WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BIRD PROBABLY! 🪶

Carb and coffee therapy

Went to Savannah and the coast and saw a ton of great birds. Def the highlight of my year. I have 100s of pics to sort through—most of them terrible of course—but as a teaser look at this Sandwich Tern! <swoon> I know they’re not rare, but if you don’t live on the coast you just don’t see these. 🪶💚

A good thread and good reminder that we need better ways to talk about nature loss. 🪶

I was away for eight days and the house plants look better than ever. Little jerks.

In confirming what bird was on my Idaho quarter I discovered some fun Google auto-fills. (Peregrine Falcon, but you knew that already.) 🪶

Ok you smartypantses, I’m at a loss on this diving duck. Any ID guesses are appreciated. Location: a quarry lake in central Ohio three days ago. Note: that’s a solid block of white under its tail. (And please don’t say “definitely a…” or “obviously a…” because that's mean.) Thx in advance. 🪶

Visited one of the top birding spots in Cleveland (Edgewater Park) but it’s too early for the ducks and gulls so we coped with bagels from Cleveland Bagel Company and coffee from Rising Star Coffee. 🪶

One of the last Great Egrets to hang around before they've all gone south. (the graph is for my county) 🪶

COEXIST poster of the day 🪶

By the way, events are happening all week. A great organization! 🪶

Many thousands at the anti-authoritarian No Kings protest in Columbus, Ohio, today. The vibe was positive, inclusive, funny, and resolute. Not a lib-terrorist to be seen, though I did see a Peregrine Falcon terrorizing some pigeons! 🪶🇺🇸

Check out this new birding trip, y’all. Sounds like a great balance of birds, good vibes, culture, and, wait for it, ethical coffee. 🪶🦜☕

Common Merganser doing some advanced yoga 🪶

Love the intent look on this Red-shouldered Hawk. It’s like me looking at a buffet table. 🪶

Warbler photography is hard and also sometimes very funny. Anyone else have something for #PhotoFailFriday?#IThinkThisBirdMightBeInWitnessProtection #LeafHappens #WorstBirdPic #birds 🌿

That lil Tree Swallow went on to win six NBA championships… 🪶

I thought the highlight of this vid would be the amazing iridescence on the young Wood Duck, but then a special guest came into frame (Pied-billed Grebe!). I’ve had some big misses lately, but, this morning, birding was (yet again) the best thing ever. 🪶

Fall birding is tough, but we managed to find a few warblers hopping around the trees this morning, including a stunning Yellow-throated Warbler. This was my best pic. Nailed it. #worstbirdpic 🪶

Your new Zen screensaver 🪶

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. 🪶