Paul ward

#BirdOfTheDay alt theme is #Grounded - any bird on terra firma. Black vultures are pretty widespread in #CostaRica, scavenging around human habitation and agriculture. This one was part of a flock resting on a beach in the south of the island. #birds #scavenger #wildlife #eck #wildlifephotography

#BirdOfTheDay is #Branched, birds on thin branches. This scaly weaver is on the thinnest branch it could find. They live in sub-Saharan Africa where they form small groups. They weave loose oval nests from grass and straw which hang from bushes. #birds #safari #madikwe #southafrica #wildlife #eck

Today’s alt #BirdOfTheDay theme Is #SpottySpeckled - any bird with spotted or speckled plumage. This fine looking creature is the speckled pigeon from #madikwe in #SouthAfrica. They are a medium-sized pigeon and relatively widespread often around human habitation. #birds #safari #eck #wildlife

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #OnOneLeg Not so much standing as walking this male mallard does have one foot on the ground. Seen as common they have beautiful plumage when not in eclipse. Their social lives can be a bit brutal and I do not want to be reborn as a female mallard! #birds #eck #canon

Had to be done - early morning twitch for the nutcracker in Norfolk. Worrying hour till it showed then a footrace across the village to its new feeding area. Very well behaved crowd made easier with a very compliant bird #ukbirds #ukbirding #rarebirdsuk #canon

Sorry for being a bit late with my #BirdOfTheDay. I was a bit busy hence my #BrownBirds is a nutcracker. This waif and stray was showing ridiculously well to its admiring hordes in #Norfolk this morning. Totally unfazed by people it nearly landed on heads at one point! #birds #rarebirds #eck

Today's #BirdOfTheDay is #LMNO, any bird whose name starts with one of those letters The local magpies at #St.Albans were annoyed that the peregrines nested on the roof of the cathedral. The youngsters practiced their flying on the roof annoying all the other birds! #birds #falcon #corvid #eck

#BirdOfTheDay alt theme for Alan is #Green - birds with Green backgrounds. In #costaRica there are many wetland areas which are alive with birds such as this ringed kingfisher. Viewing from small boats allows you to approach closely without scaring them off #birds #wetlands #centralamerica #eck

Alan’s #BirdOfTheDay theme via Rob is #Juveniles @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social is known for seabirds. Other birds are available and these juvenile swallows were begging for food in the car park. As they were right by the toilets it made photography tricky! #birds #yorkshire #wildlife #eck

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social suggests that today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Seasonal I checked the date and this ptarmigan was definitely taken in autumn. You can see the plumage transitioning into white in the hope of snow. Taken at #applecross in #Scotland

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social’s #BirdOfTheDay alt theme is: #Colourful I give you the mandarin duck. A native of #China they exist in small numbers now in the U.K having escaped from collections. As self-sustaining populations they are “tickable” so go on the year-list! #birds #exotic #escape

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Black&White Sandwich terns breed in good numbers at #CemlynBay on #Anglesey. The nest site is behind the beach and the birds fly over your head as they bring back fish for their young. The site is alive with sound and activity #birds #Wales #eck

@robcrank68.bsky.social has set today’s alt #BirdOfTheDay theme as #Brown Although it has a white chest, this dipper is predominantly brown. The stream it was on looked decidedly brown as well due to the peat in it! This was on the moors in north #Yorkshire. #birds #water #wildlife #eck #canon

@robcrank68.bsky.social has set today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme as #LittleLegs Puffins are not made for walking, always looking very wobbly. They’re not made for flying either, at least not in the air! They can shout loudly and catch fish quite well #birds #skomer #wales #wildlife #eck #canon

A pair of double-crested cormorants perch at a nature area in Longmont, Colorado. #BirdOfTheDay #Reflection #Pairs #ClassicMono #Monochrome #BW #BlackandWhite #ECK #bird #birds #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky #nature #wildlife #wildlifephotography #cormorant #cormorants

A group of 8 great white egrets dropped into @maplelodgereserve.bsky.social this afternoon. They were always quite distant and partially hidden. This is a remarkable sighting and number for Hertfordshire! #hertsbirds #birds #hertfordshire #wildlife

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay alt theme is #Pairs . Two waders on the south coast of the U.K. The larger is the default dunlin with a bulky body and slightly down curved bill. The other is the rarer little stint, more delicate with a smaller bill and “tramlines” down its back. #birds #waders #eck #canon

