I've just seen a hummingbird tongue in reality. Little guy was doing that licking-your-lips thing birds do when cleaning, but hummingbirds have looooong tongues so it's very silly.
Not sure how the rest of my morning is going to top this. 🐦 🎶
If you've not seen hummingbird tongues, it's worth looking em up, they're extremely silly.
Returning to an old birdsite tradition: the latest visitors to our bird bath.
Here’s this morning’s Steller’s Jay. (These crested beauties are sometimes misidentified by nonbirdnerds as Blue Jays, but those have white stripes in their head and they don’t usually appear west of the Rockies.)
Photo taken as I was surrounded while sitting on a bench outside the Frankfurt airport last July. I played dead and it worked, they stared me down and moved on. I survived this close encounter with Canada geese.
For the holiday, a thread on how to befriend crows.
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Befriending crows is a wonderful thing.
I have many crow friends at home and at work. They bring joy at unexpected moments and can rescue a miserable day even without shaking down the dust of snow that Robert Frost described.
This thread is an updated version of one I posted at the bird site in July 2019.
I was never much of a 'nature' person. I grew up in a big city. Then I moved to the Bay Area. Now, I wake up early and look at birds. And even take photos and videos of them!
Here, my first 'nature' video: my trips to the Farallon Islands
Info in captions, coz I'm #ActuallyAutistic and I hate talking. All photos and videos taken between Jul 2022 and Jul 2023
🧵
I've not been this close to a wild #turkey since I was a kid. Was fortunate to come across a small harem of 4-5 hens rooting around in the undergrowth. It was hard to tell exactly how many b/c they disappear in the dense growth, their heads occasionally popping out here & there. They were very patient w/ my presence & I grabbed some nice shots which I'll attach in this 🧵.
(12/13/23)
This'll be a short thread of random bird shots from last summer (...to finally get 'em out there well before another summer arrives). Might do more of these in the next weeks until my backlog's a bit more manageable!
Firstly, a ruddy shelduck hanging out with a flock of Egyptian geese at a local lake. They're closely related and sometimes even hybridize!