Quite a bird. So fascinating. Chickadees are cavity nesters, so you could put up a house for them to nest in on a tree or on your house which would be safe. It's fun to watch them.
Northern Pintail - a close up of the front half and profile of a mostly cocoa brown duck with a dark eye, shiny black beak, a creamy light stripe beginning at the back of the head at eye level, and curving down to the light colored breast. Some lovely wing patterns and detail in the shoulder area. The bird is sitting on some green grass and the background is a nebulous dark gray blue and gray green. As many ducks do, this duck has a serene expression -- could imagine it as a Mona Lisa smile.
Sneaking in a BOTD before midnight, featuring a close up of a beautiful Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) male in a #sideprofile. I love ducks.
#birds #BirdoftheDay #duck #Florida #naturephotography
Representative Frost was fabulous in this interview.
A Roseate Spoonbill -- large wading bird in late day light with brilliant saturated pink and red colors on its wings, body and legs, a red eye and gold yellow face, has its head thrown backward with its spoon shaped bill pointing nearly straight up. Standing on a leafy branch with tree trunks above it and a dark natural background.
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) doing a head throw and in good color during its mating season. Such a #photogenic bird.
#birds #BirdoftheDay #Florida #naturephotography #wadingbird
Five flamingos standing in a row in shallow water. Very long skinny legs, large bodies and very long curved necks ending in a large curved bill tipped in black. Four of the birds are bright orange-y pink and the young bird in the center is pink-tinged tan. Green vegetation in the background.
American Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) at Treasure Island Beach following Hurricane Idalia August 2023. There were 16 birds in a small lagoon at the beach. It was incredible. #birds #BirdoftheDay #standinginwater #naturephotography #Florida
A Red-shouldered Hawk is perched on a small branch surrounded by bare sticks. Its body faces left, but head is turned to right facing a male Red-winged Blackbird flying at it with wings and tail spread. The blackbird has bright red and yellow shoulder epaulets. The larger hawk seems unperturbed by the smaller bird's attack. Plain blue sky in the background.
Mixed pair: a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) seems unfazed by a territorial attack from a male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) at Kissimmee Prairie. I have been enjoying the daily themes as a break from the news! #birds #birdoftheday #mixedpairs #naturephotography #Florida
A male Northern Bobwhite (quail) standing on a fencepost calling out into the void dynamically. Chubby game bird with a black cap, white face, black stripe from beak through eye to a black necklace. Has rusty red and tan body and chest with fine black patterns. Looks almost like he's on tiptoe as he "shouts it out." Greenish/goldish clean background.
Before the day ends wanted to show this guy shouting it out.
Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve.
#birds #birdoftheday #shoutitout #quail #naturephotography #Florida
Close up side view of a Yellow-throated Warbler, a gray-backed bird with bold black mask and side streaking, white wing bars, eyebrow and belly, and a bright yellow “throat” from its beak to belly. Standing on a rough gray wood branch with one leg forward.
Yellow-throated Warbler (Setophaga dominica)
We have had what I assume is the same Yellow-throated wintering in our backyard for three years, but this is the first close up I have. #birdoftheday #sideview #birds #naturephotography #Florida
A saucy-looking little warbler, brown with streaks, a white throat and underside, with a flash of yellow on its rump. Tail is cocked up and bird is looking up and back towards viewer with one foot forward. Background is sunlit yellow and green.
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) showing the reason for the name. Spending time in the yard to try to overcome my news blues a little while each day. The backyard regulars brighten my mood. I reward them with treats like the suet this one is enjoying. #birds #Florida #nature #photography
Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker, gets gardening time, sports, therapy dogs, and spa products in prison.
Migrant children in custody are sleeping on concrete floors without enough food or clean water.
Our priorities are so fucked.
A bright yellow pine warbler with dark gray wings, pale wing bars, and white underside -- facing left and looking alert, perched on a branch holding a small seed in its beak.
Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)
Nothing can cheer me up faster and better than a visit with my backyard birds. This friendly guy was happy to see me bring out some seeds. They are here in Florida only during the winter. #birds #warbler #Florida #naturephotography
"This is Mia, 7 years old -- 'I don't want to be in this place. I want to be in my school'" -- Walkinshaw confronts Lyons with letters written by kids being detained by ICE
4 months after Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, Forbes reports that Binance now holds $4.7 billion of the $5.4 billion supply of Trump’s World Liberty Financial stablecoin. That is 87%. It is the largest corruption scandal in the history of the US presidency.
“Lying in feces, throw up, urine… like animals in a cage at the zoo.”
A whistleblower recounts the horrific ICE detention center conditions in Baltimore — a similar story everywhere.
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
This isn't about "training issues." The murderer who executed Renee Good has been with ICE for 10 years, and according to DHS, the murderer who executed Alex Pretti has been there for 8 years.
These aren't "new recruits," or officers that can be "retrained." ICE can't be reformed. Abolish ICE.
A colorful male Wood Duck swims toward the viewer. He has iridescent colors of green and blue on his head and a bright red eye bordered with yellow. A reddish breast and beak is red with a black tip.
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) male. They are usually very camera shy, but this lone duck found at a local park was not very concerned about my presence and allowed many photos. They are so pretty, they hardly seem real.
#birds #naturephotography #Florida #ducks
Four GOP Senators.
At most four Repubs in the House.
Together they could stop nearly all the mad-king's rampages. They would be known to history as Profiles in Courage. They might/would lose the next election. But people have sacrificed a lot more, for a lot less.
Everybody should watch this and see this woman, who has a baby in her arms and is thrust into basically a standoff, develop courage in real time.
Northern Flicker male, colorful woodpecker with black markings over rusty wings and light breast. Black malar stripe indicates a male. Bright red stripe on back of head. Standing on a rock with head up drinking water. Wood log and green wild coffee leaves in background.
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) male (yellow-shafted) getting a drink from the back yard pond.
#birds #woodpecker #Florida #naturephotography #nativeplants
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) male, a mostly black duck with a light wing and a bright yellow eye and a purplish sheen on top of his head, floating on golden water in golden light.
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) male
On a lake in Clearwater in some very nice late day light. The colorful reflection in the water is from Bald Cypress trees as they go dormant for the winter. Love that it is duck season in Florida.
#birds #duck #naturephotography #Florida
It's great that reporting on the double tap has spotlighted the abject criminality of this Administration.
But don't forget: Venezuela is not waging war on America or Americans, and the men killed were not combatants.
The first strike was every bit as illegal as the second.
Three whimsical Wild Turkey toms displaying their feather tails, standing in the middle of a bright unpaved road that fades back into the distance. Script heading says "Happy Thanksgiving" and smaller copy near the bottom says "Where the rare is commonplace." (a tag line for Kissimmee Prairie Preserve in Florida.)
Happy Thanksgiving. Wild Turkeys (Osceola subspecies) photographed at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP in Florida.
#birds #turkeys #Thanksgiving #Florida #naturephotography
Your client must have always had good health, lots of money, and/or a good employer. Everyone deserves good healthcare they can afford in this country.
Well over 65, but remember healthcare nightmare days before the ACA was passed and before we qualified for Medicare. Especially since my husband has a chronic disease. I had to incorporate my business and make him bookkeeper to get crappy insurance at any cost because of his preexisting condition.
Side view of an alert Florida Scrub-Jay with bright blue head and tail and light white and gray breast and back, facing right and looking intently into the distance. Standing on a scrubby branch with small oak leaves, the bird has multiple bands on its legs, indicating it is being monitored due to the endangered status of the species. The background is nearly all white.
The Lookout: Endangered Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) in scrubby oak, keeping watch over their family at Lake Wales Ridge NWR/Carter Creek in central Florida.
#birds #Florida #naturephotography #photography #endangeredspecies
The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.
Robber flies.
They are robbe flies.
