A beautiful passerine that boldly lives up to its name.
Continue readingYellowish Flycatcher, in Costa Rica
Post Category → Birds
Parc Naturel Departemental de Vaugrenier – Birding Notebook
Vaugrenier Departmental Natural Park visit reports #2, #3 and #4.
Continue readingFull Moon, Nice
Photo-bombed by a gull.
Continue readingYellow-billed Chough, in the Julian Alps
A gallery and introduction to this common and beloved Alpine corvid.
Continue readingMy 25 Best Bird Photos of 2025
My favorite bird photographs from the past year, captured in France, Portugal, Italy and Slovenia.
Continue readingHooded Crow, in Slovenia
I recently returned from a week in Slovenia where Hooded Crow were by far the most visible early winter avian residents – the perfect opportunity to kick off the site’s Corvus cornix gallery.
Continue readingEurasian Blackcap Gallery – Southern France
I was extremely pleased that my first photo of a Eurasian Blackcap coincided with feeding time – his and mine.
Continue readingInside Climate News: An Idaho Bird Research Station Rises From the Ashes of a Wildfire.
Glaciers The Valley Fire torched Lucky Peak, near Boise, Idaho, in the fall of 2024. It lasted three weeks and burned more than 10,000 acres/4000 hectares. The Boise State University’s Intermountain Bird Observatory, stationed there, was among the fire’s casualties. The researchers there are now “channeling their grief into a study of how avians respond to climate-driven blazes”. From the story:
“No bird research station had ever been impacted by a wildfire like this, so detailed studies of how a blaze would impact the animals and their habitats is hard to come by. Lucky Peak, meanwhile, has 30 years of data on its birds from before the fire. By collecting comparable data after the blaze, they could investigate aspects of fire ecology that were nearly impossible to study before.”
Black-tailed Godwit, in Portugal
Godwit is from the Old English for ‘good creature’; its Latin name, Limosa limosa, means ‘muddy, muddy’. Both work for this sensational creature.
Continue readingGreater Flamingos of October – Tagus and Rhone River Estuaries
I crossed paths with more than a thousand Greater Flamingos in October. That’s not an exaggeration. Although this one, at top, would have been enough to get my fill. Those eyes and bill are mesmerising.
Continue readingEmbouchure du Var Birding Notebook #3 – 6-7 December 2025
Birding report from where the Var River meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Continue readingJames’s Flamingo, Bolivia
The smallest of the four New World flamingos, on the Andean Altiplano.
Continue readingEmbouchure du Var Birding Notebook #2 – 22 November 2025
Three months, almost to the day, had passed since my last (and first) visit to what is undoubtedly the best birding spot in southeast France. I won’t let that happen again.
Continue readingBlue-footed Booby, on Isla de la Plata – 16 Photos and a Video
With its bright blue feet, claw-like beak, perfectly round lemon-lime eyes and a home on an exotic distance locale, a Blue-footed Booby isn’t a bird you’ll likely ever forget. The fun name helps, too.
Continue readingA Nazca Booby, and the End of Innocence
Don’t be deceived by the innocent look this newborn Nazca Booby, less than a month old, is sharing. It’s quite likely that she aided in the untimely demise of her younger sibling.
Continue readingRed-crested Cardinal, in Quito
Looks like a cardinal. But it’s not.
Continue readingEuropean Serin, on Monaco’s Rock
Crashing a bright yellow quartet’s lunch, under the shadow of the Prince’s palace.
Continue readingIndian Silverbill, on the Cote d’Azur
More specifically in Nice and Monaco, where this ‘exotic’ species has made a home.
Continue readingEuropean Robin Gallery
The everyday beauty of one of Europe’s most common passerines.
Continue readingBird Photographer of the Year – 2025. Some spectacular inspiration from the 33,000 images entered. Here are the winners: take a look at them all.
The European Goldfinches in the unharvested sunflower fields by Mateusz Piesiak blew me away. I will never bike or drive past an unharvested field of any kind again.
The title of Bird Photographer of the Year went to Liron Gertsmen for ‘The Frigatebird and the Diamond Ring’ which shows a Magnificent Frigatebird silhouetted against a total solar eclipse. Gertsmen said he spent “well over a year” planning the image, which was taken off the coast of Mazatlán, Mexico. A video of the moment the photo was taken is below.