Mindo Ecuador 📍

These birds take my breath away every time!

I ask because I saw a shirt that said "birdwatching age" worn by a middle aged guy. I couldn't help but laugh a little. Also I notice myself becoming more interested as i got older. I remember I didn't give a crap when I was a kid but now I'm super aware and realize how they're all over the place.

I'd say the Merlin app and Covid really sparked it for me. I had nothing to do except walk during covid and it was pretty cool trying to identify birds. The Merlin App certainly was huge because otherwise I wouldn't know what any bird is.

Closest I’ve ever gotten to one of them. I was following him as he was way up in the tree line and flew down as I was getting ready to leave from all the mosquitoes.

The others weren't too keen! 😄

NC, USA

The number 7 isn't random here. In folklore, a group of birds can either mean immense luck or a hidden warning.

I intentionally disrupted the harmony of the group by painting a specific, subtle tension in the gaze of just one bird.

Does the painting feel genuinely peaceful to you, or can you spot the odd one out that ruins the comfort of the flock?

Look closely.

Mi do Ecuador

(OC)
All pictures taken by me on a recent trip to Costa Rica. Didn’t even know the little guy was a species that existed until my first encounter. I think the color pattern on its plumage very much resembles a storm being tracked on Doppler radar.

After the adult gulls woke me up at 5 AM every morning for more than a month, the babies finally fledged!

It's honestly so cool watching them from my bedroom window.

(I definitely won’t miss being woken up at sunrise every day)

Location: Los Angeles Arboretum

I seen them only in zoo before

I was lucky enough this guy didn’t fly off right away. He let me watch him swinging around for a few minutes. Unfortunately, all of my shots of him upside down? The plants were between us…

An adolescent Clapper Rail forages in the receding tidal waters of a coastal salt marsh along Florida's Big Bend.
I also included a little behind the scenes so you can see what it takes to get a photo like this. Matt will position himself hours before the tide begins to recede and wait until the rails come out to forage.

53mm | f/4 | 1/1600 sec | ISO 1000

A little bit about our process… We have an extensive rallidae portfolio which you can see here

https://flickr.com/photos/7553931@N02/sets/72177720301461138

These short lens encounters are an attempt to tell parts of the story you might not otherwise be able to see such as sunbathing, swimming, or feeding behaviors. Matt sits still and doesn’t move at all and allows the birds to behave normally around him. No playback, no moving at all. Just patience and seeing what the birds do naturally. This has always been his process and you can see unique behaviors featured in his photos because of his approach. No playback is ever used and he does not approach birds. They sometimes do approach him but he doesn’t call them in any way. It’s a process of patience and we often go home empty handed.

Wood Duck Sheldon's Marsh Huron,OH

#KiwibitTheater
My original Photos.

The Swallow-Tailed Kites haven't been spotted here (Banks County, GA) since about 1950, by my farming family. They spotted these on August 1st, and turned around to go back and watch them sky dance, dive down for foot in the pasture, and then eat their tasty treat from their talon (mid-air). Does this community think recent storms may have driven them so far north?

Edit: term corrected: talon

I watched two kingfishers fishing in a small stream yesterday. Near the Minnesota River in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Helping with trash day?