #nature #wildlife

Extra credit: Can you identify the bird this falcon is carrying? Just kidding, it's a pigeon. It's always a pigeon.

Falcon at Sundown. 200 mph of calm. #birds

If you find a chick without fully formed feathers, it should be returned to the nest if possible. If the bird is a fledgling, hopping about, but unable to fly, then hands off. Let the fox have him. It's the only way he'll learn. #birds

When Spring migration transitions to fall out of your nest migration. #birds #naturephotography #nikonphotography

Blackbird by birth. Sgt. Pepper by choice. #birds

The ibis is a sacred figure in Egypt, closely associated with the god Thoth. In folklore, they represent courage - the last bird to take shelter during a hurricane. In Australia, they're called bin chickens. #birds

"Are you my mother?" asks the baby bird. It seems a valid question. Mother pauses and stares out the window. #birds

Egrets, I've had a few. #birds

The OED says that "frangible" means easily broken, as in "Strut around your room ... to the manifest terror of all frangibles in your reach." Apparently, the word died out in the 19th century, but I hope to bring it back. Apropos of nothing, here's a Night Heron tending to its children. #birds

A lifer for me! The elusive Bay-breasted Oak Leaf.

An Eastern Kingbird looking suspiciously like a Victorian greeting card. I swear, no backgrounds were harmed in the processing of this photo. #birds

This Yellow Warbler looks like an easy mark for cowbirds. But evidence suggests that yellows have developed an alarm call that alerts other species when cowbirds are near. It’s only a matter of time before they form a militia. Happy Migratory Bird Day. #birds

Black and White Warblers are elegant dualists, able to cling to trees both right side up and upside down. They look good in uniform but are preoccupied with boundaries and will attack Chickadees, Nuthatches, and American Redstarts without provocation. Hobbies include: Moss. #birds

Schoolyard bully off to go beat up an Osprey for lunch money. #birds #naturephotography

I was of three minds. Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds. - Or maybe just one really indecisive blackbird. #birds #poetry

"Common Yellowthroat" is an odd name for what is clearly a masked hero from the golden age of comics. #birds #naturephotography #nature

I'm finally a seasoned pro at hawk identification. This is the body of a Cooper's hawk with the tail of a Sharp-Shinned Hawk and the slightly bulging eyes of Peter Lorre. #Birds

Song sparrow belting out "Don't Cry for Me Argentina." #birds #birdphotography

I learned Mozart's 17th piano concerto in college. I did not know Mozart taught a line of it to his pet starling. An early sign of my obsessions? No. But it gives me a newfound fondness for these wretched, noisy, parasitic, invasive, moribund mob-birds.

A mockingbird can learn to imitate up to 200 different bird songs, including some lesser-known species like a feral cat, a rusty gate, and the car alarm of a 1994 Buick LeSabre. #birds #naturephotography #nature #zoomusicology

At the local cemetery. Bluebirds lack the strength to make holes, so they make their homes in old woodpecker holes, bird boxes, and, I guess, mausoleums? #birds

Mockingbird studying car alarms, prepping for the 2:00 a.m. quiz

Since the camera is busted all you get is this old photo of me reading the comments section.

When I first took up birding photography, I bought the chunkiest camera I could. Cell phone photography was all the rage, so I went the other way. I even eschewed the newfangled mirrorless cameras. I wanted something that looked like it could shoot surface-to-air missiles.

In spite of my handle, I did not know that zoömusicology was a thing until I came to BlueSky.

I've known this writer since I was 33 and now I'm 53, and I'm proud to see the youngster getting the recognition he deserves.

If song birds sing for pleasure, do shrikes just kill for fun? Natural music critics – savages, each one.

This wasn’t the blue wave I was hoping for, but I’m here for it.