#BirdOfTheDay theme is #Reflection Taken at @maplelodgereserve.bsky.social this snipe had a beautiful backdrop of a bank of purple loosestrife. Unfortunately this hadn’t happened this year as the reserve is in drought conditions and that lake is now a meadow! #birds #wildlife #hertfordshire #eck

Atlantic Birding's #BirdOfTheDay ALT theme is #Turdidae A classic bird of the #USA is the American robin, which is actually not a robin at all. Not always in the US either. This was a stray in #Sussex in 2022 in a very suburban housing estate! It liked the Pyracantha berries. #twitching #lost #eck

Atlantic Birding's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Larus Every year towards the end of May our local river has a mass hatching of mayflies. This in turn attracts many birds, including this black-headed gull, to eat them. A few days and it’s all over till next year. #birds #wildlife #spring #cycleoflife

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social has set #dusk as the alt theme in #BirdoftheDay Has to be a short-eared owl out hunting local to me a few years ago. Getting close to the timer hey might start appearing again though a certain madness surrounds them now with crowds flocking! #birds #owls #wildlife #eck

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme set by @robcrank68.bsky.social is #Paridae, any of the species. Most years we go to the #cairngorms for a week. One of the highlights is wandering through the #Abernethy forest searching for crested tits. We are back in December so fingers crossed! #highlands #scotland

The #meerkats at #whipsnade zoo were on good form. Whilst the family rootled for food in the grass one was keeping watch on a rock. In the savannah they watch for eagles and snakes. In #Bedfordahire it’s those pesky red kites though I doubt they pose much of a problem. #zsl #cute #wildlife #canon

Alan's #BirdOfTheDay, theme via Rob is #JKLM The old English name for kestrel is windhover. It is a perfect description of the way they hunt. Their head keeps totally still, as if on a gyroscope, whilst their wings and tail flex and flap. The mouse loses 25% of the time! #eck #birds #hunting #canon

We were watching the red pandas at Whipsnade zoo. Mum was teaching junior to climb and it got stuck. She grabbed it by the neck and to the shock of her other cub literally stuffed it back in its box! I think more practice is going to be needed. #zsl #canon #photography @zslofficial.bsky.social

Helen's #BirdOfTheDay theme (via AB) is #ShoreBirds Taken @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social this ruff was patrolling the muddy edges of the car park. One of the top #rspb reserves for shorebirds it never fails to deliver. You can even get waves of knot at high tide. #birds #wildlife #lincolnshire

🪶 @atlanticbirding.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is: #LookingDown I quite like this picture of one of my local kingfishers. It’s a juvenile male with the white-tip on the bill just visible. The bokeh in the background gives it a halo! #birds #wildlife #nature #eck #canon #wetlands

@robcrank68.bsky.social has set today’s alt #BirdOfTheDay theme as #Blue Just after Xmas 2016 the #twitching world decamped to a village in #Oxfordshire. A blue rock-thrush had appeared and was inhabiting local gardens. The locals found it all very amusing! #birds #rarity #wildlife #bluebird #canon

@robcrank68.bsky.social has set today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme as #Brown Arrow-marked babblers live in large social groups, often announcing their presence with their raucous calls. They are widespread across sub-Saharan #Africa. #birds #safari #savannah #wildlife #madikwe #southafrica #canon #eck

@helenbennett.bsky.social has chosen #Green as today's #BirdOfTheDay alt theme. Sri Lanka is an incredible island for birds. This little-green bee-eater was seen quite often in open arid areas, fly catching from open perches. It is a resident breeder. #birds #srilanka #wildlife #eck #canon

Happy Saturday. @atlanticbirding.bsky.social has set the Alt #BirdOfTheDay to #GardenBirds; any bird that you might see in your garden. Blackbirds are ever-present in our garden, especially at the moment. My blackberries are proving particularly popular! #birds #gardening #garden #urban #eck #canon

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is: #Waders Two years ago a rare #American wader dropped in to @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social . It strutted its stuff right by the car park in lovely early morning light. Nice to have a short walk to get a bird occasionally! #birds #lincolnshire #rspb #wader #eck #canon

