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Eurasian Red Squirrel/ekorre. Värmland, Sweden (January 29, 2023).

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American Kestrel Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 3

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This needs a caption

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love your trans friends loudly and proudly 🏳️‍⚧️

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an ornithologist pointed a microphone at a bird sitting alone on a wire and caught the sound of the bird singing a song at a decibel so low that it would be impossible for another bird to hear it, meaning the bird was singing quietly to itself I love life

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Yang Shanshen (1913 - 2004) Birds (137 x 68.5 cm)

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My Favorite Genre of birds is birds of prey who are highly successful hunters specifically adapted to kill and then you look them up and they're this:

like sweetheart you're the size of a pigeon why are you so feisty.

(I know they're hunters and all but I swear kestrels are too adorable for being birds of prey.)

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the pacific parrotlet (forpus coelestis), also known as the celestial parrotlet, is a small green parrot originating from a limited range in south america. they are sexually dimorphic, and easy to differentiate; males have bright blue coloration on the wings that is especially visible in flight, while females are overall green. they have grown in popularity as a pet bird, and breeders have developed new color mutations for pet birds including white, turquoise, and marbled. despite being social in the wild, they are typically best kept without cagemates, as they are known to be territorial over their cage and outright aggressive to other birds. despite their small size, they are rarely a good ‘beginner’ pet bird, as they have stubborn personalities and can often be nippy, especially if not heavily socialized from a young age. although they thrive on solitary housing in captivity, they live in flocks of 40-50 birds in the wild. their natural diet is mainly berries and cactus fruits.

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i think it’s important that more people know that parrots and falcons are each other’s closest relatives. falcons are more similar to a parrot than a hawk. this is bad information only if you are a parrot owner

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One thing I love about crows is their boldness. This is one example. The white-tailed eagle is the largest bird of prey of Europe with the largest wingspan of all eagles of the world, but that doesn't stop crows to annoy them. In this case, pictures taken at the Baltic Sea, three crow follow a juvenil eagle who for whatever reasons flies around with a bunch of sea grass it its talons. The crows follow, one of them getting quite close, but it doesn't attack the eagle. When the eagle lands on a wave-breaker the crows just follow and one of them has the audacity to land directly beside the eagle. The eagle doesn't really react to that. Eventually the crow leaves, but only a few meters away to stand with the other two crows. Once the eagle decided to take off again, the crows follows. I have no clue what happened then as they left my field of view, but I can imagine the crows annoying the eagle further.

There are several theories on why crows do this. In general crows are known to mobb birds of prey to get them to leave their territory and that makes sense for birds of prey that are a risk for them and their offspring. The white-tailed eagle usually hunts fish and waterfowl, but could be a risk for young crows. In addition, both the eagle and the crows compete for carrion. But another just as plausible theory is that the crows just do it for fun. They are known to annoy dogs, geese and other animals by tugging their tail.

Why doesn't the eagle try to get the crow once it stands close? My guess is that the eagle knows that the crow is much faster and once in flight also much more maneuverable.

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Just a coot scooting along.

(American coot, original photo.)

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Happy 2025 everyone. I wish you many exciting bird sightings this year

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Linocut print by Pamela Leavey

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The Carolina parakeet was a North American parrot declared extinct due to human activity less than a century ago.