Learn how Talon Winery saved this bird!
Read MoreHenslow's Sparrow
White-Breasted Nuthatch
One of our backyard white-breasted nuthatches doing what nuthatches do - running up and down trees, most often upside-down, stashing seeds and nuts. This is a young one - one of this year’s brood that hatched nearby just a few weeks ago. The 70-ish-year old American elm on which it is perched is unfortunately not long for this world. Like most American elms, it has been destroyed by Dutch elm disease, and with large limbs hanging over our house, we are having it removed next week.
White-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) | My Backyard | Louisville, KY
500mm | 1/250th second | f/8.0 | ISO4500
Barred Owl
We are currently at 83°F with 95% relative humidity, and the wind is dead calm here in Louisville. “Muggy” would have been an understatement this afternoon when I walked practically right underneath this barred owl perched near a trail at Cherokee Park. It’s not often that I have to actually step back to get the shot!
Barred Owl (Strix varia) | Cherokee Park | Louisville, KY
500mm | 1/200th second | f/8.0 | ISO1600
Four Hundred!
My four-hundredth species!
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American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) | San Cristobal Island, Galápagos | May 26, 2019
Southern Cross
One year ago I was about to do just what Stills sang. I was headed to the equator, to the Galápagos Islands, where I would see the actual Southern Cross for the first time.
Read MoreOnomatopoeia and Goat Suckers
I have to take the opportunity to write about onomatopoetic birds, because really, how many chances do you get to use the word onomatopoeia?
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Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca) | Cherokee Park | Louisville, KY
All the Warblers!
For about a month, starting in late April and ending in late May, dozens of species of warblers pass through Louisville on their northern migration. These little birds, with wingspans of just eight or nine inches and weighing less than half an ounce, begin their journey in Central and South America. Some of them migrate more than 5,000 miles one-way to their breeding grounds in the northern United States and Canada.
Read MoreFour Cuckoos
How many cuckoos can you name (of the avian variety, that is)?
Read MoreGlobal Big Day 2020!
Check out my final birding tally for Global Big Day 2020!
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The Last Time
I am not naturally a morning person, but I try to get up reasonably early because I like the quiet time alone with my coffee and my thoughts. Sometimes I read. Sometimes I just sit and think. This morning I happened to listen to a lesson on mindfulness. It was a discussion of a truth that most of us would rather avoid: everything we do in this life, we will do only a finite number of times.
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