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The Helpful Birder

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Where to Find Birds

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Not All Blue Birds are Bluebirds

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  • How to Photograph Birds in Flight
    Bird Photography

    How to Photograph Birds in Flight

    One of the hardest things to photograph in nature is a bird in flight. It’s a technique that takes both study and practice. If you’d like to improve your bird in…

    February 7, 2022
  • judging the size of a bird
    General Birding

    Why the Size of a Bird is Such a Difficult Field Indicator

    One useful way to identify a bird is by size. Everyone knows an eagle is bigger than a sparrow, a mallard duck bigger than a cardinal. In fact, it’s a great…

    January 12, 2022
  • Where to find birds
    Featured Posts General Birding

    Where to Find Birds

    Birds are everywhere, right? That’s totally true, except when you’re armed with your field guide, a pair of binoculars, a packed lunch, and a camera. Then they’re nowhere to be found.…

    January 6, 2022
  • Eastern bluebird, Flagler County, Florida
    Featured Posts General Birding

    Not All Blue Birds are Bluebirds

    For beginning birders, the easiest way to identify a bird is by color. Northern cardinals are red, American goldfinches are yellow, eastern bluebirds are blue. (After all, that’s why they’re called…

    January 6, 2022
  • Featured Posts General Birding

    How Nature Reuses Its Resources

    I find it fascinating how resources are reused by nature in many ways. One example of how nature reuses things is a basic hole in a pine tree. I have really…

    August 2, 2020
  • Florida Scrub-Jays
    Bird Species

    Species Spotlight: Florida Scrub-Jays

    Many of us here in eastern North America know and love (or hate) the beautiful blue jay. But there are many other jays present in the US as well, and one…

    May 27, 2020
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My Instagram Feed

susanpetracco

Susan Petracco
Isn't this sweet? This least tern is sitting on tw Isn't this sweet? This least tern is sitting on two eggs!

When I took the photo of this tern, it was in an area that has been protected by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The area is roped off to protect the birds. When I took this picture, I was well outside the ropes...not even next to them, but probably 10-20 feet back from the ropes. I was much further away from the actual birds themselves. I stood/sat quietly. I did not play sounds to interfere with their behavior. The photo is extremely cropped, despite having used a 500mm lens.

As photographers, it's our responsibility to know boundaries and to follow them. "Getting the shot" isn't worth it if you're doing harm to the species / individuals you're photographing. At least, it SHOULDN'T be worth it. 

Please please please 🙏 take the birds' health and safety into account. If you are taking pictures and note the birds seem in distress, or if they are flying near you to warn you away, you are too close. Thank you ... from me and from all of the birds we can hopefully choose to protect. (If we don't, we'll all eventually be taking photos of nothing but feral pigeons, the bird equivalent of a cockroach, because nothing else will remain!)
Eastern Screech Owl. A pair nests in this box each Eastern Screech Owl. A pair nests in this box each spring.
It's not often one gets to see fulvous whistling d It's not often one gets to see fulvous whistling ducks. It's even less often one sees them in the next-door neighbor's backyard!
Here's another view, this time in better sunlight, Here's another view, this time in better sunlight, of the yellow cardinal at University of Florida.
Bahama Mockingbird close-up. Swipe for an almost-f Bahama Mockingbird close-up. Swipe for an almost-full-body shot. This is a vagrant species not commonly seen in central Florida. It's distinguished from the northern mockingbird by a lack of wingbars, a brown (rather than gray) tone overall, and dark "mustaches".
Texas's golden-fronted woodpecker looks a lot like Texas's golden-fronted woodpecker looks a lot like Florida's red-bellied woodpecker, except part of what would be red is yellow. Two different species but very closely related. I was ecstatic when this one flew into the watering hole and gave us some clear shots!
Crested caracara among a field of yellow wildflowe Crested caracara among a field of yellow wildflowers - I think they were called false dandelion but I'm not certain now. This was a very foggy morning, which presented a photographic challenge due to low light (noise) and haze from the fog. Fortunately I think I was able to clean it up well in Lightroom and Topaz's Denoise AI and Sharpen AI tools. Thank goodness for technology!
Gainesville, Florida has a special celebrity, this Gainesville, Florida has a special celebrity, this amazing yellow Northern cardinal. Scientists estimate there are only 10-15 such individuals throughout the United States. I convinced my husband and one of the kids to road trip there yesterday and we were lucky enough to spot him almost immediately. (It helped that there were tons of other birders standing around staring into the trees!) He's really gorgeous. All the feathers that are normally red, are suppressed by a mutation, and show as yellow instead. He has a mate who is a normal-colored female. I wonder if they can (and will) have any yellow offspring.
Every so often we think we want to leave Florida, Every so often we think we want to leave Florida, or downsize to a smaller house, or just move for whatever reason. Right about that time, I venture into my backyard and realize I can never leave this paradise. Great egret in the morning light beside a coontie plant across the pond.
Female northern cardinal #allmightybirds #animal Female northern cardinal 
 #allmightybirds
#animalfanatics
#anythingfeathered
#bestbirds
#bestbirdsofinstagram
#bestofthesunshinestate
#birdextreme
#birdextremefeatures
#birding
#birdingphotography
#bird_watchers_daily
#birds_bees_flowers_n_trees
#birdsandblooms
#birds_adored
#bird_brilliance
#birdselite
#eye_for_earth
#feather_perfection
#global4nature
#igbirds
#majestic_wildlife_
#natureaddict
#natureshooters
#photooftheday
#world_bestanimal
#your_best_birds
#birdfreaks
#wildlife_inspired
#bb_of_ig
#birdphotographyworld
Warning: Cuteness overload! Green Jay, Edinburg, Warning: Cuteness overload! 

