For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #FoodInBeaks, here are two pied-billed grebes in the #LasVegas Wash at Clark County Wetlands Park in #Nevada; the one on the right has just caught a (much-too-large) carp, and the one on the left seems to want an invitation to share. #Birds

About the only way to see horned larks in their habitats of open fields is when they happen to move: their coloration matches the different shades of brown quite closely. This one was on a gravel county road in eastern #Colorado a couple of years ago. #HiddenInPlainSight #BIrdOfTheDay #Birds

This pair of wood ducks was swimming on a lake at Albuquerque's BioPark a couple of autumns ago. The trees' changing colors are shown in the reflected water, as are the #Reflections of the ducks themselves. #BirdOfTheDay #Birds #NewMexico

Several years ago, this mountain chickadee near Pagosa Springs, #Colorado, was being very active so I had to take lots of photos to wind up with a few usable ones. Here the chickadee is in flight between ponderosa branches, leaving lots of room for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme, #NegativeSpace. #Birds

Thanks to #BirdOfTheDay, today I learned the translation of the Latin #Podicipedidae: "rear-end" and "foot," which refers to grebes' feet being placed near the back of their bodies. Here's a pied-billed grebe in the #LasVegas Wash, just southeast of the city, late last year. #Birds

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Texture, and I'm going with this little verdin that was in a neighborhood in Deming, #NewMexico, in April of this year. The orange-red ocotillo flowers were blooming brilliantly at the time, and the thorns on the desert plant were readily apparent as well. #Birds

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #BirdOnAWire, here's a canyon towhee in #SantaFe, #NewMexico, last summer. I really like the subtle shades of brown on these #Birds.

The campground in which we stay while in #SantaFe, #NewMexico, has a lot of American robins in the spring. This one was looking especially regal one morning. #HeadShots #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

This western meadowlark was greeting the day in eastern Colorado a couple of years ago. We're back in the same area of #Colorado now, and there are plenty of meadowlarks here again -- great to hear and watch. #Grassland #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

Good morning and a most happy #WorldBeeDay to all! This pollinator was busy in a prickly pear cactus blossom in Mesilla, #NewMexico, last month. #BugSky

From several years ago, this sandhill crane was one in a flock flying low over Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in #Albuquerque, #NewMexico. #WingsWideOpen #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

I took this picture of a distant Bewick's wren late last week at our campground in Santa Fe, #NewMexico. I'd never (knowingly) heard their songs before; they are quite lovely singers. #Scrollback #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

These green-winged teal (left) and cinnamon teal were on the wing over Cochise Lake, in Willcox, #Arizona, early last month. That's Dos Cabezas ("two heads" in Spanish), a famous southeastern #Arizona geologic landmark in the background of the cinnamon teal photo. #BirdOfTheDay #DucksInTheAir #Birds

Good morning to all! This male phainopepla (left) was hanging out in McDowell Mountain Regional Park east of Phoenix, #Arizona, a few years ago. I posted a picture of his mate (right) a few days ago, but I'll post it again. #Birds

This gorgeous house finch was checking out the plumbing infrastructure at a campground in Grants, #NewMexico, a few years ago. Listening to house finches in the morning is always a good way to start the day. #Songbirds #BirdOfTheDay

Good morning to all! We're in eastern #Colorado again, and l was reminded of this lark bunting perched on a utility line along a county road a couple of summers ago. Lark buntings were named Colorado's state bird in 1931. #Birds

I think I may have posted this photo before, but it happens to match both #BirdOfTheDay themes, #WaterDroplets and #Robins. Following an impressive rainstorm the night before, this American robin was taking the waters on a county road in eastern Colorado. #Birds

A black-crowned night heron monitors the goings-on in the middle of the Las Vegas Wash, just south of the city. I took this photo in early February this year. This is the alt theme for #BirdOfTheDay, #CormorantOrHeron. #LasVegas #Nevada #Birds

This mountain bluebird was at our campground in Moorcroft, Wyoming, last summer. Moorcroft is in the northeastern corner of the state and we were there to visit nearby Devils Tower National Monument. Very pretty iridescent feathers! #Blue #BirdOfTheDay

Here's a female phainopepla (say that three times fast!) at McDowell Mountain Regional Park a couple of years ago. The males are glossy black, but the females are very pretty as well. #FeatheredFemmes #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

Good morning to all! I photographed this American white pelican on a pond at St. Vrain State Park in northern #Colorado several years ago. It looks like it was taking time to sort some things out. #Birds

Fleets of American white pelicans will form a line or a U-shape to drive schools of fish into the shallows of a lake or pond, and then it's time to chow down. This was at a pond in St. Vrain State Park in northern #Colorado a few years ago. #LinedUp #BirdOfTheDay #stateparks

I wrote about our visit to Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge near Albuquerque, New Mexico: talesofthegoddard.com/2026/05/12/v... #birds

Good morning to all! We enjoyed a visit to Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in #Albuquerque over the weekend and saw nine different bird species, including this pretty Say's phoebe. #Birds #NewMexico

When I saw that today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #LockedOn, I was reminded of seeing this osprey at St. Vrain State Park in northern #Colorado several years ago. It was perched above a trail around one of the ponds, making sure the fish population remained in check. #birds #stateparks

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Raptors, here's a red-tailed hawk we saw while returning from a visit to Fort Bowie National Historic Site in southeastern #Arizona several years ago. We passed by it in our pickup, and it waited while we backed up and I took some photos from the driver's window.

