For today's #BirdoftheDay theme of #closeup, here is a preening Gentoo penguin. The gland is a uropygial gland that secretes oil. By preening the oil into their feathers, penguins stay waterproof and warm. 🪶

#goodmorning from northern Illinois. The election results from yesterday give me hope. I feel a little less tension, a little lighter even. Let's right this ship. #letsgo

Dick Cheney is now in Hell and rooming with Henry Kissinger.

Meet our newest patient here at the Alaska Raptor Center, a Northern Pygmy Owl named King Owlbert by his rescuers. Owlbert arrived with a drooping wing, making flight difficult. We’ve given him a supportive wing wrap, plenty of tasty mice, and time to heal. #small #owls #adorable

GAR WEEK 2025 is HERE!!! Join @garlab.bsky.social as we celebrate these awesome living fossil fishes and freshwater biodiversity for #GarWeek! We look forward to hearing from YOU with any gar pics, puns, stories, GARtwork and questions this week!

My daughter’s 9th birthday, how I found my on-ramp, a horrible thing Lindsey Graham said and an inspiring thing Dr. Seuss said.

✅ Cool: I found a Baltimore Oriole nest on the ground. ❌ Not cool: it's almost entirely composed of fishing line. I wonder if the parents a) used it and b) lost any offspring to entanglement. Please clean up discarded fishing line. 🪶 #birds #ornithology #HamOnt

Let’s be clear, most EBT users are white. The reason he’s specifically lying about “weaves” and we’ve seen so many AI fakes of Black women ranting about food stamps is they need to make BW the face EBT because they know many Americans don’t care if Black people suffer, and some actually wish for it.

Why do people buy pizza with EBT? Because cauliflower is five dollars a head and you can buy five pizzas with the same money. It’s not that folks don’t want to be healthy. They can’t afford to be healthy.

So close. #Kingfisher on the river Stour. A busy bridge by a public car park in central Canterbury. #kingfisher #birds @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social @kentwildlife.bsky.social @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social

Marty’s photo of the day #4879: If you live in America, where the party in power gets its rocks off by being vindictive and cruel, it’s important to keep in mind that their time is limited. Most of us will see their fall. In the meantime, here’s some baby duck cuteness to reflect on. #birds

That’s right! 🦇🦇🦇 #HorrorFam #HorrorFamily #HorrorSky #Spooky #SpookySzn #Halloween #Bats #Samhain #Butterflies #Witchy #WitchyThings #WitchSky Credit: Lunajane 🖤

Tarantula wasps’ reproduction tactic is an all-around creepfest 🫣🕷️ What’s scares you the most about tarantula wasps??👀 #wasps #tarantulas #scaryanimals #storytime #halloween #halloweenstory #insects #tarantulawasp #animalbehavior #animalstories #creepyanimals #scarystorytime

Deeply honored to be a part of this extraordinary day and so proud of our community! We unveiled a historic marker at Yorkville’s Chapel on the Green to honor the bravery and courage of freedom seekers and those who provided them refuge on the Underground Railroad in Illinois.

OMG I can't believe who has decided to grace my kitchen with its presence. My all time favorite insect - a mantidfly! Say's mantidfly, Dicromantispa sayii. Huge bonus that it'll eat the fruit flies. (I'm in northern IL and they don't survive the winter, so its free to live inside with me.) #Bugsky 🪲

A female Woodduck taking a drink. Or is she admiring her own reflection? #BirdoftheDay theme of #ducks 🪶

Queenfisher 🪶 6x6" Gouache on Watercolor Paper Art from my time up at the cabin in September, I really want to do more birds like this :)

Today's theme of #inside for #BlueSkyArtShow got me looking at my archives. This one is from 2022. Inside an old mining house in the UP of Michigan

Anna’s hummingbird in the #sunshine. #birdoftheday #hummingbird #photography #nature #PNW #birds

When a white person says they’re tired of black people or their new slogan, black fatigue, I have to ask, “how the fuck do you think we feel putting up with your bullshit these past 400 years?”.

Fran Lebowitz nails it.

Such a beautiful quote.

Happy Indigenous People's Day!

I am very appreciative of both @alan678.bsky.social and @robcrank68.bsky.social for doing the #BirdoftheDay. Its been fun to go through my archives and has given me a goal for the winter -- to get out and photograph more birds. Today's theme of #droplets. Belted kingfisher in northern Illinois.

🪶 In the Ojibwe language, the word for chickadee is gijigijigaaneshiinh. To hear it pronounced (it sounds really cool) visit ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/m...

I have always loved all things with #wings. But some definitely more than others. Red headed woodpecker for #BirdoftheDay

#goodmorning from northeastern Illinois. A spectacular start to the day. May your day reflect the beauty and peace of a sunrise. #nature #photgraphy

One of my favorite images. A Tufted titmouse with something to say for today's #BirdoftheDay theme of any bird in the Paridae family. 🪶

One of the most beautifuls tits I have seen. The Varied tit. From my archives. Taken in a Tokyo park in 2014. #BirdoftheDay 🪶

I also got this frame of a Yellow-rumped Warbler aka "butterbutt" catching a small bug in the air. 😮 #photography #birds #warblers #thewarblers #newworldwarbler

A Green heron attempting to swallow a fish seems to qualify for #BirdoftheDay theme of #beakful. Also, #wader. A twofer!

More young birds for #BirdoftheDay. Yellow-shafted Northern flicker and chicks.🪶

Since it is Friday and this week seemed verrrry long, I think y'all could use something cute. Canada goose goslings for #BirdoftheDay theme of #chick. 🪶

I have worked on a crane project for almost 20 years and will not apologize for continuously posting photos of both North American species. 😆 #BirdoftheDay theme of #chick

#GoodMorning from northern Illinois. An awe inspiring sunrise to start my Friday. Sets the tone for a great day.

I think I was #spotted. Tufted titmouse trying to figure out what the great big single eye was - friend or foe. #BirdoftheDay 🪶

More Sandhill cranes stage up prior to #migration. Central Wisconsin. (Might have to tap image for full effect.) #BirdoftheDay. 🪶

#Migration season is definitely upon us. Sandhill cranes gather by the thousands at staging areas prior to moving to their wintering grounds. This image of Sandhills in front of the full moon was taken at Crex Meadows in northwestern WI. #BirdoftheDay 🪶

What a lovely message from @bookshop.org. Glad to see them growing and growing. We CAN claim back what has been taken from us by these monstrous corporations, and it starts with things like this. Grab some books these next couple days!

Albatross at sunset for #BirdoftheDay theme of #seabird. Drake Passage on the way to Antarctica. 🪶

Journalist Edward R. Murrow used his platform on CBS to criticize the witch hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. This is what real journalism should do — hold power to account, not capitulate to it.

Never a bad day when you look out into your yard and see this. Video of 3 Sandhill cranes, one a chick, in my backyard. Taken through my living room window. 🪶

Poor birds. I was gone most of the day. #CatsIndoors #Birds If you don’t hear the birds making warning calls that means they don’t see her or don’t recognize her as a threat because they didn’t evolve with her.

Another example of #rest for #BlueSkyArtShow. A White pelican in repose.