Green Jay, Edinburg, Texas
Northern Cardinals are found across the eastern ha Northern Cardinals are found across the eastern half of the United States, as well as the Southwest and into Latin America. They're very common, as you probably know. While it wasn't a bird I was hoping to see in Texas, it turned out that several individuals provided beautiful opportunities for photos. Here is a female Northern Cardinal posing for a moment.
Summer tanager bathing in the pond just before dus Summer tanager bathing in the pond just before dusk. I think these stay in the Rio Grande Valley all summer, whereas in central Florida they only pass through during migration. What beautiful birds!
This is a long-billed thrasher. Compare it to my l This is a long-billed thrasher. Compare it to my last post of a curve-billed thrasher and you'll see that this one has darker and more distinct spots. Long bill = long black spots. I thought about editing out the fly...would you have kept it or not? I like things pretty authentic so I kept it in.
I enjoyed learning how to identify long-billed and I enjoyed learning how to identify long-billed and curve-billed thrashers. They're actually quite easy to tell apart once you've gotten used to it - the spots on the breast are the main difference. Here is a curve-billed thrasher with its more muted spots.
I had an amazing trip to South Texas a couple of w I had an amazing trip to South Texas a couple of weeks ago, on a trip led by the super talented @nancyelwood and also with the amazing @ruthhoytphoto. What an incredible opportunity to photograph the birds of the area, and to learn from their expertise. This was a low-light, very grainy photo that I "fixed" using Topaz Denoise, and I'm thrilled with the result...and I didn't even piddle with it for very long.
Green Jay
What a morning! I took the dogs out for their morn What a morning! I took the dogs out for their morning constitutional, and I immediately noticed a head with a long bill peeking over the grass. I abandoned my pups and ran back inside to get my camera. I got two shots before this Wilson's snipe flew across the water into the grasses beyond.

Then, while I was basking in my good luck, one of the dogs flushed three more snipe! I hadn't even looked for others, but there they were, three more flying across the water into the same area the first had gone.

Of course, my camera settings were all wrong and the photo came out dark and grainy, but I still can't believe my good luck to have FOUR Wilson's snipe in my backyard.
I haven’t been birding much except in the backya I haven’t been birding much except in the backyard, but I did go back through some old photos and recorded a few lists in other counties in eBird so I’d have a record of those species and the counties where I’ve birded. I took this in 2016 at Ding Darling in Sanibel. So many of my photos from back then make@m me cringe today, but this one wasn’t too bad despite the low light. Spotted sandpiper…without any spots. The line through the eye is a good field mark for this species. Thank you @schmegan12 for teaching me that! 

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. Have you birded yet? If not, get out there! Spend just 15 minutes doing eBird and get entered to win…something. I forgot what! Pete and I are heading out to a new-to-him location tomorrow and I hope to have some new photos to share with you!
#greatbackyardbirdcount #spottedsandpiper #dingdarling #sanibelisland #floridabirds
I've never been so excited about such a crappy pho I've never been so excited about such a crappy photo. But @cassiekroo and @schmegan and I decided to try for the short-eared owl near Tallahassee last weekend and we got it!
At St. Mark's we found a number of red-cockaded wo At St. Mark's we found a number of red-cockaded woodpeckers. I have seen them less than a handful of times before, I think only twice. They are listed as near-threatened due to habitat destruction, as they require 100-year-old pine trees for their nesting cavities. You can recognize their nests by the pine sap dripping in abundance from the bottom of the entrance - a protective feature that keeps out snakes and other predators. The woodpecker in this shot was actively pecking at trees to look for the insects they love to eat. Swipe to see the same individual in a second image.
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Recent Posts

  • How to Photograph Birds in Flight
  • Why the Size of a Bird is Such a Difficult Field Indicator
  • Where to Find Birds
  • Not All Blue Birds are Bluebirds
  • How Nature Reuses Its Resources

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