https://www.birdsbyjake.com/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/lakes-and-forests/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/deserts/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/rivers-and-oceans/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/costa-rica/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/prints/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/fine-art-prints/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/blank-notecards/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/gallery/notecard-sets/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/page/about/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/red-winged-blackbird/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redwinged_male_calling.jpg Red-winged Blackbird The surest sign of spring in many parts of North America is the shrill, three-note call of the male red-winged blackbird, a migratory species that is one of the first to arrive when the temperatures warm and the ground begins to thaw. The jet black males fly from cattail to cattail, displaying their brilliant red and yellow shoulder patches as they stake out their territories. By the time the females arrive a few weeks later, the boys have mostly settled the property disputes, and they can both get to work raising the next generation of blackbirds. Moncton, New Brunswick https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/oregon-junco-6/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_junco_male_turnback_horiz.jpg Oregon Junco A male Oregon junco demonstrates a classic over-the-shoulder pose on a moss-covered branch. There's no shortage of overgrown sticks for these birds to sit on in the Pacific Northwest, where they regularly patronize backyard feeders and public parks. Much more colorful than the females, male Oregons are easy to recognize with their darker tones and nearly black heads. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/red-breasted-nuthatch-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redbreasted_nuthatch_square_moss.jpg Red-breasted Nuthatch A red-breasted nuthatch pauses on an overgrown tree stump, possibly to figure out if I've got any peanuts with me. Nuthatches are hit-and-run feeders that will dart in, grab a food item, and fly off just as quickly, so getting this male to spend more than half a second in one place was a welcome event. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/oregon-junco-5/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_junco_vertical.jpg Oregon Junco Soft reddish tones surround a dainty Oregon junco up on branch, with enough moss growing on it to completely hide the wood underneath. In the temperate rainforest climate in and around Victoria, BC, it's hard to find a tree, or even a bush, that isn't at least somewhat covered in moss and lichen. The plants thrive in the regular stream of moisture coming off the Pacific, and the birds are provided with excellent habitat. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/stellers-jay/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Stellers_jay_square.jpg Steller's Jay Tall, dark, and handsome, the bold Steller's jay replaces the blue jay in British Columbia. Despite their size, they can be rather skittish, and getting close to them requires hiding out in a blind or behind a curtain. Typical for corvids (the family that includes all crows, ravens, and jays), their feeding strategy is to hit and run. They swoop in and scatter the smaller birds, stuff their beaks, and fly off in a few seconds. I was lucky enough to photograph this jay right as the light was becoming bright enough to shoot in, and the only color in the scene was from the bird and the mossy branch he was standing on. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/oregon-junco-4/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_junco_male_lookback_square.jpg Oregon Junco A small yard on Vancouver Island is all this junco needs to be happy with his lot in. life. It's got food, water, shelter, and plenty of places to sit and watch. I got more photographs of this species (the West Coast subspecies of the dark-eyed junco, which is all grey on top and all white below, with no pink or brown except on the bill) than of any other on my 2024 trip to Victoria. They're just sparrows at the end of the day, but still, they're pretty sparrows! Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/oregon-junco-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_junco_female_horiz.jpg Oregon Junco The oceanic climate of Vancouver Island brings constant moisture on shore from the Pacific Ocean, which allows all kinds of moss and lichen to survive on just about any surface. Rocks, trees, branches, and even the occasional house have lichens growing on them, in a range of colors from dark green to turquoise. When this female Oregon junco hopped up onto one of those branches, she framed herself perfectly against its upward curve and stayed put long enough for me to get off a few frames. Even though it was late February, the West Coast spring had already begun, and small plants were beginning to leaf out. In a few more weeks, the red background of distant bare branches will be green with new foliage, all while the rest of the country still has to dig out from snow and ice. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/mandarin-duck/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Mandarin.jpg Mandarin Duck This mandarin duck drake was probably the single-most photographed individual bird in Québec at one point. Almost certainly an escapee from someone's pond, he had been seen off and on around the northern Montreal suburb of Laval for several years. As of January 2024, however, he appeared to have decided on the Rivière des Mille Îles in nearby Boisbriand as his permanent home, and he also found himself a companion in a female wood duck. It remains to be seen if we'll get any hybrid ducklings, but it's altogether possible, since mandarins and wood ducks are in the same genus. Although this bird likely didn't originate in the wild, since the native range is mostly in China and most of the established feral populations are in different European countries, he has been living in nature for some time now, and has made enough of an impression on the locals to even appear in the evening news. Like so many others who come to Montreal from elsewhere and stay, he's made our city his home. Boisbriand, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-capped-chickadee-5/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Chickadee_square_.jpg Black-capped Chickadee If you photograph birds in the park and hand out peanuts as payment for perching, you're going to get noticed by the black-capped chickadees, and once those birds call their friends over, it's not unusual to have them landing everywhere from on the camera to the top of your head. While it's true that on this particular day, I was trying to get images of quite literally any other species, since it's no harder to find chickadees in New Brunswick than it is back home in Québec, I still enjoy taking pictures of these friendly little birds that put a positive note on even the coldest winter days. Moncton, New Brunswick https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-capped-chickadee-4/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Chickadee_winter_branch.jpg Black-capped Chickadee The chickadees never leave. No matter how cold it gets, or how much snow falls, they never head south for Central and South America once the mercury dips below freezing and stays there for months on end. Chances are, if you walk through your local park, even in the kind of weather than would keep most wildlife hunkered down, these guys will be there waiting for you. I'll admit that I was trying for literally any other species the day I got this shot, since as cute as chickadees are, I already have several shots of them, but these birds have a way of making me press the button. Moncton, New Brunswick https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/american-wigeon-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/American_wigeon_male_goldenlight.jpg American Wigeon It's hard to go to Cambridge and not notice all the wigeons swimming around. Apart from the mallards, American wigeons are probably the most visible species at this spot on the Chesapeake Bay's eastern shore. Drakes are immediately recognizable by their yellow and green heads, while females, true to form for waterfowl, are golden-brown all over. But as easy as they are to ID, it can be a task to get one —just one— in a clear patch of water by itself. They congregate in large numbers and never really got the memo that a blocked main subject makes for a bad photograph. Often times, shooting them is just a waiting game, lying on the beach until one happens to swim far enough away from all the others. Cambridge, Maryland https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/lesser-scaup-hen/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Lesser_scaup_hen_16x9.jpg Lesser Scaup Hen The lesser scaup follows the unfortunate "generic brown duck" rule that so often apples to female waterfowl: the males are all different colors, and the females are a nondescript brown. But even so, the hens of this species aren't entirely lacking in elegance, with their rich chocolate brown feathers and dark yellow eyes. Just like the males, they're well built to survive cold winters in freezing water, which is normally right where you'll find them. Cambridge, Maryland https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/lesser-scaup/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Lesser_scaup_16x9.jpg Lesser Scaup Freezing temperatures and icy water don't bother the lesser scaup, a species of sea duck that's well equipped to ride out the cold season. Winter sees them move in from the ocean and go up brackish inland waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers. The drakes of this species have a gorgeous iridescence on their heads, but it only appears at just the right light angle. Cambridge, Maryland https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/197/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/mock00066.jpg https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/red-breasted-sapsucker/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redbreasted_sapsucker_sap.jpg Red-breasted Sapsucker An active and vocal west-coast woodpecker species, red-breasted sapsuckers are dependent on old-growth forests for food and shelter. Apart from providing a place to roost and excavate a nest, evergreen trees are a prime location for drilling sap wells, rows of small, cylindrical bore holes that the woodpecker makes in the tree's trunk in order to allow the sap to flow out. He will visit the tapped trees in a regular rotation to consume the sap, along with any insects that wind up trapped in it. This tree in particular has been peppered with well holes, but it has been long dead by now, and whatever sap remained at the surface has since hardened into globs of yellow resin. