pointandshooter:

cherry blossoms, Washington, DC

photo: David Castenson

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173362588376.

geopsych:

For those who wonder, and people often ask, my pictures are taken in
eastern Pennsylvania in the States. Some people who live where I take
most of the pictures have asked that I not say exactly where it is
because the area has become so small and fragile, but some of you have probably figured it out from place names I’ve dropped.

Eastern
Pennsylvania is still beautiful in some places, but a broad part of the
beautiful landscape that once existed here has been bulldozed and made
into industrial parks, ugly modern housing, and shopping centers with
big highways and lots of Walmarts and fast food, because it is so close
to New York City and Philadelphia. So for me some sadness accompanies
the beauty in every one of my pictures. These places I post pictures of, along with the
plants, birds, and other things still living there, are the last
remnants of a once large and beautiful pastoral area. Earlier, before
settlers arrived, it was home to a magnificent ancient forest full of amazing and
beautiful plants and other life of which we now have only dwindling
traces.

Every year I see things I have taken pictures of, and
posted on this blog, being destroyed. I know that eventually it will all
be gone. I feel like people should see how beautiful it was before it
disappears forever. I thank everyone for sharing in the beauty that
might otherwise be forgotten. <3

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173355733963.

keithcurrypochy:

For the past few days there have been flocks of Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) hanging out around the museum. As I was walking in this morning I noticed the birds in the trees next to the parking garage, so I climbed the stairs and got on eye level with a few of them. They are such beautiful birds! 

Gainesville, FL

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173339740505.

fashionsfromhistory:

Evening Dress

Girolamo Giuseffi

c.1912

Indianapolis Museum of Art

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173332168326.

The American Coots are breeding at Lake Los Carneros; people out there to look for the Least Bittern have been seeing their babies. (Meanwhile, the coots have pulled their annual disappearing act at the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, which according to eBird tends to become coot-less around this time each year for a few months, I’m guessing because it’s not suitable for rearing young.)

A local birdwatcher posted this video shot at Lake Los Carneros today, and I wanted to share it with @anonsally, who has a soft spot for coots.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173331421976.

debunkshy:

Palm Warbler

Honeenum Pond, WI

#252

I went to the Carpinteria Bluffs this morning and had a grand time, topped off by my first-this-year (and second ever) Palm Warbler. I saw one at the Greenwell Preserve last fall when I was scouting for the upcoming Christmas Count, but this one today was in its breeding plumage and much spiffier looking, with crisp streaking below, a yellow throat, and a rufous crown.

Peter Gaede saw a Palm Warbler in pretty much this same spot on January 5 for our Christmas Count, which led Eric Culbertson to wonder if the bird I saw today is the same bird, having overwintered there, or a different bird, having wandered in as a spring vagrant. Who knows?  (Well, the warbler in question presumably knows.)

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173331077606.

anthropocenesketchbook:

The last of the animals for the dunes habitat section of the ecosystem panel for @landconservancyslo. The beetle and horned lizard were especially fun! #blacklakecanyon #landconservancyslo #wip #ecosystem #duneshabitat #northernleglesslizard #anniellapulchra #anniellapulchrapulchra #osoflacorobberfly #ablautusschlingeri #globosedunebeetle #coelusglobosus #blainvilleshornedlizard #phrynosomablainvillii

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173325146411.

teaganwhite:

“Point Pleasant, West Virginia”, gouache & watercolor on paper.

In my pieces for VACVVM V1, I painted my own interpretation of well-known cryptids (animals or beings whose existence is disputed or rejected by biologists, but have been cataloged in the folkloric record through rumors, sightings, and anecdotal accounts).

This is my Mothman, a massive and allegedly supernatural winged creature with glowing red eyes seen around West Virginia in the 1960s; some have compared these reports to descriptions of a particularly large Night Heron.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173308515000.

This is just to say that if I follow you I am 100% down with your obscure obsessive interest in Whatever. I love that about you. I don’t share your interest, maybe, but I love that YOU love it, and I get a kick out of seeing it in my dash.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173305940486.

itinsightus:

“PURPLE” by Roy-Hancliff

#251

There are two hummingbird species that are common around Santa Barbara year-round: Anna’s and Allen’s. Each spring we get four more: Rufous, Black-chinned, Costa’s, and Calliope. I picked up the Rufous, Black-chinned, and Costa’s pretty quickly once migration started, but I couldn’t find a Calliope.

