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@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 27, 2026, 4:27 PM

Baleful great horned owl looking down on us

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/10063389686/in/album-72177720329304042/

#OTD 9/27/2013 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

In the good old days before we had to take the trees out of the back yard, the birds would sit high in their branches and look way, way down on us.

Given that it was dark, this owl was far away, and I did not yet have my magical telephoto, this is not the worst photo in my library.

At least the camera is as focused on the owl's yellow eyes as its eyes are focused on us. Also, its bright white bib stands out nicely.

It's a great horned owl, by the way. We can clearly see the horns.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 25, 2026, 4:25 PM

Spotted sandpiper

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/51528605223/in/album-72157720109440818/

#OTD 9/25/2021 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

The great thing about bird walks is that you are with a group of people who know more than you do about - birds. Even if the walk is in a place you have visited many, many times, you will still learn - more.

I am told that this is a spotted sandpiper. It is standing with both feet planted on the left side of a rock. In front of the bird are some other rocks. Behind the rocks is the expanse of the ocean.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 24, 2026, 4:24 PM

Black-bellied plover

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/15401127506/in/album-72157648311571815

#OTD 9/24/2014 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

Ta, ta, ta. Another lovely visit to Mavericks. I think this is a black-bellied plover. What a beauty. Just look at its shiny eye. Not a flashy suit of feathers. But elegant. You can barely see the black belly. The bird is on the shore, looking out at the ocean. I have only one photo of it. It's a pretty good photo.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 23, 2026, 4:23 PM

Great blue heron, king of the mountain

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/37040844680/in/album-72157689543000385/

#OTD 09/23/2017 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

The sun is shining on the face of the great blue heron. The rest of its body is in shadow. The bird is sitting atop the curve of a leafy conifer. The sky behind them is blue and cloudless.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 22, 2026, 4:22 PM

One of the condors we got to see at Bitter Creek.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/44846876492/in/album-72157701702009105

#OTD 9/22/2018 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

It was a magical visit to Bitter Creek. We saw many condors. Most of them are tagged at this point. This one's tag is red and bears the number 1. It is flying alone in this photograph, in a deep blue sky.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 21, 2026, 4:21 PM

A willet, I think.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/15421480851/in/album-72157648248637776/

#OTD 9/21/2014 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

A subtle bird, the willet. It's mostly beige, with a single dashing white stripe coming down its face from between its eyes to the top of its beak. It wears a hat of a slightly more reddish color than the rest of its body on the top of its head. It has long dark-colored legs with knobby knees. It seems to be walking on the tips of the three toes on each foot. The bird is standing on a sandy spit. Its beak is facing to the left. Behind the bird is a calm blue-streaked ocean.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 20, 2026, 4:20 PM

A hawk. Not a red-tailed hawk. But a hawk.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/50369816597/in/album-72157716065816726/

#OTD 9/20/2020 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

If it were a red-tailed hawk, I would know it. But the consensus on inaturalist is that it is. Which it is not.

Anyway, this bird is sooooo fetching. Just look at those dagger-sharp yellow toes curled onto the top of the pine tree. And at the bowed head, angled to the side. And the puffed out white breast dotted with brown teardrops.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 19, 2026, 4:19 PM

Pectoral sandpiper

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/51596606982/in/album-72157720046120368/

#OTD 9/19/2021 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

We were on a bird walk and I am told that this is a photo of a pectoral sandpiper.

Because of its orange beak, I think it is a non-breeding adult.

Above the pectoral sandpiper, another bird is flying overhead. It is very blurry so I can't tell you what kind of bird it is.

The pectoral sandpiper is in the foreground, standing on a rock. Behind the pectoral sandpiper and the rock is the water, which is bright blue and has many circular ripples in it.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 18, 2026, 4:18 PM

Common gallinule at Lake Eola

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/48791263283/in/album-72157711006009856/

#OTD 9/18/2019 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

A black bird with a weird red wattle-y looking thing drooping down from the top of its head all the way down its beak. But the coolest thing about this bird are its Dr. Seuss-y olive green legs and blue-ish green toes. This gallinule is walking on the rocky brown shore next to the bright green water of Lake Eola.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 17, 2026, 4:17 PM

Yellow warbler

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/51491459819/in/album-72157719868905884/

#OTD 9/17/2021 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

Here's another bird species named in a way that totally obfuscates what the bird looks like.

