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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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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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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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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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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This Barred Owl is not making a sound. Nature’s model for stealth technology. The leading edge of wing feathers have comb-like serrations that break up the turbulent air that creates the usual swooshing sound. As seen below, the smaller streams of air over the wing are further dampened by velvety textures of feathers unique to […]
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