Long-billed Dowitchers

Killdeer

Post-Sunset Glow

"I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too.  I feel the suffering of millions.  And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more."  ~ Anne Frank

Partially Leucistic American Robin

Being different is always more interesting!

The Wild Turkey, a bird of courage...

According to Benjamin Franklin, the Wild Turkey is a bird of courage.  He wanted the turkey as the national bird and the following quote is what he had to say about it.    "I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character.  He does not get his living honestly.  You may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of a fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.  Besides, he is a rank coward.  The little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district.  He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest of America.  For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird and withal a true original native of America... a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on."     

Northern Shrike

I had a rare opportunity today to see this Northern Shrike in action.  I watched it hunt for prey for about ten minutes but it was unsuccessful.  It should begin to migrate north in the next few weeks to its breeding ground near the arctic tundra.

(photo taken in Sheridan, New York)

Lake Erie Ice Volcano

A cryovolcano, better known as an ice volcano along the Lake Erie shoreline.  During the winter and early spring, high winds create these cone-shaped ice formations that allow water, slush and sand to blow up through a hole in the center of the cone.

White-throated Sparrow

Brown Thrasher

Black Vulture

Eastern Towhee

Northern Mockingbird

White-tailed Deer

Winter Storm Stella

Frosted my windows...

Fox Sparrow

Bald Eagle

American Wigeons

Pied-billed Grebe

Smith's Longspur in Chautauqua County, New York

Mute Swan

Iceland Gull

Waxing Gibbous Moon at 86%

Horned Lark

Singing his little heart out on a late winter morning.

Snow Squall over Lake Erie