Will you agree with me if I say my favorite bird tends the vast sky on his back and carries the soul of the soil on his chest? Why else is he colored the way he is?

Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade
Activists for birds and wildlife

Tags:   Male Bluebird Eastern bluebird Eastern bluebird in flight Bird Bird in flight Sialis sialis

© All Rights Reserved

There is an element of addiction in freezing airborne birds. I guess the addiction is partly the grace of these beautiful creatures in flight and partly the challenge of doing a decent job as a photographer when everything is moving rapidly. When one adds a female bluebird to the equation, there is nothing I can do but hook myself to this reward-seeking behavior!

Tags:   Sialis sialis Eastern bluebird flight Airborne bird Bird Eastern bluebird

© All Rights Reserved

Elegance excuses external fanfare when our very essence takes to wing. For example, discarding its blazing yellow coat till the spring molting, the male American Goldfinch is hermetic in winter. The orange beak turns black, the lemon yellow pales to olive-brown and mating calls cease… you can say, flamboyance takes a back seat. Or, does it?

Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade
Activists for birds and wildlife

Tags:   Spinus tristis American Goldfinch Goldfinch Goldfinch in winter Goldfinch in flight Bird Aves Ramen Saha

© All Rights Reserved

I envy you…. Yes you! You, the all impressive blue heron! I envy how you stand motionless when you want to and fly as if motion was meant to be pearly grace. If cosmos was to be reshuffled and everything went up for grabs, I would then hold on to my soul, steal few blue feathers from your knight’s kingdom spanning wings and knit myself an azure wing.

Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade
Activists for birds and wildlife

Tags:   Great Blue Heron Blue Heron Ardea herodias Heron Bird Heron in flight Ramen Saha

© All Rights Reserved

Mockingbirds are flagrantly territorial. Today, I witnessed one of these singing knights defend his domain with a lot of aggression. The assault included a spirited swagger followed by an aerial ambush (above) and a coarse warning which was anything but melodious. The trespasser (right) barely had enough time to flip out of harm's way and escape into obscurity. After driving off his unwanted visitor, mister royalty (left) sat on a steel column which I reckon marked the border of his territory. I saw a mix of pride and relief in his demeanor. However, that quickly turned into a more powerful expression (his pupil contracted and his body tensed) when he heard my camera. He gave me a look that clearly classified me as an intruder and seemed to say, you too want a piece of that? Not wanting to bear the blitz of a Mockingbird, I pretended to see some Juncos around the corner and left the maniac alone.

PS: Leah, are you happy now?


Member of the Flickr Bird Brigade
Activists for birds and wildlife

Tags:   Mimus polyglottos Northern Mockingbird Mockingbird in fight Bird Ramen Saha

© All Rights Reserved