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/climb-out/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Snowgoose_climbout.jpg Climb-out An adult greater snow goose lifts off from a farmer's field and climbs steeply into the sky, just high enough to keep the Vancouver skyline out of the picture. Those shapes in the distance aren't clouds at all; they're actually the Coast Mountains, a north-south range that starts near the international border with the US and extends all the way to Yukon and the Alaska Panhandle. The geese were a chance encounter near the George C. Reifel Bird Sanctuary, where they were hanging out by the thousands on an early spring afternoon. Delta, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/green-jay-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greenjay_lookback.jpg Green Jay A green jay takes advantage of the shade provided by a velvet mesquite tree to get out of the south Texas sun. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/193/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/LYL_Reflection.jpg Lesser Yellowlegs Every August and September, the rivers around Montreal fill up with migrating shorebirds. None are more present, or more vocal, than the lesser yellowlegs, whose rather slow timetable heading south means they stick around for weeks or even a month or more before moving on to their wintering grounds. But while finding these birds is easy, getting one to stand in a bit of calm water is more of a task, since they often hang out in the middle of the river where the current is strong and the backgrounds are less than ideal. I got a few shots of this bird and his reflection, along with a nearby pectoral sandpiper, before he went back into the main river channel. Sainte-Martine, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/green-winged-teal/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greenwing_teal_16x9.jpg Green-winged Teal Surrounded by the orange-brown reflections of fading November foliage, a green-winged teal hen paddles through a small patch of open water. I made the trip from Montreal to New York City just to photograph this bird, who was one of a pair hanging out in Central Park. The other residents of the pond didn't make things easy on us at all, and many good chances were unceremoniously blocked by mallards and Canada geese, who couldn't have cared much less about our efforts at photography. As tame as these green-winged teal were, pictures like this one turned out to be few and far between! New York City, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/191/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Warbler_frame_mockup.jpg https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/double-dip/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greenwing_teal_dabbling.jpg Double Dip A bit of spontaneous near-symmetry appears in a small pond in Central Park when a pair of green-winged teal hens —not the first waterfowl species one would think of as typical for New York City— tip down in perfect dabbling duck fashion. A nearby autumn tree provided the rich orange reflection in the water. These two teal were all but inseparable the entire morning: where one went, the other would closely follow, making the classic waterfowl portrait all but impossible. This picture might be the first one I've ever processed that intentionally didn't show the bird's head! New York City, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/188/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Prints.jpg https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/187/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/IMG_2384.jpg https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/186/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Jay_card.jpg https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/185/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/A7-5.jpg https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/forest-flame/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/FCT_Forest_flame.jpg Forest Flame There's nothing subtle about the flame-colored tanager: the juveniles and females are a bright yellow, while the males sport the namesake orange-red, lighting up any corner of the cloud forest they inhabit. The large hooked beak is impressive all by itself, but this tanager mainly eats fruit and small insects, a diet often supplemented at backyard feeders. Seeing this male at a garden belonging to my friend Juan Andrés, hidden in the pristine mountains of Dota, was a real highlight of my 2022 trip to Costa Rica. I wasn't able to get much shooting in at all, as most of my time was taken up with guide duties for the rest of my family and trying in vain to fight off a nasty cold. What I did come back with, however, still excites me as much as it did the day I took it. This fire is guaranteed to light up your wall without burning it! It's available as a limited edition of 100, up to size 24" x 30". San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-emerald-toucanet-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Toucanet_headshot.jpg Northern Emerald Toucanet A close-up shot for the little green guy. This bird was some kind of tame, truly unconcerned with people being around and taking pictures. Shots like this one are the reason why I love overcast light for photographing in the forest: not a shadow in sight, and every last bit of fine detail revealed. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/silver-throated-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Silverthroated_tanager_square.jpg Silver-throated Tanager Middle to medium-high elevations are the home turf of the silver-throated tanager, a smaller member of the tanager family that often arrives in groups. You won't see them in the lowland rainforests with the big toucans, or way up in the clouds at 2,500 meters with the volcano hummingbirds, but everywhere in between, there's a decent chance of finding them. Having spent many days fending off black flies and sweating buckets in the jungle and praying for more oxygen up in the high mountains, I'm beginning to think they have the right idea! San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/scarlet-macaw-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Scarlet_Macaw_VertPortrait.jpg Scarlet Macaw Sometimes, the birds really do make it easy for us. It's never expected, but when they do, it's always a welcome sight. When this wild scarlet macaw came down to his favorite spot, sitting in some gorgeous evening sun with the background trees already in the shade, it was just a case of point and shoot. Orotina https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/resplendent-quetzal-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Quetzal_vertical_6x19.jpg Resplendent Quetzal With just a little bit of his bright red breast feathers visible, a male resplendent quetzal takes a look behind him, toward the cameras, on a branch covered in white cloud forest lichens. There's nothing quite like seeing one of these birds yourself, and despite the 5:00am wake-up time, the drive down skinny, steep roads that may or may not be paved, and the thin air in the mountains, I still make the pilgrimage to La Trinidad de Dota whenever I visit the central highlands of Costa Rica. La Trinidad de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/fiery-throated-hummingbird/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Fierythroated_Ignite.jpg Fiery-throated Hummingbird The difficulty with fiery-throated hummingbirds is that their brilliant rainbow colors don't always show. At certain angles, you'd be forgiven for thinking the species was just a plain, dark green hummer with nothing special at all about it. But when the light hits them just right, you get a light and color show unlike anything else in Central America, with the added bonus that they're often ridiculously tame. I've had to coax them off my hand more than once! San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-emerald-toucanet-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Toucanet.jpg Northern Emerald Toucanet As much as lots of my photographs are meticulously planned and composed, sometimes, a random occurrence can produce results that are just as enjoyable. The toucanet decided to make an appearance at a local restaurant, of all places, in San Gerardo de Dota. While my friend Michael and I were sitting on the balcony, enjoying the world's best coffee and a hefty serving of gallo pinto (black beans and rice) with scrambled eggs and fresh fruit, I happened to glance through the window and saw this bird just hanging out on a long, scraggly vine. I dropped the silverware, sprinted across the street to the car, and grabbed the camera, and he hadn't moved one bit. A few hand-held bursts later —no time at all to set up a tripod— and I had the shot. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-breasted-nuthatch/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/WBNuthatch_female.jpg White-breasted Nuthatch One of the best-loved feeder birds in the Northeast is the white-breasted nuthatch, a deciduous woodland resident that can often be found snatching peanuts out of hands in the local park. Their headfirst crawl down tree trunks and persistent ank-ank-ank voice immediately endear them to hikers and birders. But don't let the pretty face fool you, as they can be rather feisty when other species come into their territory, and that long, thin beak is good for other things besides opening and caching nuts. The bird in this photo is a female, lacking the jet-black head stripe of the male, seen probing logs in the park just after the last of the snow had melted away. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/talamanca-hummingbird-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Talamanca-hummer_female.jpg Talamanca Hummingbird A female Talamanca hummingbird, covered in yellow pollen from her regular visits to the flowers, rests on a blooming stem as a light drizzle begins to fall. She doesn't have the male's iridescent throat or forehead at all; her only real color besides brown is a bit of shiny green on the chest and wings. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pura-vida/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Brownhooded_parrot_puravida.jpg ¡Pura Vida! Who's ready to party? This brown-hooded parrot is certainly feeling the pura vida spirit. To be completely honest, I almost missed this shot. I was standing next to my tripod, not paying attention and mostly likely drinking a cold Imperial, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the resident parrots hanging upside-down from a branch. I swung the camera and lens around, moved the focus area to the parrot's eye, and got off four frames before he pulled himself back upright not three seconds later. This is a limited edition of 100 prints, and one of the first images I ever made in Costa Rica. