The fancy sparrows are stopping by on their big trek south, and this morning these two showed up. White-crowned sparrows can winter in the southern U.S. down into Central America. These two decided the creek was for bathing and drinking! Adult in the creek and juvenile on the rock! #Birds 🪶

Spent last week living in the past in the Allegheny Mountains (hills?) of central Pennsylvania. (Stayed in a 200+ y.o. house!) Didn’t see too many birds, but the highlight was hearing a Screech Owl in the distance at dusk—something I’ve never heard before, tho they’re apparently famous for it. 🪶

This morning went looking for fall warblers that everyone seems to be seeing. On the way, picked up some donuts, for my feelings, just in case things didn’t go well. Stared into a bunch of lovely trees waiting for…anything…and saw almost nothing. Fall birding is rough. This was my only pic. 🪶

Haven’t been to this great shorebird spot in years. Haven’t actually seen many shorebirds for years, frankly. Finally made it to this hotspot yesterday. It hadn’t rained in weeks. So, naturally, this happens. Complete wash. Birding is a constant lesson in Zen surrender. 🪶

Downton Abbey but where they all solve murders together. Downton Stabby

Flashing Workshop 101, day 3 “Don’t worry, you’ll get it.” 🪶

Ya know how Google uses AI now to produce search results, even for basic stuff? I just learned that you can add “-ai” to your search request, and it’ll turn that off.

My work is done here ❤️🪶

One of my favorite moments of my trip to Colorado. It sleeted on us around 10k feet and even more higher up. In southwest Colorado. On August 1.

From the Washington, DC Chapter of the ACLU if laws still apply:

Black vultures just hanging around waiting for something good to happen 🪶

I never like the names we give to animals. I wish I could do it. 🪶

Tired of having to plunge its head into smelly bloody carcasses even just for a snack, a Black Vulture thinks about fresh seafood maybe. #ornithology #birds

Two baby Green Herons patiently waiting to be fed and to be old enough to get smartphones 🪶

What a beautiful bird probably! 🪶

Mom and Dad burrowing owls doing some allopreening this morning. Everybody is molting and very itchy, so this must feel so good. 🪶

Turkey Vulture, widescreen edition 🪶

Went looking for a rarity that had been seen a few miles away—a Little Blue Heron—and spent two hours sweating and lurking along the smelly river only to NOT find it AND to be flashed by a pervy Great Blue Heron so I had to get consolation donuts on the way home. True story. 🪶

I didn’t get into birding until the days of digital cameras and I’m SO grateful I never had to go to Walgreens or the Kodak hut to get my film developed. I mean, the FBI prolly kept a list of people who took photos like this. Here are just some of my pics of my first Lewis’s Woodpecker last week. 🪶

Inept birding report from Colorado! I had a big target list but unsurprisingly only saw a fraction of it. But I still managed to see four(!) lifers and 31 year birds. Here are the lifers …who are unevenly happy with their portraits. (Lewis’s Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Canada Jay, Grace’s Warbler) 🪶

Laminated and caffeinated

Just got home from a rare summer trip to Colorado. Blurry bird pics to come. But two travel notes: 1) I like my airport decor super literal. 2) Omg people fly with children? Like, scads of children? When you never fly in the summer you never see this.

Such drama! Nature is so blurry sometimes.

Nice trip to SW Colorado so far. Yesterday had a long hike through alpine wonders and saw, well, not too many #birds, but back at the parking lot this Canada Jay shows up and gets friendly. Classic birding. First lifer in a year!

Meeting some friends in Colorado this week for typical vacation stuff, and the group is texting restaurant lists and hikes and logistics, and I send this: 🪶

Lil flashback to a trip three years ago at this time in Oklahoma. (And I dug up the original pic of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Bad lighting but he was cooling himself in the shade. What a bird.) 🪶

Competing in the category of smallest-head-to-body-size ratio is the Turkey Vulture! Feel free to submit your competitor. 🪶

I believe the kids call it self care #carbs #coffee #pastries #selfcare

I was SO excited and then I wasn't. Also, maybe take a closer look before you tell someone there's an amazing owl over there. 🪶

If the “loneliness epidemic” were real then people would reply to my texts

Ahh, summer birding. If you’re new to this, don’t feel bad—the birds are indeed hard to find right now. They’ve gone quiet because they’re taking naps or whatever—I dunno, not a scientist. Sometimes the best you can do is hike out to a spot, maybe hear an Acadian Flycatcher (I did!), and go home. 🪶

Getting lunch to go. Belted Kingfisher #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

A nice Fata Morgana* mirage I saw in May on Lake Erie. On the left is the Toledo Lighthouse and on the right is the Fermi power plant in Michigan. *that term, sigh. so dorky

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BIRD PROBABLY! 🪶

Ha! (But on the upside you could totally sell this to a grass seed catalog!)

When your birding hobby and your British-crime-TV watching overlap…

The American Ornithological Society calls this the Primary Color Set! 🪶

Well done! What a magnificent bird probably! 🪶

HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my northern pals and neighbors! I only get four pics, so here’s a quick coast-to-coast celebration. I love Canada and could have my bags packed in 10 minutes if anyone wants to pretend I’m their cousin or something but this isn't about me ...yay Canada! ❤️🇨🇦

Once again Anchorage #Alaska is the summer home of a Red-throated Loon that calls in response to the sound of float-planes taking off. He has lots to talk about given the lake where he lives is reportedly the world's busiest float-plane base. 🪶

Question about travel: Americans aren’t popular right now around the world (for good reason). Has anyone had any negative experiences traveling outside the US? And is there any advice for mitigating this while on a trip? Asking for a friend.

Don't want billionaires to get even richer at your expense? Have a Republican senator? It's time to make some calls. indivisible.org/resource/cal...

Through hard work, activists removed the part of the bill that would destroy public land. Now, we need to call and remove this climate-destroying nonsense.

Could I, like, ....stay?

WHAT A MAGNIFICENT BIRD PROBABLY! 🪶

In case anyone needed a white-tailed deer v. American bison size comparison. (The deer is mid-molt, fyi.)

Åland Island birding... two gull babies make for the little house they sleep in at night...

Our local park service is one of the best government agencies I’ve ever witnessed. The birds like it, too. I ❤️ @cbusmetroparks.bsky.social‬! 🪶

This is 1/1000th of the Rubin telescope's field of view. How many galaxies do you see? There are three really obvious ones. Looking more closely, you could find a dozen more that are recognizably galaxy-ish. But really? It's likely that EVERY LITTLE DOT AND SMUDGE is a distant galaxy. All of them. 🤯