Tessera

Our neighborhood red-shouldered hawk Leviticus caught mid-launch from a set constructed of winter tulip poplar flower skeletons — ballet meets biomechanics. Talons en pointe, wings at full extension. Choreographed liftoff. #InMotion #BirdOfTheDay #RSHA

Heckle and Jeckle, Barred Owl siblings raised in our Durham NC yard during the 2024 summer. Branchlings still figuring out the wing thing; one balanced, one workshopping a repositioning maneuver. #Pairs #BirdOfTheDay #BAOW

Alan H@alan678.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“Here, I got these bugs for you.” Common Grackle with a beak-full of crunchy snacks for #BirdOfTheDay #mouthful.

Good morning. The #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #RockSolid any bird captured, perched on or standing by rocks or on a rocky surface. The alt is #mouthful any bird with a mouthful of food. Good luck. 🤞 Here’s a Meadow Pipit on a stone wall taken yesterday. #birds #Stunday #photography #ECK

A Meadow Pipit perches on a rough, lichen-speckled stone wall, its warm brown, finely streaked plumage blending with the earthy tones. It faces left in a calm, alert stance, with a softly blurred green background that isolates the bird and highlights the delicate detail of its feathers.

Carolina Wren, full-throated teakettle-teakettle in the rain. 20 grams of bird, wildly disproportionate volume. SO LOUD. Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #TheSongFactor #CARW #birding

Imagine, you’re finally the star in a movie about your life, or at least how you take a bath, and this diva just walks onto the stage, unannounced, and steals the show with THAT LOOK. #OvenBirdUpstage #birding

The backyard bath's informal "two splashers max" policy, strictly enforced by a pair of American Robins. Vigorous bathing realigns feather barbs and flushes ectoparasites; essential upkeep when you're defending turf and feeding babies. Durham, NC. #SplashingAround #AMRO @robcrank68.bsky.social

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, breeding plumes raised, posing beside Iris pseudacorus — beautiful, and unfortunately invasive in NA wetlands. Alas, the heron didn't make the landscaping decisions. Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC. #YCNH #PetalsAndPerches #BirdOfTheDay

Rorschach test, avian edition. Striking Great Egret! The water handled the symmetry. #BirdOfTheDay #Reflections #GREG #birding

"Can I help you?" TFW you make eye contact with a Great Egret and realize you're the one being watched. Its neck is a spring-loaded spear, with 20 cervical vertebrae coiled and ready to strike at fish faster than you can blink. #GREG #LongNecks #BirdOfTheDay

April's golden ticket just arrived. Prothonotary Warblers migrate from Central and South American mangroves to breed in southeastern bottomland swamps; a very long journey for a bird that weighs less than a AAA battery. Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #PROW #warblers

Nobody photographs the back of a peacock display, which is exactly why you should. The brown wing coverts, the gray structural rectrices doing all the work, the fluffy white undertail. Every diva has a stage crew. #BirdOfTheDay #Feathers #INPE #IndianPeafowl

Rear view of a male Indian Peafowl in full display, showing the radiating green iridescent upper tail coverts from behind, gray rectrices fanning beneath them for support, warm brown wing coverts flanking the body, and fluffy white undertail feathers. Key Biscayne, FL.

Jewelweed and hummingbirds: a 20-million-year-old handshake. The flower's spur is sized exactly for that bill, and the pollen lands exactly on that forehead. Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #SmallBirdsInFlight #RTHU #NativePlants

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovering mid-flight at an orange jewelweed flower, wings blurred with motion, surrounded by green foliage and dangling jewelweed blooms.

A Golden-crowned Kinglet picking through snow and oak leaves back in January. Weighs as much as two nickels but spends the whole winter here, burning through its body weight in insects daily just to stay warm. Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #weather #GCKI #birding

Golden-crowned Kinglet standing on snow-covered ground among scattered brown oak leaves. Bright yellow-orange crown stripe visible on its small round head. Bird is puffed up against the cold. January, 2025.

Great Blue Heron overhead! Wingspan: 6 ft (1.8m) — wider than most humans are tall. Standing height: 4 ft (1.2m). Weight: about 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg). They're essentially a fishing spear disguised as a kite. Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #LargeBirdsInFlight #GBHE

Great Blue Heron photographed from directly below in flight, wings fully extended against a pale blue sky. Backlit feathers show detailed barring patterns. Legs trail behind the body.

"I'll try the lobster." Yellow-crowned Night-Heron with a specialized crustacean-crushing bill to back it up. Sandy Creek Park, Durham, NC. #BirdofTheDay #snacks #YCNH #birding

Close-up of a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron mid-swallow, tossing a crawfish into the air against a backdrop of green vegetation. The bird's heavy bill, orange eye, and blue-gray plumage are sharply detailed.