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/bay-headed-tanager-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Bayheaded_tanager_4x5.jpg Bay-headed Tanager Thanks to a steady rain, the brilliant colors of this bay-headed tanager stood out even more than normal. San Ramón was on my itinerary for one reason, to see and photograph this bird. The bad weather and winding roads made the trip and the photo session a bit more difficult than normal, but we were rewarded for our persistence with this absolutely gorgeous adult! San Ramón https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/bay-headed-tanager-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/BayHeaded_Square.jpg Bay-headed Tanager Not quite as colorful as the adult, but still more than colorful enough to merit a picture, a juvenile bay-headed tanager grabs onto a stem in the forest undergrowth. The brilliant blues, greens, yellows, and reds are well on their way to coming in, but it will be at least another month or two before the plumage is fully developed. San Ramón https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/autumn-loon/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Loon_autumn.jpg Autumn Loon Loons molt out of their breeding plumage at the end of the summer, reverting to a plain brown and white that will last until the following spring. There's no question that they are prettier in the summer months, but every once in a while the perfect conditions line up for an off-season shot: still water, clear skies, and a lake surrounded by peak fall foliage. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/flame-colored-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Flamecolored_tanager_juv.jpg Flame-colored Tanager This flame-colored tanager is only a juvenile, less than a year old, but his namesake dark orange is already coming in strong. These tanagers live at higher elevations, where they're commonly seen in fruit-bearing trees and bushes. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/keel-billed-toucan-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Keelbilled_pano.jpg Keel-billed Toucan A branch covered in leafy vines is as good a way as any to get from tree to tree. But there happened to be another bird at the end of this particular branch, a much larger great curassow, and in a maneuver that would have made Bobby Orr applaud, the curassow simply body-checked the toucan right off the stick and out of her way. All that poor Mr. Rainbow Beak could do was watch and wait until the coast was clear. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/bay-headed-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Bayheaded_16x9.jpg Bay-headed Tanager Few tanagers turn heads quite like the bay-headed tanager, one of the most colorful birds in Costa Rica. We found this one at the most unassuming of locations: a zipline canopy tour place next to a roadside café. The canopy tour was closed, so we had the place to ourselves, save for the owner and his dog, and before long the birds were showing up in droves. When we managed to keep the clay-colored thrushes (the pesky national bird that loves to monopolize a feeder and eat everything in sight) away, this is one of the images I came home with. San Ramón https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/yellow-throated-toucan/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Yellowthroated_toucan.jpg Yellow-throated Toucan The yellow-throated toucan is what you get when you max out the stats on a beaky bird: he's the biggest toucan in Costa Rica, with an appetite to match. And that appetite doesn't stop at just fruit; during the breeding season, yellow-throated toucans have been known to raid nests and grab unsuspecting young. Fortunately, at the lodge I was staying at in Boca Tapada, the toucans are only interested in wolfing down bananas, and they come in close enough to allow for full-frame head shots. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-winged-dove/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Whitewinged_dove.jpg White-winged Dove A white-winged dove perches on the tip of an old cactus branch in a bit of sunrise light. The Sonoran Desert hosts both white-winged and mourning doves. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/rufous-tailed-hummingbird/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Rufoustail.jpg Rufous-tailed Hummingbird There's nothing exceptional about seeing a rufous-tailed hummingbird in Costa Rica, since they are one of the most abundant hummers around, but seeing one high up in the mountains was indeed unexpected! This younger bird was over a thousand meters above the expected range for the rufous-tailed hummingbird, but for some reason, he was making himself perfectly at home in the cloud forests of Dota, where the temperature is colder, the air is thinner, and almost none of the other lowland rainforest species live. I used the last bit of afternoon sunlight to highlight him against a shaded background of dark trees, and had just enough shutter speed to freeze him in mid-air. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/avocado-time/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Quetzal_female_w_avocadotif.jpg Avocado Time A female quetzal shows off her favorite food, a wild avocado or aguacatillo. Unlike the cultivated avocado, the wild fruit is almost all pit, with only a thin layer of flesh around the inedible center. Quetzals are threatened by loss of habitat and food sources as land is cleared for agriculture in the highlands; to combat this trend, some farmers leave the avocado trees standing and put up nest boxes for the quetzals to use instead. La Trinidad de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/blue-grey-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Blue_gray_tanager.jpg Blue-grey Tanager Common as common can get in Central America, yet at the same time, so unlike our northern birds! Blue-grey tanagers, AKA viuditas, are everywhere: in the rainforest, in the mountains, at the beach, and just about any other place you can think of. Yet for the longest time, I didn't have a good image of one. which is more or less equivalent to living in Canada and not having a single decent shot of a chickadee. However, on \one December afternoon when I was battling an ugly cold, no small feat at 8,500 feet, one of these birds landed right in front of me and assumed the absolute perfect pose. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/golden-hooded-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Sietecolores.jpg Golden-hooded Tanager The golden-hooded tanager has the familiar Spanish name sietecolores thanks to its eye-catching blues, blacks, and yellows (even though, at most, this bird can be said to have four different colors, not seven). They are small tanagers, around the size of a sparrow, and inhabit the lowland rainforests. I always try to get this species when I visit northern Costa Rica, and am often unsuccessful, since small birds rather like to move quickly and without warning, but I have at least managed to get this one image from a remote spot in Boca Tapada. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/te-quiero-verde/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Toucanet_perched.jpg Te Quiero Verde There isn't a single time I travel to the cloud forest and think of the first few lines of Federico García Lorca's famous poem:Verde, que te quiero verdeVerde viento. Verdes ramas.El barco sobre la mary el caballo en la montaña.Just about everything in the mountains is green, including the smallest toucan in Costa Rica, aptly named the northern emerald toucanet. I had missed them on previous trips, but had some luck in 2022 when several of them came in at once. For a region called the Cerro de la muerte, or "mountain of death", there sure seems to be a lot of life up there. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-throated-mountaingem-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/WTMountaingem_male_backview.jpg White-throated Mountaingem A little touch of evening sunlight in the Talamanca mountains brings out the colors and delicate iridescence of a white-throated mountaingem, a medium-sized hummingbird that lives at higher elevations. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/toucan-antics/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Keelbilled_Antics.jpg Toucan Antics Have you ever seen a toucan dance? Sometimes, as they're calling in their comical froggy voice, keel-billed toucans will perform a little routine that almost looks like twerking. It's a territorial display, but to us, it's far more entertaining than intimidating, especially when we can see their bright red underfluffies. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-grey-saltator/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Grayish_Saltator_4x5.jpg Northern Grey Saltator Also called the cinnamon-bellied saltator, the northern grey saltator is a local specialty at a friend's backyard feeders in Sarapiquí, in the northern lowland rainforest. When I was there in 2022, a large tree was dappling the background with bright orange and red leaves, a nice change from the uniform dark green that we usually get in the tropics. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/keel-billed-toucan-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Keelbilled_toucan_branchwvinestif.jpg Keel-billed Toucan This keel-billed toucan spent a few moments on a big jungle vine before hopping down to eat some bananas. What the photograph doesn't show is how strange this species's voice is; without knowing it's a bird, one might reasonably assume that a frog was croaking instead. There are so many of them in Boca Tapada that you even see them on the road driving in and out of town. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/keel-billed-toucan/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Keelbilled_Looking_up.jpg Keel-billed Toucan A keel-billed toucan pauses for a moment in the morning sun to check out something or other above him. From the back, these toucans have a subtle red coloration around the nape of the neck. While they aren't the largest toucan in the Costa Rican jungle, they win the "most colors on one bird" award hands down! Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/arco-iris/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Keelbilled_rain.jpg Arco Iris The ultimate jungle bird scene: a keel-billed toucan on a big, leafy branch in the rain! The Ticos call these birds "tucán pico iris" or "rainbow beak toucan" because of all the colors they sport. Several trips to Boca Tapada and its surroundings had already yielded pictures of them prior to this visit, but I still didn't have any rainstorm shots, and on some days, almost as if out of spite, the weather had been completely uncooperative, with nothing but blasting hot sun from dawn until dusk. On my second day of my 2022 trip, however, the skies opened, the toucans came out in force, and I finally had my quintessential tropical rainforest picture. If you need a rainbow bird for your own wall, this image is offered in a limited run of 100 up to 16" x 24". Larger sizes are available upon request. