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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 Nature Reuses Its Resources

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Species Spotlight: Swallow-tailed Kites

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    General Birding

    My Favorite Facebook Birding Resources

    I have found Facebook to be an invaluable resource for increasing my birding skills. I wanted to share with you some of my favorite resources on Facebook in the hopes that…

    March 19, 2020
  • My Bird Species Bucket List
    General Birding

    My Birding Bucket List

    When I went to Bird Fair in England in August of 2019, one of the speakers I heard was Dominic Couzens, a British birder and author. He gave a presentation about…

    March 19, 2020
  • Backyard Birding General Birding

    How to Attract Painted Buntings to Your Yard

    Painted buntings are one of my favorite birds. They’re so colorful and active. Because painted buntings in Florida they only show up for a few months during winter, they’re also sometime…

    March 19, 2020
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Graylag Goose, scroll to the second photo for two Graylag Goose, scroll to the second photo for two goslings. The third photo is the famous Almannagjá Gorge in Þingvellir National Park in Iceland. These birds were nearby, after we walked past these rocks.

#graylaggoose #iceland #icelandbirds #thingvellir #þingvellir
I was so excited to find this mama Eared Grebe wit I was so excited to find this mama Eared Grebe with two babies tucked into her wings. And then lo and behold, the dad shows up too!

We get Eared Grebes occasionally in Florida, but in winter the plumage is much different. Still pretty but not this dramatic.

I was not prepared to shoot video, so please forgive the shakiness (it was handheld) and the need to rotate your phone.

#earedgrebe #iceland #myvatn #icelandbirding
Mr. and Mrs. Harlequin Duck 🖤🖤🖤 Mr. and Mrs. Harlequin Duck 🖤🖤🖤
Eurasian Oystercatchers are very common in Iceland Eurasian Oystercatchers are very common in Iceland. I don’t see their American cousins very often, so I delighted in these sightings.
This White Wagtail is a species I had seen in othe This White Wagtail is a species I had seen in other European countries, but they’re awfully cute and usually deserving of a snap or two. What I really liked about this sighting in Iceland is the moss it’s foraging in. Moss is prevalent in Iceland, often on top of lava rocks. It can be very delicate and slow-growing, so people are advised not to walk on the moss or otherwise disturb it. (That’s one of many reasons that stacking stones is discouraged.)

It’s ok to walk on their moss if you’re a bird, though!

#whitewagtail #icelandbirds #thingvellir #þingvellir #þingvellirnationalpark
Peek-a-boo 🫣🐧🧡 Atlantic Puffin in the rain. Heima Peek-a-boo 🫣🐧🧡

Atlantic Puffin in the rain. Heimaey, Westman Islands, Iceland.

#atlanticpuffin #iceland #puffin #westmanislands #heimaey
Basic human needs: 1. water 2. oxygen 3. more puff Basic human needs:
1. water
2. oxygen
3. more puffins than I can count, on a cliff overlooking the sea
Having a little fun with these adorable seals! I b Having a little fun with these adorable seals! I believe they are both harbour seals (aka common seals), one of two species that pups in Iceland. According to the Icelandic Seal Center, there are four other species that are frequent visitors.

The only place we saw seals on our 13 day trip was at Ytri Tunga Seal Beach on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula north of Reykjavik. It was rainy and incredibly windy, so I was really happy to get a few photos of them resting on the rocks.

#iceland #seals #sealspotting #icelandseals
I’m really excited to finally get to see a Great B I’m really excited to finally get to see a Great Blue Heron (white morph) yesterday! And a bonus for getting to see it in action when it caught this fish. 

I drove two hours to find it, but once there it was an easy spot. Thank you to the friend who told me its whereabouts. (I don’t want to share their name or the location publicly so that I protect it.)

This subspecies is normally found in the Florida Keys and sometimes in southern mainland Florida. It’s sometimes called a Great White Heron, and is easily mistaken as a Great Egret. However, the egret would be smaller and have a completely yellow bill.

Hope you enjoy! 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

#greatwhiteheron #greatblueheron #floridabirds
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Red-cockaded woodpecker foraging for food in the woods at St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla, Florida (not far from Tallahassee)
Red cockaded woodpecker
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