@robcrank68.bsky.social set today's #BirdOfTheDay theme, #crooners Grasshopper warblers have a song likened to a fishing reel. They are also notoriously for being skulkers. Catching this one out in the open whilst reeling away was very fortunate! #birds #wildlife #warbler #birdsofbluesky #eck #canon

@alan678.bsky.social has set the #BirdOfTheDay theme #BlueWater The gannets at @rspbbemptoncliffs.bsky.social were doing a bit of synchronised flying. i suspect I might have done a bit of post-processing as the North Sea isn’t normally that colour! #birds #yorkshire #wildlife #canon #eck #seabirds

@helenbennett.bsky.social has set the #BirdOfTheDay as #BirdSupermodel This is the legend that was Colin the #cuckoo, posing on one of his favourite sticks. He would fly in, wait till everyone had got their photos then gorge himself on mealworms! Gone but sadly missed! #birds #superstar #eck #canon

The #BirdOfTheDay alt theme is #BadWeathe The Great Bear rainforest in #Canada has challenging weather. This majestic bald #eagle was not enjoying the rain and sat for ages waiting for the bears to catch some salmon for it to scavenge! #birds #wildlife #weather #

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social has chosen today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme as #BlueSkies Cemlyn Bay in #Wales is a lovely little reserve with an active tern and gull colony. The sandwich terns fly over your head as they bring back food for their young. Fishing looked good! #birds #wildlife #eck #canon

A Eurasian griffon vulture makes use of its 8+ foot wingspan over the Spanish Pyrenees. #BirdOfTheDay #BlueSkies 📷🌿🪶

@robcrank68.bsky.social has set the alt #BirdOfTheDay ito #Blue The #Canadian version of our tree climber is the redbreasted nuthatch. A bold eye-stripe and an orange, more than red, breast set against their blue back gives them a very distinctive look. #birds #toronto #wardisland #wildlife #eck

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #WingsOpenNotFlying With a face not even their mothers could love, marabou storks are scavengers and opportunistic predators of the #African plains. They also have one of the largest wing spans of any land birds. #birds #safari #wildlife #eck #canon #madikwe

Helen has set the alt #birdoftheday to #yellowelements I give you the yellow-billed hornbill aka the flying banana. The latter epithet is the one the guides use to create amusement in the jeeps! It works best when in flight!!! #safari #madikwe #birds #wildlife

@helenbennett.bsky.social, had set today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme as #BestBeaks Meet Walter (Rail-ee, sorry!) one of the locals at @maplelodgereserve.bsky.social. He inhabits a small pool near a bird feeder and one year became quite tame. He is very proud of his beak. #birds #wildlife #canon #eck

Today’s alt #birdoftheday is #Vivid; any bird with bright colours One for the twitchers amongst us- yellow warbler from New Hythe. Mega rare over here and appeared on Xmas Day 2024. Stayed into the New Year and very popular. Colours sang in the low morning sun #birds #rare #yankee #wildlife #mega

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is: #Black&White; any shot in black and white I never shoot in b&w so this is a conversion of a red- eyed bulbul. Very common in Southern Africa they behave like starlings, hanging around lodges! Trust me that is a very red- eye! #birds #safari #b&w #wildlife #eck #canon

Rob has chosen #BestOfTheMonth as #BirdOfTheDay theme For various reasons I’ve not been out much this month. This grey wagtail was showing quite nicely on a nearby river. The water levels were really low with lots of muddy edges that are still there!! #birds #drought #wildlife

Crested Tit, Kuifmees. #Paridae #BirdOfTheDay #birdphotography #birds #vogelfotografie #natuurfotografie #natuur #landscapephotography #landschapsfotografie #SonyAlpha #EastCoastKin

Today's #BirdOfTheDay from Rob, on behalf of Alan, is #EFG Last Winter a yellow-browed warbler was found at St.Albans. Whilst twitching it I saw this beautiful firecrest in the holly nearby. Hard to catch as constantly feeding but I got one or two keepers! #birds #wildlife #hertfordshire #canon #eck

Helen Bennett’s #BirdOfTheDay Alt theme: is #AwkwardAvian. After a good meal of fish, kingfishers will regurgitate an extremely large pellet. They haven’t shake their heads vigorously to eject it! That has to be awkward and pretty uncomfortable! #birds #wildlife #Eck #birdsofbluesky #canon