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-emerald-toucanet/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Toucanet_perched_looking_right.jpg Northern Emerald Toucanet Of the six different toucan species in Costa Rica, only the northern emerald toucanet inhabits the highlands, where the much more familiar keel-billed and yellow-throated toucans are kept away by the altitude. The toucanets tend to show up in waves; sometimes you see several of them every day, and other times, you can go weeks without getting a single bird. I only lucked out on one trip over to San Gerardo, when my time there coincided with a flurry of activity from these little green guys. Several friends and I spent the afternoon drinking cafecito, setting up perches, and machine-gunning the shutter every time another toucanet came in. I can only hope I get the chance again! San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/montezuma-oropendola/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Montezuma_Oropendola.jpg Montezuma Oropendola If you ever go walking through the rainforest in Costa Rica and hear something that sounds like a malfunctioning robot, chances are you've run into a Montezuma oropendola, an absolutely massive member of the blackbird family with a voice box that could rival any mockingbird. They have a variety of calls that range from mechanical squeaks and whistles, some of which are performed as they swing upside-down from a branch, to a noise that sounds just like radio static. Voracious eaters, they often arrive in groups, breaking small branches and gulping down whatever they can find, which doesn't win them any popularity contests with people who maintain backyard feeding stations. Nevertheless, I find them kind of pretty with their golden yellow tails and triangular heads, so when this adult came in shortly after sunrise, I was ready with the camera for him. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/juvenile-king-vulture-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Kingvulture_juvenile_portrait4x5.jpg Juvenile King Vulture No scuzzy buzzards here, we only photograph vultures of culture! This young king vulture was kind enough to come right up to our photo hide, where we really don't even need to conceal ourselves anymore, and strike a handsome wings-open pose for me. Could it be that a professional scavenger can actually look handsome in the right light and setting? Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/buff-throated-saltator/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Saltatortif.jpg Buff-throated Saltator Saltators are rather large, stocky birds that come in three varieties in Costa Rica: black-headed saltator, northern grey saltator, and buff-throated saltator, the third being by far the most common. They are a regular sight at low-elevation backyard feeders, where they supplement their diets of fruit and insects, so my mission was to capture one on an interesting perch! Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/red-throated-ant-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redthroated_anttanager.jpg Red-throated Ant Tanager Here's a prime example of a bird that must have been named by a committee: much more than the throat is red, they eat fruit just as readily as insects, and they aren't even tanagers at all! As it turns out, red-throated ant tanagers are much closer to cardinals than they are to the tanager family. Of the other birds it can be found with, only the crimson-collared tanager approaches it in size, which is considerable. This species can be difficult to attract, so photographing one, even on a rather overgrown branch, was a highlight of my 2022 trip to Sarapiquí. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/juvenile-king-vulture/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Kingvulture_juv_onground.jpg Juvenile King Vulture Young king vultures are blacker than the adults and lack the orange skin on the neck, though the juvenile bird here is already starting to develop it. While in the past, king vultures never went anywhere near humans, to say nothing of humans with huge cameras, they have become more accustomed to our presence over time and now tend to ignore people instead of flying away from them. Now, with a little patience, we can get pictures of them at a distance that doesn't require a spotting scope, and even the younger vultures figure out fairly quickly that the folks in the hide aren't there to do them any harm. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/got-carcass/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Kingvulture_adult_onbranch.jpg Got Carcass? It's a sunny morning in northern Costa Rica, and the king vulture is on the lookout for any butcher's scraps or roadkill that might fit the bill for breakfast. Compared to the black vulture that we have in Canada and the U.S., the king vulture is nearly twice as big, far more colorful, and almost elegant. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/sunrise-sprint/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Reddishegret_sunrise_sprint.jpg Sunrise Sprint Reddish egrets prefer to chase after their prey instead of making like a great egret or great blue heron and letting the fish simply come to them. I captured this image shooting into the sunrise at Fort DeSoto Park in Saint Petersburg, where there's almost always one of these birds on the hunt at any given time. St. Petersburg, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/resplendent-quetzal/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Quetzal_Horizontal_A9.jpg Resplendent Quetzal The famous resplendent quetzal is a species that draws birders to Central America from all around the world. Every year, people come to the highlands in Costa Rica to catch a glimpse of a bird so beautiful, and so unlike any other, the ancient Mayans considered it sacred. To this day, in recognition of that heritage, the quetzal lends its name to the national currency of Guatemala. Male resplendent quetzals sport a two-feather tail that can measure more than twice the length of their bodies, along with a scarlet red breast and a bright yellow beak. On a breezy day, those long tails will blow wherever the wind takes them. La Trinidad de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/king-vulture/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Kingvulture_adult_closeup.jpg King Vulture King vultures are a target any time I go to Boca Tapada, a small northern lowland town with several different spots where the normally shy scavengers will come close to you. The adults are unlike anything we have in North America, though despite their imposing appearance, they don't hunt live prey and will only consume carrion. I got this image of a mature adult with his wings spread from only about fifteen feet away, when the bird came over to shoo away a much smaller black vulture. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/slaty-flowerpiercer/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Slaty_Flowerpiercer.jpg Slaty Flowerpiercer When they aren't being chased away by angry hummers, slaty flowerpiercers flit from flower to flower, using their hooked beaks to make a pinhole at the base of the petals and then lap up the nectar. They have to be quick about the whole affair to avoid attracting the attention of the Talamanca hummingbirds, who are none too keen on the concept of sharing flowers, and thanks to that constant movement, photographing them is often an exercise in holding down the button and hoping one frame comes out sharp. To date, this image from a backyard garden in San Gerardo de Dota is the only frame I've managed to get of the species. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/great-kiskadee/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Kiskadee_w_bromeliad.jpg Great Kiskadee Called "kiskadee" in English and "bienteveo" in Spanish for their shrill, three-syllable call, these are large flycatchers that live from the far southern part of Texas down to tropical areas of Argentina. They also have a thin yellow stripe on their heads that only appears when the bird raises its feathers, usually in a territorial display. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/collared-aracari/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Aracari_sun_Lookback.jpg Collared Aracari The sun is barely up, but the collared aracari is already wide awake and looking for something to eat. Catching a common species in an over-the-shoulder pose is one of my favorite techniques for creating a more interesting composition. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-cheeked-woodpecker/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Blackcheeked_woodpecker.jpg Black-cheeked Woodpecker A branch with vines makes an ideal rest spot for a black-cheeked woodpecker in the lowland rainforest. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/rain-again/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Aracari_rain_again.jpg Rain Again?! The infamous flying vacuum cleaner, caught in an unexpected downpour. Collared aracaris, called cusingos or tucancillos in Spanish, are small toucans that tend to arrive in groups of at least five or six birds, and they don't usually leave until they've picked the area clean of food. Of the two aracari species in Costa Rica, they are by far the more common and wider distributed, and most people who feed birds in the lowlands will see these guys coming in on a regular basis. We had an overhang to shoot from and keep us dry, but much to this bird's apparent chagrin, there was no such shelter available for him, and he seemed rather put out by that fact! This photo made the top 100 in the "Animal portraits" division of the 2022 Golden Turtle Awards. La Fortuna de San Carlos https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/acorn-woodpecker-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Acorn-wpkr_male.jpg Acorn Woodpecker A male acorn woodpecker clings to a flowering tree branch in the Talamanca mountains. Also visible in certain parts of the western United States, their bright coloring and laughing call have lent them the Spanish name "carpintero payaso", or "clown woodpecker". San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/acorn-woodpecker-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Acorn-wpkr_female_rain.jpg Acorn Woodpecker Living in the cloud forest means dealing with rain showers on a fairly regular basis, but the acorn woodpecker is well adapted to its highland habitat in Costa Rica and doesn't let a bit of bad weather get in its way. Females have a smaller red cap than males, but are otherwise similar and just as likely to visit feeders. Although they do enjoy acorns and other tree nuts, cooked rice is just as high up on their list of favorites! San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-lined-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/WL_tanager_female.jpg White-lined Tanager One look at where this bird is sitting, and you'll know it's a tropical rainforest species. Female white-lined tanagers contain exactly zero white lines, and the two namesake lines on the male's shoulders are barely large enough to notice at all. Even so, the former's soft chestnut color still makes her quite the looker. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/mountain-thrush/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Mountain_thrush.jpg Mountain Thrush The plain gray mountain thrush is a tropical cousin to our American robin, though as the name suggests, you won't find it at low altitudes. It prefers to stay up high in the cloud forest, where rainy days are frequent but cold temperatures on the order of North America's are all but unheard of. Mountain thrushes and their rather muted colors lend themselves to overcast, moody light, so when a friend and I focused on this branch with flowers in the hope that something —anything, really— might decide to perch on it, the falling rain and the species that came along were a perfect match. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/lesser-violetear/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Lesser_violetear_perched.jpg Lesser Violetear The brilliant blue and green lesser violetear is one of the buzz bombs of the Costa Rican highlands. They are attracted to feeders and flowers alike, and whatever time they don't spend feeding, they use to chase away rival hummingbirds, which they at least attempt to intimidate by flaring those dark blue "ear" patches. I caught this one in a rare moment of repose in the cloud forest in between turns at a nearby feeder. Don't let his small size fool you; this hummer will throw down as soon as a different species gets too close! San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pacific-screech-owl/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pacific_Screechowl.jpg Pacific Screech Owl You may not see him, but he sees you! Pacific screech owls are small cousins of the Eastern and Western screech owls in North America. With his wide eyes, little escapes his gaze, especially anything that's edible. An old, mossy fence posts makes a good enough spot to rest on between hunting trips. By the time I got this photo, my two friends and I had already dodged a truck on an unlit road, killed more mosquitoes than I ever thought possible, and stepped around a literal cat fight (as in an altercation involving actual cats). Let it never be said that the non-photographic parts of bird photography are always boring. Los Chiles https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/neotropic-cormorant/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Neotropical_Cormorant.jpg Neotropic Cormorant In Central America, the familiar double-crested cormorant gives way to a slightly more elegant species, the neotropic cormorant. They are abundant in the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge in the north of Costa Rica, on the border with Nicaragua, and can be distinguished from our own double-crested cormorant by their blue-green eyes and white tufts and facial accents. Los Chiles https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/scarlet-macaw/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/ScarletMacaw_Posing.jpg Scarlet Macaw A long wait for these birds to show up ended up being well worth the time spent. As the light turned golden, we got an up close and personal shoot with a completely wild scarlet macaw in a rather unlikely spot just outside a "pulpería", or convenience store, right in the middle of a defunct railroad. Orotina https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/red-legged-honeycreeper-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/RL_Honeycreeper.jpg Red-legged Honeycreeper All three Costa Rica honeycreepers —the red-legged, shining, and green— are common sights just about anywhere that has low elevation and abundant food sources. The hard part in photographing them comes with finding one that hasn't made a mess of a recent meal and decided to show up without cleaning himself off first! But as luck would have it, a completely clean male in full adult plumage struck a perfect pose for me in Sarapiquí, where even the red leaves on the trees behind him couldn't compare to his bright red legs. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/red-legged-honeycreeper/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/RL_Honeycreeper_juv.jpg Red-legged Honeycreeper Throw a rock in the Costa Rican rainforest, and the odds are good you'll hit a red-legged honeycreeper, one of three resident honeycreeper species in the county. There's certainly no mystery where they get their name from, but despite the reference to honey, these birds are mainly fruit eaters.The individual here is a juvenile male who has almost completely molted into his adult plumage, in which the gray feathers on his forehead and throat will get swapped out for a brand new electric blue. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/olive-backed-euphonia/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Olivebacked_euphonia_female.jpg Olive-backed Euphonia The female olive-backed euphonia is a small tropical rainforest species, a dainty little bird that's easy to miss amongst all the green. They live from southern Mexico down to Panama, putting Costa Rica square in their normal range. Unlike the male, the female is almost entirely green, with only a touch of brown above her eye. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-on-white/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Snowgoose_white_on_white.jpg White on White The Beaudet Reservoir in Victoriaville, about halfway between Montreal and Québec City, hosts a massive concentration of greater snow geese in November and December. Most of the photo action happens when the sun is out, but in the ten or so minutes after sunset, the ambient light can bring out the delicate colors and fine details in these birds. The white background here is actually the water, which had turned almost as white as the snow geese themselves. Victoriaville, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-throated-mountaingem/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/WTMountaingem_male_square.jpg White-throated Mountaingem A visit to a friend's backyard garden in the mountain highlands happened to line up perfectly with a distant stand of bushes coming into full bloom. They formed a natural backdrop of beautiful purple flowers for the hummingbirds, including the white-throated mountaingem, which only lives above 1,500 meters elevation. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/crimson-collared-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Crimsoncollared_tanager.jpg Crimson-collared Tanager Called "sangre de toro" (bull's blood) in Spanish, the crimson-collared tanager is a fairly large, stocky tanager that never fails to turn heads with its deep red breast and nape colors. It was one of my primary targets in Sarapiquí, a town in the Costa Rican lowland rainforest, so I was thrilled when this one came out and posed. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/american-oystercatcher/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Oystercatcher_walkingtowards.jpg American Oystercatcher On a gray, wet fall day, an American oystercatcher walks down the beach as a wave breaks in the background. No matter the light or the weather, that red bill stands out against everything else! Long Island, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pectoral-sandpiper-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pectoral_Sandpiper_Portrait.jpg Pectoral Sandpiper A pectoral sandpiper pauses from foraging in the shallow Châteauguay river in some absolutely picture-perfect golden light. At least one of these sandpipers usually comes through the river park in Sainte-Martine during fall migration, but there's no guarantee they show up in good weather or for any longer than a day. I made sure to spend the entire session photographing this bird, since I didn't know if I'd get another chance after that. Sainte-Martine, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-gannets/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Gannet_landing.jpg Northern Gannets The long, narrow wings of the northern gannet are excellent for keeping streamlined and even pull double duty as underwater flippers, but when it comes to returning to terra firma, landing can sometimes be little more than a controlled crash into a cliff. No matter how carefully they might try to set themselves up for arrival, gannets can struggle in a breeze and hit the deck fairly hard, with an audible thump to match. The near bird was one of many who tried in vain to slow himself down enough before touchdown to avoid the splat maneuver, but failed; the individual behind him went around for another try. Percé, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/releve/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Gannet_releve.jpg Relevé Northern gannets are seabirds with long, narrow wings that nest in huge colonies over over fifty thousand individuals. Those of us in eastern Canada are fortunate to live near one of the largest in North America, on Bonaventure Island at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, just offshore from the town of Percé. Here, the gannets are constantly coming and going in the summer months, and the island cliffs teem with birds building nests, rearing chicks, and fending off intruders. There's little technique involved here; getting flight shots is a simple matter of picking one gannet out of the dozens in the air at a time, tracking it, and hitting the shutter! Percé, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/firestorm/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Fierythroated_rain_square.jpg Firestorm Water won't put out the fire on a fiery-throated hummingbird, but you have to be at just the right angle to see it. When you do, however, you'll know immediately why this bird got its name. Even in a steady, cold rain that required copious amounts of cafecito to keep warm, those colors shine brighter than anything. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/scarlet-rumped-tanager/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Passerini_tanager.jpg Scarlet-rumped Tanager Called "sargento" in Spanish for the male's bright red back feathers, and formerly known in English as the Passerini's tanager, the scarlet-rumped tanager is aptly if not rather uncreatively named. These tanagers are common everywhere at lower elevations. Their black bodies and light bills make exposure a bit of a challenge, so I was pleased to come away with this shot of one in Sarapiquí. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/highland-splendor/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Talamanca_rain.jpg Highland Splendor A bit of cloud forest drizzle doesn't faze the Talamanca hummingbird, a hummer nearly the size of a small sparrow with a feisty attitude and some brilliant colors to match. The rain keeps the forest a healthy green all year, and the iridescent patches on the male Talamanca's throat and head send a clear message to everybody else: this spot is mine! San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/talamanca-hummingbird/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Talamancahummer_male_foggy-bg.jpg Talamanca Hummingbird In the Talamanca mountains of Costa Rica and Panama, the largest highland hummingbird is named for the hills it calls home. A uniform dark green in normal light, the male's brilliant purple and blue patches on his head and throat show their iridescence at just the right angle. As the biggest hummer in the cloud forest, the Talamanca is generally the boss bird, and doesn't hesitate to go after other smaller hummingbirds using his favorite feeders or sitting on his preferred branches. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/clay-colored-thrush/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Claycolored_thrush.jpg Clay-colored Thrush Anyone who sees a clay-colored thrush for the first time —and doing so is hardly a challenge, since they're absolutely everywhere— tends to have the same reaction: "That is the national bird of Costa Rica?" This species is indeed the tico national bird, chosen (or so the story goes) for its pleasant song as opposed to pretty bright colors. Despite being a fairly drab brown, these "yigüirros", as they are often called, do have the advantage of moving a bit slower and standing still more often than their smaller and more colorful counterparts, so when one does decide to pose, it's not impossible to photograph them. A little background color from a tropical tree complements this image of a clay-colored thrush perched on a nearby branch. Sarapiquí https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/great-curassow/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Curassow_male.jpg Great Curassow Great curassows are about the size of a wild turkey, and both are in the same taxonomic order galliformes, which also includes the pheasants, quail, and guinea fowl. As game birds, curassows have suffered from poaching in Central America, and as a result they hardly come running up to have their picture taken, but after about thirty minutes of sitting on the ground with my camera, this handsome male decided I was safe enough to approach. When he stood still for a moment, I fired off a couple of close-up frames with the bird in relative shade, and the background still lit up by the evening sun. Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/curassow-curiosity/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Curassow_curiosity.jpg Curassow Curiosity "Are you trying to get my picture?" In between bites of food, a female great curassow stuck her head far enough into the frame to create an amusing portrait. Although normally shy and very wary of humans, thanks in no small part to illegal hunting, the northern rain forest town of Boca Tapada has one spot where these large birds in the turkey family will come close to you. When they do, and you have a long lens mounted on the camera, you either have to back way up to get the whole bird in frame, or stay zoomed in and hope for something interesting to happen! Boca Tapada https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/tennessee-warbler/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/TNWarbler.jpg Tennessee Warbler The last light of the afternoon illuminates a winter plumage Tennessee warbler in the Costa Rican highlands, where the species spends the winter months after breeding in North America. I took advantage of a natural dark background of distant trees and bushes to make the bird and his favorite branch stand out. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/yellow-thighed-finch/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Yellow_thighed_finch.jpg Yellow-thighed Finch Ever seen a bird with bike shorts? The yellow-thighed finch is a specialty in the central highlands, and if it weren't for those neon yellow leggings, the species would probably be entirely forgettable. It's common to see them on the ground or making their way across tree branches with their tails held high in the air, as this one is doing. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/volcano-hummingbird/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Volcano-hummer_male.jpg Volcano Hummingbird Barely the size of the first joint of your thumb, this tiny male volcano hummingbird only lives at the highest elevations in Central America, where he gathers nectar from the native plants that grow at the top of Cerro de la Muerte. San Gerardo de Dota https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-capped-chickadee-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Chickadee_yellow_maple.jpg Black-capped Chickadee How Canadian can it possibly get? Turning leaves on a small sugar maple make an excellent perch for this black-capped chickadee, who's just as comfortable sitting in your hand (or on your head) as he is on a branch. Spending a bit of time with these little birds is a sure cure for a bad day, since their antics never fail to bring a smile to peoples' faces. When I'm behind the camera, and not just feeding them peanuts in the park, I attempt to capture them in scenes that reflect the season, so the maple tree offered an obvious choice. Longueuil, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/self-reflection/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Reddishegret_selfreflection.jpg Self-reflection Thick fog in front of a rising sun created a pastel yellow glow that enveloped the southernmost point of Florida's Pinellas County for around an hour. The reddish egret, a southern wader that can oftenbe found sprinting after fish in a drunken sailor dance, was slowly making his way through the marsh while I sat nearby with the camera. In contrast to the species's normal behavior, I thought he looked calm and collected, almost philosophical, like he had seen something interesting in his own reflection and was pausing to think it over. St. Petersburg, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/waverider/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Wigeon_female.jpg Waverider A windy and absolutely freezing cold day on the Maryland Eastern Shore isn't a problem for this female American wigeon, who isn't bothered in the least by the temperature or the choppy water. She lacks the coloration of the male, but there's plenty to admire in her own subtle tones of brown, black, and grey. Cambridge, Maryland https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-skimmer/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Skimmer_flying_square.jpg Black Skimmer A perfect dorsal-view pass from one of the thousands of black skimmers that populate the beach colonies along Long Island's coast. The skimmers come there in the summer to breed, which they do in groups of hundreds of birds. There's safety and survival in numbers, which is a good strategy when the black-backed gulls are always watching for unattended chicks. Long Island, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/barking-skimmer/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Skimmer_bork.jpg Barking Skimmer The black skimmer is certainly an oddity: it's the only North American species with a lower bill longer than the upper, it rests by lying flat on its stomach, and it has a call more akin to a dog's bark than anything a bird might be expected to sound like. In flight, that long lower bill drags through the water until it touches a fish, at which point the beak slams shut to trap the prey. St. Petersburg, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/semipalmated-sandpiper/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Semisand_floating.jpg Semipalmated Sandpiper When I found this little sandpiper resting on a rather uninteresting and dirty rock a few inches out of the river, I tried something a little different that in any other circumstance I'd actively work to avoid. I laid down on the rock and used a raised portion of it to block the sandpiper's legs and feet from view, creating the illusion of the bird almost floating in space, against a backdrop bright green marsh grass lit up in the evening sun. Sainte-Martine, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/american-golden-plover/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Goldenplover.jpg American Golden Plover When a young American golden plover on the Canadian side of Lake Champlain started lighting up the rare bird alerts, I spent a few days in the water trying my best to capture it in a unique pose. I didn't realize until I'd seen the images on the computer that the preening shorebird had an unexpected visitor on the rocks with him the whole time! He doesn't seem to know quite what to make of this little beetle who's been watching his every move. Venise-en-Québec, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/sandpiper-spotlight/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Semisand_lightpoint.jpg Sandpiper Spotlight A semipalmated sandpiper steps into the very last point of light on the beach, only a few square inches in size, as the sand and ocean already lie in shadow. I had half made up my mind to head back to the car and make for the clam shack at this point, with the sun almost entirely gone and only a tiny bit of natural light remaining, but I was able to find the sandpiper and get off a short sequence of frames just in time to beat the sundown. Narragansett, Rhode Island https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pectoral-sandpiper/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pectoral_Sandpiper_square.jpg Pectoral Sandpiper A pectoral sandpiper runs through the shallows of the Châteauguay River south of Montreal. This bird is a juvenile on its way south, where it will spend its first winter season. Riparian habitats, even those artificially created from projects like dams and mills, aid migrating shorebirds to find food, water, and shelter. Sainte-Martine, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-bellied-plover/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Blackbellied_Plover.jpg Black-bellied Plover The first light of the morning spotlights a black-bellied plover foraging on the rocks of a Victoria, BC beach. He's well on his way northward to the breeding grounds and has changed about three quarters of the way into full breeding plumage. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/american-wigeon/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/American_wigeon.jpg American Wigeon A male American wigeon out for a paddle on a clear winter day on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Getting the angle on these kinds of shots requires neoprene waders, plenty of layers, and enough luck to get a single duck that's separate from the rest of the crowd, since there can be hundreds here at a time. Cambridge, Maryland https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/great-egret/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Great_egret_reflection_black.jpg Great Egret A great egret stands in a patch of calm water, where the surrounding shade trees create an almost black mirror for its reflection. This bird is in full breeding plumage, with bright green skin around the beak and long plumes extending off the wings. Orlando, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/fire-eye/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Great_egret_square.jpg Fire Eye The great egret, normally a plain white wading bird, transforms into some seriously impressive breeding plumage: green facial skin, an orange-red eye, and long, elegant nuptial plumes hanging from the back. Orlando hosts a heron and egret rookery in an unexpected place: a nature park where the entire wetland is full of American alligators. The gators do get free meals whenever something falls from a nest, but they otherwise keep the rookery free from other predators and aren't capable of reaching the nests themselves. Orlando, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/greater-yellowlegs/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greater_yellowlegs.jpg Greater Yellowlegs Perhaps the least-creatively named shorebird in the book, the greater yellowlegs is exactly what the label says it is: a bird with bright yellow legs that's slightly larger than the lesser yellowlegs. At an old grist mill south of Montreal, there's a spot where I can walk in the shallow Châteauguay River and come close to the migrating shorebirds. A bit of golden evening light brings the natural colors of the bird and its habitat right out. Sainte-Martine, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/treif/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Royaltern_treif.jpg Treif