It's called a yellow warbler. And most warblers are at least partially yellow.

As is this one. But this bird is mostly green. Anyway, it looks quite cute in an aspen tree with yellow and green leaves that match the bird. Behind the tree and the bird, the sky is stark white as it often is in our area.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 16, 2026, 4:16 PM

Townsend's warbler in the backyard bottle brush

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/51497788236/in/album-72157719878621724/

#OTD 9/16/2021 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

In the backyard is a Townsend's warbler hanging out on the bottle brush. Its beak is facing to the left of the frame. All around the birds are branches adorned with mostly green leaves and a few light reddish ones.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 15, 2026, 4:15 PM

Anna's hummingbird playing peek-a-boo behind the fuchsia

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/7990575580/in/album-72157631545688678/

#OTD 9/15/2012 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

Usually, the hummingbird is the stand-out. But in this photograph, the two sprigs of fuchsias are bright red, the background and the leaves at the bottom of the frame are bright green, and the bird is a blur of grey and white, with a bright black eye peeking out between some of the bright red flowers.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 14, 2026, 10:05 PM

Belted kingfisher at Mavericks

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/54802648677/in/album-72177720329201719

#OTD 9/14/2025 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

Don't see many belted kingfishers hereabouts. And yet there's one sitting out in the open on the big rock. Standing out nicely in front of the calm, light blue-grey water, overlooking the rocks and the sandy beach.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 13, 2026, 4:13 PM

Downy woodpecker on eucalyptus

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/53989093005/in/album-72177720320271243/

#OTD 9/13/2023 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

This diminutive male downy woodpecker was making its way up a eucalyptus tree in my back yard. It's wearing its red cap on the back of its head. Its elegant black wing is folded on its left side. Its beak is point toward the bark of the tree upon which the bird seems to be floating.

My understanding is that eucalyptus is too hard for the bird's beak to penetrate, but it is likely able to catch grubs and insects hidden in the bark.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 12, 2026, 4:12 PM

Savannah sparrow at Hamilton Wetlands

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/51489157222/in/album-72157719982077804/

#OTD 9/12/2021 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

I am almost as bad at identifying sparrows as I am at identifying gulls. As in very, very bad. Have it on good authority that this is a Savannah sparrow, and I believe that.

This one is posed on a yellow/grey dirt path. Its beak is facing toward the left. Some green shrubbery lines the right side of the frame.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 11, 2026, 4:11 PM

Band-tailed pigeon over the prairie

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/55509074552/in/album-72177720335469446

#OTD 9/11/2023 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

You usually hear a pigeon before you see it. And it is a lovely soothing sound. Somehow, when they are flying overhead, pigeons are much more welcome than when you see them in a flock on your path as you are making your way down a square in a city. Also, band-tailed pigeons are not usually the kinds of pigeons you'd find obstructing you on a messy sidewalk.

This one was flying by itself in front of a clear, deep-blue sky.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 10, 2026, 4:10 PM

Three sandhill cranes in flight, one is very tawny.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/15222261835/in/album-72157647551102775/

#OTD 9/10/2014 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

The three cranes are flying over the Creamer's Field Migratory Refuge, forming an arch above the field. The crane in the middle has a very reddish back. I suspect it's a juvenile.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 9, 2026, 4:09 PM

Robin at Georgeson Botanical Garden

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/15350924241/in/album-72157648019515462/

#OTD 9/9/2014 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

In the photo is a robin partly hidden behind a curtain of green leaves and black berries.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 8, 2026, 4:08 PM

Black-billed magpie on the Denali Savage River Trail

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/15352703522/in/album-72157648032797695/

#OTD 9/8/2014 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

A northern mockingbird on the ground and a bench nearby, with a pair of hiking books on it. It's a beautiful bird. Black, blue, and white, with a long blue tail.

@armadillosoft.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy Sep 7, 2026, 4:07 PM

Steller's jay on my back deck

https://www.flickr.com/photos/armadillosoft/7953483566/in/album-72157631460338454

#OTD 9/7/2012 #birding #birdsOfMastodon #birds #aBirdAday (or more)

We get so many Steller's jays on my back deck. This one has amazing colors. Actually they all do. Deep black head. Neon blue back and tail. This one is sitting on the railing of my very mossy deck.