Honestly, this is a clickbait title. I don’t think there is a singular ‘most beautiful’. There is just too much unique beauty spread across all the bird taxonomic families. That being said, for me, Painted Buntings are on the top of the list for songbirds. Well again, in honesty, certainly they earn a place in […]
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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 second in-country destination, the Panama Canal at the city of Gamboa and the nearby Gatun Lake and […]
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Cedar Waxwings are notorious frugivores. They have been known to gorge on overripe fruits & berries until they get tipsy & fall out of the tree\shrub. But if there is a hatch of flying bugs, like midges, they can rival flycatchers ‘sallying’ to take the insects on the fly. Especially in the spring when the […]
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Red-headed Woodpeckers are strikingly beautiful birds. They are in trouble. But we can help them in our yards. Their numbers have declined 1% per yr, 54% total, since the mid-1960s. They have made it to the Yellow Watch List “for species that require constant monitoring and long-term assessment to prevent further declines.” What are the […]
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Hermit Thrushes are the only species of the five Catharus family thrushes (brown-backed thrushes, Hermit, Veery, Swainson’s, Gray-cheeked, Bicknell’s) that winters in the US. Their taxonomic cousins migrate on to Central and South America.Hermit Thrushes are hardier and more cold tolerant than their taxonomic cousins. They can also accommodate more berries and fruits in their […]
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Golden-crowned Kinglets are tiny birds, not much bigger than Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, that can withstand extreme cold.Most Golden-crowned Kinglets, breed across Canada. Then they migrate to spend winter across much of the US, including the upper mid-West. Also, there are populations that are year-round residents in higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains & mountainous West. This […]
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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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