Neil Barker 🐦‍⬛

A great blue heron is reflected along with the root system of a dead tree that fell over ions ago at Izaak Walton Nature Area in Longmont, Colorado. In this vertical color photograph the tree roots and heron are reflected in the water. The water is blue from the sky above. The root system is massive and fills the upper half of the image. It looks just like a root system, but it is exposed to the air and all the soil has eroded away. In the lower center of the photo is the great blue heron with its mouth open (silent screech). Photo by Kort Duce

A great blue heron is reflected along with the root system of a dead tree that fell over ions ago at Izaak Walton Nature Area in Longmont, Colorado.

#BirdOfTheDay #reflections #EastCoastKin #bird #birds #birdphotography #photography #photograph #photographs #photo #wetland #wetlands #heron #herons

Wide winter landscape at dawn or dusk showing a frost-covered open field in the foreground, tinted pale blue with ice crystals. A line of bare deciduous trees and darker evergreen trees borders the field in the midground. The sky is dramatically divided: warm golden and amber light glows near the horizon on the left, fading into cooler blue tones on the right, with layered clouds sweeping across the sky. The scene feels quiet, cold, and peaceful, with no people or animals present.

Christmas can be a beautiful season, but it can also feel painfully loud when your heart is quiet, tired, or hurting.

If you are alone this Christmas, or struggling in ways others may not see, please know this: you are not failing the season. You are surviving it. And that matters.

#EastCoastKin

Thanks, Alan

Razorbill (Alca torda) looking straight to the viewer, in the background the blurred cliff. Skomer Island, Wales, UK

@alan678.bsky.social set the #BirdOfTheDay theme today to #contrast and the alt theme to #faceoff

This razorbill picture is one of my favorites and ticks both boxes.

Happy Holidays!

A close in image of a Northern Hawk-owl flying directly towards the camera over snow covered ground. The bird’s eyes fixed directly ahead.

Another of my Northern Hawk-owl shots for @alan678.bsky.social’s #BirdOfTheDay alternative theme #faceoff
#birds #photography #nature #wildlife #Finland

Awesome photo!

The #BirdOfTheDay theme today from @alan678.bsky.social is #contrast birds that stand out against their background. I am sharing this #GreatEgret. #birds #photography #Ottawa #Canada #EastCoastKin

Happy holiday season, Alan and thank you for today's theme. 🎄🐦‍⬛🎄

winter's monster
dares you to go outside
on cold mornings

#thingstowriteabout (monster)
#haiku

🥶❄️

That's a great shot as well - I like how you captured their 'disagreement'- haha.

Thanks, Rob

From @robcrank68.bsky.social - today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #SideProfiles any 'Birds Side Profile'. I am sharing a #PileatedWoodpecker I saw last Winter here in #Ottawa. #birds #photography #Canada

Nice photos, Rob - especially like that Little Egret profile.

Thanks and much appreciated. The camouflage on this Eastern-screech Owl is quite impressive and matches so well with this exact tree.

Really nice - especially that fourth image of the Tern - nice capture!

Good morning

#BirdOfTheDay is all #AboutTheKids any bird chicks or juveniles, and the Alternative is #Gulls.

I've gone with Coots, Goslings, Black-headed Gull & Blue Tit youngsters.

My Replies/Reposts be come later

#birds #photography #EastCoastKin #naturephotography @rspb.bsky.social #ukbirding

I really like this series of images, Rob - especially that third one - they look rather cranky or perhaps 'hangry' ;)

Here's a beautiful set of #Borbs for #NationalRobinDay & #HolidayRobin, they are from various venues in 2024.

#Robins #photography #EastCoastKin #naturephotography #birds #birdphotography #ukbirding #wildlifephotography #BirdLife @rspb.bsky.social #PhotographyIsArt

Two large wading Curlews forage in shallow water beside a muddy, grassy bank. In the foreground, one bird is partially submerged with its head underwater, body angled downward as it probes for food, showing richly patterned brown, cream, and black plumage along its back and flanks. Behind it, a second bird stands on long grey legs at the water’s edge with one wing lifted and partly spread, revealing pale underwing feathers with dark barring. The standing bird has a long, slender, slightly downcurved bill and finely mottled brown-and-cream markings across its head, neck, and body. Sunlight highlights the feather patterns and creates soft reflections on the rippling water, with green grass forming a natural backdrop.

Good morning, the dog, in his wisdom has decided that 4am is the new 6am. 🙄 Saw these guys yesterday on our walk. Curlews. One is obviously an extrovert and the other is an introvert. Which are you? Obviously I’m an introvert. 😁 #Stunday #photography #birds #EastCoastKin

Haha, nice contrast between the two Curlews, Alan. On an early Sunday morning, I'd be the introvert until I'd had at least a coffee or two. :)

Thanks and much appreciated, Ralph. :)

Thanks, Alan and much appreciated.

From @alan678.bsky.social the #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #Quietmoments peaceful captures of birds. I am sharing this #EasternScreechOwl I saw dozing peacefully in their tree. #birds #owls #Ottawa #Canada #photography #EastCoastKin

Really nice image, Alan. Colours of the bird and those branches blend well with the lighting.

Thanks, Rob

Return of a Legend
Returning to places your forebearers have been in the past.
A new experience connected to the past in some way.
A Way that is unnamed and unexplained, yet so familiar.

#poem #poetry #sijo #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoetry #nature #birds #carolinawren

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme from @robcrank68.bsky.social is #LongLegsAndNeck any birds with both items listed.

I am sharing a #GreatBlueHeron from this past Summer I saw here in #Ottawa. #birds #herons #photography #EastCoastKin

Great photos and themes, Rob - I like that first one of the Great Egret - definitely fits for #LongLegsandNeck. :)

red oak branches spiral --
perfect ladder for climbing
but I haven't ...yet

#thingstowriteabout (ladder)
#haiku #senryu

I like that final part of the third line: "...yet"