Eastern Bluebird sitting on fence line on the side of a country road in Georgia. Many young birders see a beautiful &, to them, common moment. Some would say iconic. But for me it is indeed beautiful (& photogenic) moment but it’s a special sighting for a different reason. Growing up in the 1960-70s as […]
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Prothonotary Warblers, aka Golden Swamp Warblers to us southerners, like these photographed in Bocas del Toro, Panama 11/01-02/24, are starting to head back to the swamps of the Southeast & waterways of the mid-west. They have been ‘wintering’ during the rainy season (our fall & winter months) in the tropical rainforests and mangroves of Central […]
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Great Blue Herons’ plumage patterns, especially along their long necks, are a form of ‘disruptive coloration’: Distinctive designs such as stripes and\or spots that break up the animal’s outline. For some species this is more critical than ‘concealing coloration’ because they live in a variety of habitats with a variety of background colors making it […]
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I joined Jared Lloyd, founder of PhotoWild Workshops, and five other photographers in Panama the last week of November and first week of December 2024. We participated in Jared’s Wildlife of Panama workshop. This post is about the first in-country destination, Bocas del Toro archipelago, and the workshop education content and in-the-wild hands-on practice. I […]
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Gray Catbirds can’t pass up ripe fall berries. In this case native American Beautyberry berries. Gray Catbirds are not alone. Birds, especially migrants, use the high fat & nutrient content of berries they co-evolved with. These nutrients help resident species prepare for winter. They also aid migratory species successfully make their trips back to tropical […]
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Barred Owls are busy in the fall. They start or renew pair bonds and reclaim nesting sites. Young adults build new nesting sites. All this activity is hard to miss because there is a lot of communication between pairs and between young interlopers. It is the hooting season. This is all in preparation for an […]
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Swainson’s Thrushes, aka Olive-backed Thrushes, hopefully Olive-backed replaces Swainson’s in the coming removal of eponymous English names by the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It is easy to miss Olive-backed Thrushes in their deep-forest, forest floor haunts until they sing. Like their forest thrush taxonomic cousins they have a flutelike upward-spiraling ethereal song.But even then you […]
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An immature – yellow eyes & brown streaking – Cooper’s Hawk in our urban, deep inside-the-perimeter of Atlanta yard. This is increasingly common urban occurrence. Cooper’s Hawks are overall short to medium distance migrants. But there is growing evidence that during dispersal if a young adult emigrates to an urban setting they tend to stay […]
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There is nothing a Summer Tanager, in this case a fall migrating female, enjoys more than a fat wasp (or bee). But what about the stinger? They catch their victim in the air, take it back to a branch, & roughly rub it on the bark to remove the stinger. Then down the hatch. This […]
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Female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds seem to never stop feeding, even for simple body functions. But of course, what goes in has to go out. This is especially true for hummers. Hummingbirds are unique ‘peeers’ in the bird world. Every day, hummingbirds ingest their body weight + in nectar. That nectar is 75 – 80% water. To […]
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