Good morning to all! We saw quite a few different bird species at Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, near #LasCruces, #NewMexico, last weekend, one of which was the lovely black-chinned hummingbird. This fellow was one of several at a feeder outside the park's visitor center. #Birds

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of birds' names that start with the letters #efgh, here's a green-tailed towhee from several years ago at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, east of Phoenix, #Arizona. This is the first one I ever saw, and I've not seen another since. #birds

Good morning to all! A tree just outside our fifth-wheel (we're currently in #Albuquerque) is a favored perch for western kingbirds; this one was being pretty chatty yesterday morning. #Birds #NewMexico

There were Gambel's quail a-plenty at Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park in southern #NewMexico a couple of weekends ago. These pretty birds find some interesting roosts on which to get off the ground, and their distinctive calls make them easy to find. #Photogenic #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

We're at the same #Albuquerque campground this year that we were in last May, which reminded me of my encounter with this desert grassland whiptail #lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) patrolling the campground's sidewalk. The second photo really shows the extraordinarily long tail. #Herps #NewMexico

Good morning to all! We were in Grants, #NewMexico, around this time last year, and I photographed this lil' rock wren perched on some lichen-covered volcanic basalt. Much of Grants is surrounded by ancient flows of basalt, and El Malpais National Monument is within this gigantic lava field. #Birds

For the alt #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Yellow, here's a couple of western tanagers (male being inquisitive on the left, female being industrious on the right) I photographed last May at the top of Sandia Crest in #Albuquerque. The mountain ridge has a top elevation of 10,678 feet. #Birds #NewMexico

This is also a good way to perceive the difference between a millionaire (who not so long ago used to be thought of as incredibly wealthy) and a billionaire.

Good morning to all! From Albuquerque's BioPark last spring again, here's the one of about 20 photos I took of a downy woodpecker that turned out okay; the tree cover and the bird's inability to stay still for more than a quarter-second made for difficult photography conditions. #Birds #NewMexico

There were a couple of common ravens, each of them making uncommon raven noises as ravens do, in our campground in Raton, #NewMexico, last June. "It's like, how much more #Black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black." #BirdOfTheDay #SpinalTap #Birds

Good morning to all! We're currently in #Albuquerque, #NewMexico, and planning a possible return to the city's BioPark this weekend. This picture is from our first visit to the BioPark several years ago; it's the first black phoebe I ever saw. Among flycatchers, it's easily identified. #Birds

I don't have as many pictures of northern flickers as I thought I did, but here's one showing its #Dappled colors in the Arboretum at Flagstaff a couple of years ago. Flagstaff, in north-central Arizona, is in the world's largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest. #BirdOfTheDay #Birds

We visited Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park, just west of the lovely town of Mesilla, New Mexico, over the weekend and saw lots and lots of lizards. This is the only one of which I was able to get a photograph: a common side-blotched lizard. (Second photo is a crop of the first.) #herps #stateparks

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Pairs; here's a good-lookin' couple of northern shovelers enjoying a morning at Cochise Lake in southeastern #Arizona last month. #Birds

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #BirdOnAWire, here's a mountain bluebird just outside of Las Vegas, #NewMexico, several years ago. As I recall, it was a windy day and you can see the ruffled fine feathers on its chest. I like how the color of this bird nearly blends into the sky beyond. #Birds

Good morning to all! Here's a white-crowned sparrow perched in a tree outside of Seligman, #Arizona, alongside the former U.S. Route 66. This picture was taken a year ago this month. #Birds

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme, #BestOfTheMonth, here are a couple of desert denizens from our stays in southeastern Arizona (a curve-billed thrasher closeup in Willcox, AZ) and southwestern New Mexico (a verdin on an ocotillo in Deming, NM) earlier this month. #Birds

Good morning to all! Our campground in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is delightfully frequented by greater roadrunners -- we've seen several dash right by our fifth-wheel. This one was crossing a road in the campground earlier this week. Their head crests make them very expressive. #Birds #NewMexico

A wood duck hen paddles serenely in a pond at Albuquerque's BioPark. This photo is from November 2021. #BeautyInBrown #BirdOfTheDay #NewMexico

Good morning to all! I took about 3 kajillion photos of song sparrows when we were just outside of Custer State Park in South Dakota last summer. It helped that the individual birds were at the tops of the same pine trees nearly every morning. #Birds #SouthDakota

This photo happened to be taken in the split-second between the Brewer's sparrow perching on a shrub and being out of the frame. It's neat to see the structure of the spread wing feathers. Photo taken last April at Homolovi State Park in northern #Arizona. #WellTimed #BirdOfTheDay #StateParks

Good morning to all! I couldn't get this pair of ruddy ducks in the same frame, but here are a hen (left) and drake, patrolling the waters of Cochise Lake in southeastern #Arizona earlier this month. #Birds

This greater roadrunner in Albuquerque's wonderful ABQ BioPark several years ago was the first one of which I'd had a chance to get some good photographs. It let me take quite a few pictures; this one could be used as a #PassportPhoto. #BirdOfTheDay #Birds #NewMexico

Thinking about today's #BirdOfTheDay theme, #TheSongFactor, I was reminded of this song sparrow that entertained us every morning we were in a campground near Custer State Park in South Dakota last summer. A talented little dude, and committed to his art. #Birds