Readers’ wildlife photos

February 26, 2023 • 8:15 am

As it’s Sunday, John Avise has provided us with another cache of themed bird photos. This week’s them, is, well, it’s below.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Birds on Boulders

In one of our local parks here in Southern California, a small pond’s shoreline is strewn with boulders that sometimes yield excellent photo opportunities for the creatures using them as resting spots. This week’s WEIT post shows several animals I’ve photographed on these boulders against the solid background provided by the pond.

Mallard drake (Anas platyrhynchos):

Another Mallard drake:

Mallard hen:

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos):

Another American Crow:

Double-crested Cormorant adult (Phalacrocorax auritus):

Double-Crested Cormorant juvenile:

Double-crested Cormorant juvenile drying its wings:

Spotted Sandpiper, basic plumage (Actitis macularia):

Spotted Sandpiper, alternate plumage:

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus):

Egyptian Goose flapping its wings:

Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax):

Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans):

Gadwall (Anas strepera):

Sleepy Canada Goose (Branta canadensis):

Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta) also enjoy these boulders):

9 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife photos

  1. These are very nice – thank you!

    When you sight Actitis macularia in its basic plumage, is it by definition a spotted unspotted Spotted Sandpiper?
    😸😸😸😸😸

  2. A suggestion about the formatting of the bird-photo titles: At present, the spacing above each title is the same as the spacing below it. This makes it hard for the reader to recognize that each title belongs to the photo below it, not the photo above it. Yes, the colon is a clue that the title is a heading, not a legend, but it’s a subtle one that I usually miss.

    My default seems to be that I scroll down to look at a photo, then read the title below it, then realize that the true title is above the photo, then scroll back up to read the title, then scroll down to look at the next photo. Rinse and repeat, probably several times each day.

    Maybe I’m the only reader that makes this mistake. But adding an extra space above each title would be a big help for me.

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