Not a goose. Not originally from Egypt. Not native to Florida. But when you have five kids, taxonomy is the last thing on your mind. The Egyptian Goose is a shelduck that escaped captivity and has built a life where it found itself. #BirdOfTheDay #AdultsWithChicks #birding

Adult Egyptian Goose foraging on green grass with five small downy goslings clustered around its feet. Warm brown and chestnut plumage with iridescent green wing patch, dark eye patch, pink legs and bold orange eye. Goslings are fluffy brown and cream. Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, FL. February 1, 2024.

The Blue Grosbeak: half color, half engineering. "Gros bec" in French is literally "big beak." He is a seed-crushing specialist wrapped in indigo. Don't let the pretty color distract you from the serious hardware. #BirdOfTheDay #Blue #BLGR #birding

Blue Grosbeak perched on bare gray branches, facing right. Vivid deep blue-indigo plumage with russet-brown wing bars, heavy silver-gray conical bill, dark lores. Soft green-yellow bokeh background with a few pine needles visible. North Carolina, July 2025.

Every waterfowl bath seems to go the same way: dunk, preen, stretch, flap. If you see a Mute Swan working through its ablutions, just wait. The finale is coming. #BirdOfTheDay #WingsOpenNotFlying #MUSW #birding

Mute Swan standing in shallow water with both wings raised and spread behind its body, mid-flap after bathing. White plumage with textured neck feathers, orange bill with black knob. Dark feet visible in calm gray water, green shoreline blurred in background. Cape Island, Cape May, NJ. September, 24, 2024

A Fox Sparrow's breast chevrons are (likely) a reaction-diffusion pattern; melanin pulses during feather growth, unfurling into V-shapes as the barb ridges spiral out of the follicle. Same math Turing described in 1952. #BirdOfTheDay #speckled #FOSP #birding

Fox Sparrow perched on a bare branch, facing slightly left. Rich rufous-brown upperparts with bold white breast heavily marked with dark chestnut chevron-shaped streaks and spots. Olive-brown crown, pale lower mandible with yellow base, russet tail. Soft gray-green bokeh background with bare twigs. Durham, NC. February 2026.

Great Blue Heron on a post, mid-yawn, showing off its vivid orange gape that you don't see when the beak is closed. Even dinosaurs need to stretch. Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #OpenBeak #GBHE #birding

Great Blue Heron perched on a wooden post, bill open wide revealing a vivid orange-red gape and interior. Blue-gray plumage with shaggy breast feathers, backlit by soft green bokeh with sparkling highlights. Wispy feather filaments visible near the bill.

Turdus migratorius -- for some, but in NC, they never leave. We get these colors year-round: black velvet head, burnt-orange breast, bill like a shard of gold. The beautiful American Robin, so common and so underrated. #BirdOfTheDay #tricolour #YearRound #AMRO

American Robin perched on a pale branch, head tilted up with bright yellow-orange bill. Black head with broken white eye-ring, rich burnt-orange breast with subtle feather scalloping, dark gray-brown-black back and wings. Soft, muted orange, green and gray bokeh background.

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 5mo ago

Thank you, Dr. Bergstrom!

For years I've wanted something like Duolingo for the birds of the various places I visit. Just in time for my trip to Aotearoa New Zealand, I found Peter's ChipNotes! app. He added New Zealand's birds for me and I found it very helpful. Such a cool app, very cleverly designed. Check it out! 🪶

Great Egret conducting a full feather audit where every plume is accounted for, inspected, and zipped. Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #Preeners&Scratchers #GREG #birding

A Great Egret stands on a tree branch, head tucked under a raised wing as it preens its inspects its feathers. The bright white plumage fans out against a soft green forest background, with the orange/yellow bill visible among the feathers. Durham, NC, July 28, 2025.

Liz Haswell @ehaswell.bsky.social · 5mo ago

White-throated Sparrows migrate from the spruce forests of Canada to winter across the Southeast USA. They've been in Durham NC since October - but not for much longer. #BirdOfTheDay #Migratory #WTSP

A White-throated Sparrow perched on a thin American bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia) branch with fresh green leaves. The bird shows crisp black and white head stripes, a bright yellow patches between eye and bill, grey breast, white throat, and brown-streaked wings. April, 23 2025 (overstayed its visa a little!).

Weeping to see the entire multicellular plant lineage reduced to a guard cells, and those a tiny afterthought in the corner! Nobody puts plants in the corner!!

Journal of Cell Biology@jcb.org · 5mo ago

🌈 Download JCB's CELLULAR DIVERSITY poster! 📩 Sign up to receive our future special collections and download this beautiful artwork by Bianca Dunn to display at home or in the lab 👉 info.rupress.org/jcb-collecti...

This Barred Owl fledgling dove from a tree to pounce on something in the leaf litter. It missed, but then immediately struck a sunning pose and cooly stared at me, "I meant to do that." Durham, NC. #BirdOfTheDay #Grounded #BAOW #birding

A juvenile Barred Owl sits on the ground among wood chips and leaf litter, wings spread wide to either side. Its round face stares directly at the camera with dark eyes and a yellow beak. Dappled sunlight illuminates the barred wing feathers. Durham, NC. July 28, 2024