Today at lunchtime my birding friend Eric phoned me up. I get excited when I see his name on my phone because he doesn’t bother to call unless he’s got something good. “I’m looking at a Calliope Hummingbird on Santa Monica Creek.”

I grabbed my binoculars and was out the door, and five minutes later I was looking at the bird. Thanks, Eric!

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173302275991.

lazyjacks:

Marblehead [Alden Triangle sloops]
Leslie Jones, 1934
Boston Public Library Print Department, Leslie Jones Collection
Accession # 08_06_013093

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173300669446.

lifeinanrv:

Least Bittern

#250

It’s nice that for this round number I got such a spectacular bird. I’d never seen a Least Bittern before (never seen an American Bittern before; hitherto I’ve been completely bitternless).

A few days ago Will Knowlton found a Least Bittern skulking in the reeds at Lake Los Carneros, and since then a number of people have spent time looking for it, the lucky folk catching occasional glimpses of the super-shy, super-tiny heron. I’d tried a couple of times, but had struck out so far. Then, as I was watching this morning, I got a quick glimpse of the bird; it was hidden back in the reeds but I could make it out with the spotting scope. I wanted to share the view with the two birders standing next to me, but had to lower the telescope for them, and while I was doing that the bird disappeared into the reeds.

I felt good that I’d seen it, but it wasn’t the most satisfying view, and I felt bad about being unable to share it. So we kept looking, and a half hour or so later (after some other birders had also arrived), I was looking at some swallows that were flying by the reeds when suddenly I saw the bittern in my field of view, flying. I abandoned the swallow I was looking at and shouted excitedly to the other birders, and several of us were able to watch it as it flew for a few seconds before landing in the reeds and disappearing again.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173299247421.

northwestnaturalist:

Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) Scolopacidae

Seal Rock State Park, OR
June 11, 2015
Robert Niese

This Tattler was certainly wandering! It’s breeding season for most shorebirds this time of year, but this lone Wandering Tattler is hundreds of miles away from its typical breeding grounds in NE Russia, Alaska, and NW Canada. What’cha doing here, buddy?

#249

Reading the blog from Glenn Kincaid’s 2015 Santa Barbara County “Green Big Year” was a big part of what got me excited about keeping a county year list this year. Mine isn’t remotely green (I feel fairly conflicted about all the fossil fuel I’m burning), but reading Glenn’s account of the different species he was able to find and the places he found them made me want to do some of that. Glenn hadn’t been birding much in Santa Barbara County this year (he was traveling, I believe), but he’s back and entering eBird lists, and yesterday he reported two Wandering Tattlers from the Santa Barbara Harbor breakwater.

I headed out there this morning and walked to the sandspit at the end of the breakwater. There were lots of cool birds; loons and Black-crowned Night Herons and a huge flock of Elegant Terns. But no Wandering Tattlers. I was philosophical about it. They’d probably continued their wandering. No big deal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I turned around to walk back off the sandspit, and… there they were. Three of them. I know I say they’re all cool birds, but these ones were really cool. Nothing like an unambiguous shorebird, right there in front of you.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173297945671.

oceanodroma:

A lil pollen dusted Yellow-rumped warbler in a cherry tree eating all the little bugs he can find. 

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173293329731.

anthonysiradze:

Flowers in Profusion – Tasha Tudor’s Garden in June

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173276308304.

Western Wood-Peewee (Contopus sordidulus)

Photo by Flickr user J. N. Stuart

#248

Hard to miss when they’re vocalizing, which this one was as I was walking along Refugio Road this morning. Another summer visitor added to the list. 😃

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173273270398.

philly-state-of-mind:

Common Ground-Dove
Bellflower, CA
July 10, 2013
Taken with a Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

#247

Uncommon and declining in Santa Barbara County. 😞

I know them from when I was a kid birdwatching in Florida, and have seen them a couple of times in Carp, but not recently.

So I set the alarm and headed up this morning to Farren Road on the other side of Santa Barbara, where a few have been seen lately in an avocado orchard. I didn’t see any, but heard two of them clearly enough to count.

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173271685621.

:-)

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173271525316.

sylvia-morris:

meet Thea

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173268406686.

peregrineskye:

in memoriam–downy woodpecker, ?/?/??-4/13/18, killed by window

Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/173260949396.