Vic Brown
@viccbrown.bsky.social
Entomologist/Ecologist/Birder/Cook/Grandad. All photographs my own, unless credited.
@alan678.bsky.social has chosen #RedOrDead as today's #BirdOfTheDay theme; a bird with red in the photo (not on the bird) or a bird on bare winter branches. Herring Gull resting in Watchet Harbour, Somerset (May 2025)
Watching wasps hunting bees in my Cambridgeshire garden this afternoon. It sure beats daytime TV! European beewolf (Philanthus triangulum) with Honeybee (Apis mellifera) prey. (Photos 1&2) Ornate Bee Fox (Cerceris rybyensis) with unidentified small bee prey. (Photos 3&4) #Hymenoptera
Welcome to @helenbennett.bsky.social with her first #BirdOfTheDay theme. Today she's chosen #FabulousWaders Any wading bird that you love! A couple of record-breaking shorebirds from Cairns Esplanade, Queensland (Oct 23). Beach Stone-curlew and Far Eastern Curlew.
@atlanticbirding.bsky.social first theme for today's #BirdOfTheDay is #Firsts, some of your earliest bird captures. The alt theme is #Robins. I'm ignoring dodgy phone snaps and predigital efforts. For a twofer, the first Eurasian Robin I photographed with a digital camera (April 2020).
@robcrank68.bsky.social's says #BestOfJuly is the theme for today's #BirdOfTheDay I had hoped to visit my son in Orkney last month and photograph birds, but he's been working on the mainland. So, my garden pair of loved-up Common Wood Pigeons have been entertaining me. Cambridgeshire July 2026.
@alan678.bsky.social ’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #OverTheRainbow, any bird looking skyward. Female Common Blackbird on my roof last week. Whilst her head is pointing up, I'm sure she's watching me me below at the same time.
@robcrank68.bsky.social's theme for #BirdOfTheDay is #HeronsAndEgrets Nankeen Night Heron (Queensland October 2023).
@alan678.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #YourChoice Like many biology undergrads, I learnt about Niko Tinbergen's classic animal behaviour studies involving food begging & the red dot on a Herring Gull's beak. Somehow, it took me 50 years to actually witness it, made my day. Orkney 2025
@robcrank68.bsky.social's theme for #BirdOfTheDay is #MultiColour, birds with 3 or more colours in their plumage. Rainbow Lorikeet (Brisbane, QLD) Keel-billed Toucan (Costa Rica)
@alan678.bsky.social’s #BirdOfTheDay theme: #EmeraldBackdrop – Images where the background colour is green. Montezuma oropendola amongst the ferns (Costa Rica 2025). Brown Shrike in a paddy field (Bohol, Philippines 2020).
@robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Grey, any bird with Grey in its plumage. The Alt theme is #RedBeaks, any bird with a Red Beak. Going for a #twofer Silver Gulls in Australia (1st 2 photos). aka Red-billed Gulls in New Zealand(last 2 photos).
@alan678.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme today: #CHE Cormorants, Herons and Egrets Little Pied Cormorant Striated Heron Little Egret Queensland, October 2023.
Last Sunday, the rides at Sugley Wood, Cambridgeshire, were buzzing with pollinators on abundant Common Knapweed, Wild Carrot, and other flowers. Why do the Wildlife Trust mow all of the flowers in the middle of summer rather than later, when flowering is over? Convenience rather than conservation?
@robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay main theme is a tough one with #OneTwoThreeFour, 4 photos with 1, 2, 3, 4 birds, with each photo being the same bird/s. Common Starlings on my fence and home.
@alan678.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is: #EyeOfTheWild – piercing eye or eyes as the dominant feature of the portrait. Bush Stone-curlew Australian Zoo, Queensland (so not very wild!)
It is always nice to get a new bee species for the garden list. Female Halictus rubicundus (Orange-legged Furrow Bee) on Limnanthes douglasii (Poached Egg Plant) this afternoon. #Bees
@robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #SittingDownOnTheJob Carrion Crow Dunnock Common Blackbird Northern Fulmer
Until recently, the Jersey Tiger (Euplagia quadripunctaria) was restricted to the Channel Islands and a few sites along the S. coast of England. They first appeared in my S. Cambs village in 2022 and have been abundant this summer and last. They have now been recorded as far north as Yorkshire.
@alan678.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay is #TantalisingTextures Smooth soft feathers of any bird contrasted with rough hard surfaces. Willie Wagtail (Brisbane - 2023) Eurasian Wren (Orkney - 2025)
@robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Gulls New Zealand's only endemic gull, the 'Near Threatened' Black-billed Gull.
@alan678.bsky.social's theme for #BirdOfTheDay is #SummerLovin, which is bird captures taken during the summer. Juvenile Northern Wheatear
The UK's largest hoverfly, Volucella zonaria (Hornet Mimic Hoverfly). Male (eyes close together) and female (eyes separated) on Common Knapweed just outside the village woods this morning. Gamlingay Wood, Cambridgeshire (19/7/26) #Hoverflies #Syrphidae #Diptera
@robcrank68.bsky.social 's theme for today's #BirdOfTheDay is #Triplets, three of the same species. Three Wandering Whistling Ducks (Tyto Wetlands, Queensland, 2023).
@alan678.bsky.social's #BirdofTheDay theme is #ScreenFiller, a capture where the bird takes up a large part of the image. Male Kestrel (Luxembourg Old Town - 2024)
A female Chrysotoxum verralli (Verrall's Spearhorn) on mint flowers half an hour ago. Only my 2nd garden record of this localised wasp mimicking hoverfly. #FlyDayFriday #Dipera #Syrphidae #Hoverflies
@robcrank68.bsky.social 's theme for #BirdOfTheDay is # Corvidae. A Jackdaw, photographed in May, when the grass was green, not yellow.
Happy #WorldSnakeDay. Australian Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus). What a cutie. Brisbane (2023).
@alan678.bsky.social's theme for today's #BirdOfTheDay is #SingersAndWingers. A Common Blackbird sunning in my S. Cambridgeshire garden for today's #BirdOfTheDay