Royal terns try to woo females by bringing the pretty lady a tasty fish. On the other hand, crabs are bigger, and there's more meat on them than one would find on a tiny little minnow, so why not try one of those instead? This male tried valiantly, but he must have found the only kosher female on the beach, because she never showed a millisecond's interest in either him or his offering. St. Petersburg, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pacific-brown-pelican-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pelican_whiteneck_vert.jpg Pacific Brown Pelican Cool blue tones from the distant Pacific ocean surround a brown pelican on southern California cliffs. Although the pouch has turned the characteristic red and green, the bird's neck is still white, and he won't be in full breeding plumage until those white areas turn black. San Diego, California https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pacific-brown-pelican/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pelican_Cliffside.jpg Pacific Brown Pelican Far more colorful than the brown pelicans on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, the Pacific race of the brown pelican develops unique breeding plumage on its neck and pouch, ranging from deep green to fire engine red. When they sit on the cliffs in golden sunlight, the photographs can almost make themselves! San Diego, California https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/royal-red/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Royaltern_royalred.jpg Royal Red Out of all the royal terns I saw on the beach in Florida, this one stood out to me as almost begging to be photographed. He was a good bit larger than the other birds, but it wasn't his size that made him noticeable; rather, I immediately honed in on the impressive color of his bill, which was far redder than the normal orange one normally sees with this species. A bit of army crawling across the sand got me close enough for a close-up shot. St. Petersburg, Florida https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/uni-to-go/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Herringgull_Uni.jpg Uni to Go What's a bird to do when there's fresh sea urchin all around, but no sushi chef to crack them? For the herring gulls, it's as easy as grabbing an urchin, going up in the air about twenty feet, and letting it drop onto the rocks below for some instant, all-you-can-eat uni. When I was in Minganie on this shoot, a local fisherman came by the island we were on and kindly offered us (the humans, not the birds) a few of the urchins he'd caught that day. After trying them myself, I understood why the gulls go to such lengths to eat them! Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/soaker/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pelican_Soaker.jpg Soaker Cold, cloudy days in Southern California don't lend themselves very well to drying out quickly. This Pacific brown pelican came out of the water and landed on the cliffs right in front of me, soaked clear through to the bone, and looked none too thrilled about having to spend the next few hours being cold and wet. San Diego, California https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/yoga/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pelican_yoga.jpg Yoga Getting every last feather can require some impressive contortionist maneuvers, even with a big as long as this Pacific brown pelican's. Still, there's no harm in a little yoga before heading out to sea. Pelicans on both coasts spend lots of time preening their feathers and replacing the protective coat of natural oils that allows them to dry off quickly once they've come out of the water. San Diego, California https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/preening-puffin/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Puffin_preening_square.jpg Preening Puffin Clear, sunny days aren't always a given in the maritime climate of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When the fog, clouds, and rain do manage to stay away, it's a perfect time to dry off, take in some rays, and get the feathers back in order. Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/cuteness/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Puffin_yellowflowers.jpg Cuteness Sometimes a puffin will just strike an extra-cute pose, and there's not much to do about it other than to press the shutter and enjoy! Spending a few days amongst these characterful seabirds was enough for me to realize why so many people enjoy them. Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/atlantic-puffin-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Puffin_onrock.jpg Atlantic Puffin Yellow wildflowers dot the cliffs of Île-aux-Perroquets in the St. Lawrence River, where a lone Atlantic puffin waits on a rock by the shore. In peak breeding season there will be hundreds of these seabirds crowded onto the small island's cliffs, where they have to share space not only with other puffins, but also with common murres, razorbills, guillemots, and herring gulls. Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/morning-in-minganie/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Puffin_Morning_in_Minganie.jpg Morning in Minganie It's a bluebird morning out on Île-aux-Perroquets, Québec, and an Atlantic puffin soaks up the golden sunlight on a rocky outcropping. The unenviable back story to this photo involved traveling from Montreal to Sept-Îles in a tiny plane, having the airline lose all my clothes, panic-buying an emergency replacement wardrobe at a Walmart, and arriving on the island a day late and more than a few necessities short. Was it all worth it? I certainly think so! Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/puffin-flyover/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Puffin_flying_overcast.jpg Puffin Flyover An Atlantic puffin flies past on a cloudy day in Québec's far east. Overcast light dominates the frame, but the puffin's bright orange beak and feet still appear as garish as ever. The only thing that was missing here was some fish in it's bill! Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/atlantic-puffin/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Puffin_headshot_4x5.jpg Atlantic Puffin Only in the far east of Québec will you find the most endearing seabird of them all, the portly yet surprisingly hardy Atlantic puffin, making its home on the small islands of the Mingan Archipelago. They leave little doubt as to why the whole world finds them cute. If you make the trip out to Île-aux-Perroquets yourself, you will see them just about everywhere: fishing, flying overhead, nesting on the cliffs, and hanging out on the rocks by the shore. One might even offer up a head shot if you approach slowly! Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/mirror-mirror/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Semiplover_mirror_sunset.jpg Mirror, Mirror I made multiple visits to the same spot on a Rhode Island beach before I came away with this image. It took quite a while before the perfect combination of golden light, mirror-finish wet sand, distant wave spray, and a bird that actually held still came together in this photograph. Semipalmated plovers are extremely common on New England beaches and not particularly colorful in winter plumage, so I knew any composition I created with one would need that special something to send it over the top. Narragansett, Rhode Island https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-mockingbird/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Mockingbird.jpg Northern Mockingbird The northern mockingbird is a member of the mimic thrush family, whose taxonomical name Mimus polyglottus literally translates to "many-tongued mimic". Once you've spent more than a few minutes around one, you'll understand why the name is well deserved, since the species will imitate everything from bird calls to car alarms to iPhone ringtones. They're also rather aggressive, and tend to swoop down on anything that comes into their territory during nesting season. As luck would have it, however, even though we were well into spring, this mockingbird was only interested in visiting a feeder, and not going after the humans on his turf. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/ladder-backed-woodpecker/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Ladderbacked_wpkr_juv.jpg Ladder-backed Woodpecker Using his tail for extra support and stability, a young ladder-back woodpecker makes his way up the wooden skeleton of a jumping cholla cactus. This was the first time I had seen the species, as well as the first (and to date, only) photograph of one that I made! Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/roadies-roost/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Roadie_stick.jpg Roadie's Roost Perched at the top of a long-dead saguaro cactus trunk, there's no doubt who the boss of this little patch of desert is. When a roadrunner shows up, the smaller critters have to be on their guard, since these guys don't discriminate when it comes to lunchtime. Anything from bugs to snakes, lizards, and birds is on the menu if the roadrunner thinks it will fit in his beak. Luckily, this time around, only insects wound up as the main course, but according to the landowner I was with, the individual in the picture has been known to make a quick meal out of his fellow birds. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/roadrunner-and-nopal-cactus/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Roadie_nopales.jpg Roadrunner and Nopal Cactus A slightly smaller female roadrunner stops to check out a stand of blooming nopales, commonly called prickly pears. These large paddles of these plants are edible, but not necessarily to the birds, who don't have the hands and fingers necessary to scrape off the spines. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/greater-roadrunner/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Roadie_square.jpg Greater Roadrunner Mr. Meep-Meep himself, a greater roadrunner. North America's largest cuckoo, roadrunners are always a target for me on any trip to the desert. They're opportunistic carnivores, despite what the Looney Tunes shorts might have you believe. This bird would much rather try to catch a hummingbird, finch, or even a baby quail than chow down on seed. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pyrr-fect-sunriseq/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pyrr_female_AZ.jpg Pyrr-fect Sunrise What could make a clear morning in the Arizona desert even more beautiful? How about a pyrrhuloxia sitting in that perfect gold light, at the top of a dead cactus? Cacti keep benefiting the desert long after they've died and the green flesh has rotten away. Animals build nests in them, humans use their skeletons for wood, and in this case, birds use them as an observation tower. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pyrrhuloxia-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pyrr_male_stick.jpg Pyrrhuloxia Sometimes, a simple composition is just as pleasing as a complex one. This pretty male pyrrhuloxia found his perch of choice and obliged. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pyrrhuloxia-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pyrr_snakecotton_male_square.jpg Pyrrhuloxia White stalks of snakecotton frame a handsome male pyrrhuloxia, the second, lesser-known member of the cardinal family in North America, sitting on a weathered branch in the south Texas desert. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/long-billed-thrasher/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Long-billed-thrasher.jpg Long-billed Thrasher Within the United States, only Texas hosts the long-billed thrasher, where it mixes in with the smaller curve-billed thrasher and cactus wren common to other southwestern states. This individual stayed still enough for a sharp image despite the low light necessitating an extremely slow shutter speed. I do have a preference for working in soft, diffuse overcast, but early this morning, the light was really testing the capabilities of the image stabilization system! Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/curve-billed-thrasher/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Curvebilled_thrasher.jpg Curve-billed Thrasher Desert sandstone and blooming prickly pear frame a curve-billed thrasher, one of the first birds you'll encounter on any trip into the Sonoran Desert. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/cousin-itt/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pacific_wren_4x5.jpg Cousin Itt This little Pacific wren's choice of stump reminded me of Cousin Itt from The Addams Family. Who would have thought that following the TV series and the movies, he would have retired to the Vancouver Island forest to serve as a bird's perch? Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pyrrhuloxia/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pyrrhuloxia_female_Gray.jpg Pyrrhuloxia Quick, without consulting a field guide, name a bird that starts with five consonants! The pyrrhuloxia (say "pur-a-LOX-ee-uh"), also called the desert cardinal, is a member of the same genus as the red northern cardinal. The females can look quite similar except for the beak; northern cardinals have a triangular orange beak, while a pyrrhuloxia's is more yellow and cone-shaped. This female came out to pose on a gray morning in southern Texas, where cardinals and pyrrhuloxias can both be seen at feeders. Before going to the buffet, she went to the top of this branch to have a proper look around, and the diffuse light allowed every subtle bit of color in her feathers to come through. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/woodpecker-pastel/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Goldenfronted-wpkr_male.jpg Woodpecker Pastel A golden-fronted woodpecker stop at just the right spot on an aloe stem where the tones in the photograph are limited to subtle pastel colors. I would love to say that I set everything up to happen just this way, but in truth, sometimes the bird just goes where you want! Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/lean-back/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Goldenfronted-wpkr_female.jpg Lean Back A female golden-fronted woodpecker demonstrates excellent tail-kickstand technique as she holds onto a flowering aloe stalk. Females of this woodpecker species lack the males' bright red eyes and red spots on the top of the head. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/golden-fronted-woodpecker/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Golden-fronted_male_vertical.jpg Golden-fronted Woodpecker A bright red eye and a red spot on the top of the head mark the male golden-fronted woodpecker, one of the several zebra-back woodpecker species found in the United States. Although much more common from Mexico south, golden-fronted woodpeckers also live in certain parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/female-northern-cardinal/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Cardinal_female_lookback.jpg Female Northern Cardinal She may not be the same stunning red as her mate, but this female cardinal shows plenty of elegance in the soft, diffuse light of a cloudy afternoon. Her pretty palate of oranges, browns, reds, and yellows stands out against the light green of a distant field. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/northern-cardinal/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Cardinal_male_cactus_square.jpg Northern Cardinal Cardinals can be found in many parts of North America, from Canada down to the Mexican border. The further south and west you go, the bigger and redder they get. Even though we have plenty of them back home, shooting in Texas allows for cardinal shots incorporating the local plant life. Despite the sharp spines, this gorgeous red male was landing on the cactus all afternoon. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/norther-crested-caracara/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Caracara_Straddle.jpg Northern Crested Caracara A gray morning in Texas sees a large member of the falcon family, a northern crested caracara, straddling the gap between a pair of dead tree branches, taking care to avoid the spiny cactus paddles that have grown up around them. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/the-stare/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Caracara_crouching.jpg The Stare Birds of prey have their moments when they remind us we're looking at the living descendants of dinosaurs. Caracaras might be more inclined to scavenge carrion than pursue live prey, but they can look just as imposing as any other raptor. An old tree stump surrounded by prickly pear cactus makes a good vantage point to check for anything edible in the grass. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/hors-doeuvre/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Caracara_mouse.jpg Hors-d'oeuvre The unfortunate mouse was long dead, but to a northern crested caracara, scavenging beats hunting any day. These large falcons act more like vultures than raptors, preferring to find their food already deceased instead of having to chase it down while it's still alive. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/gambels-quail-3/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Gambels_ground.jpg Gambel's Quail They're perfectly capable of flying when they have to, but most Gambel's quail prefer to stay on the ground, where they pick and scratch through the desert sand for food. I photographed this male on a sunny morning in the Sonoran Desert while he was contemplating the pros and cons of expending a bit of extra effort in order to fly up to a bird feeder. He ultimately decided it wasn't worth the additional exertion and simply stayed put. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/gambels-quail-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Gambels_square.jpg Gambel's Quail The sun rises over the southern Arizona mountains, and a Gambel's quail perches in the golden morning light atop the wooden skeleton of a dead saguaro cactus. Although the rest of the saguaro has long since decayed away, its internal ribs still provide shelter for the various fauna of the Sonoran Desert. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/texas-tricolor/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Painted-bunting_Lookback.jpg Texas Tricolor From the back, painted buntings live up to their name and then some. Getting the chance to photograph this species was one of the main reasons I made the trip from Canada to the far southern tip of Texas, since on the extremely rare chance that one of these birds were to ever show up here, there's no way it would behave in such a photogenic fashion! Most painted buntings are quite shy, but in the Río Grande Valley, they can sometimes be enticed to come out and pose. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/painted-bunting/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Paintedbunting_Crag.jpg Painted Bunting One of the most brilliantly colored birds in North America, the male painted bunting is a head-turner wherever he shows up. It's easy to see why his nickname in Spanish is sietecolores, or "seven colors". Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/study-in-green/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Paintedbunting_female_studyingreen.jpg Study in Green When I saw this photograph on my screen for the first time, it immediately reminded me of master painters who could create a stunning work of art with only a few different colors. Bird photographers don't have nearly the same amount of control over the color palette as painters do —we're forced to shoot whatever shows up in the viewfinder, in whatever light conditions we get that day against as pleasing a background as we can manage to create— but as it happened, this female painted bunting gave me an image made almost entirely of green tones, with a bit of orange and gray thrown in. With any harsh light blocked by high overcast clouds, every last detail of the bird's feathers and the lichen clusters along the delicate tree branch come into perfect view. "Study in Green" is a limited edition of 100 prints up to 20" x 20". Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/green-jay/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greenjay_Mesquite.jpg Green Jay Blooming desert flowers frame a green jay in the far southern region of Texas. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/cactus-inspection/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greenjay_cactus.jpg Cactus Inspection Sharp spines on this old hedgehog cactus don't bother the green jay, or "querrequerre" as the species is known in Spanish. These birds replace blue jays in the far southern regions of Texas and down into the gulf coast of Mexico. Rather typical of the corvid family, they are omnivorous, eating everything from insects to seeds to peanuts, which they eagerly devour at feeders. Linn, Texas https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/gambels-quail/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Gambels_stick.jpg Gambel's Quail A male Gambel's quail, the most common of the three quail species that live in Arizona, jumps to the top of a long-dead cholla cactus branch. Green Valley, Arizona https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/california-quail/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/CA_quail_log.jpg California Quail If ever there were a bird that perfectly encapsulated the meaning of "rotund", the California quail has to be it! These endearing game birds are a bit on the chunky side, especially when fluffed up against the cold, but they can still move fast enough when they have to. They're common feeder visitors on Vancouver Island and can arrive in groups of twenty individuals or more at a time. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/i-see-you/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Snowyowl_I_see_you.jpg I See You There's no sneaking up on an owl. You can't surprise, outsmart, or hide from them. They can see you coming before you've even seen them at all. As luck would have it, however, I wasn't a prey item, and this female snowy owl was simply curious to see who was traipsing around in the field. A quick look at the camera, and she was off to the top of a nearby hydro pole. La Nation, Ontario https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/new-growth/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Goldfinch_square.jpg New Growth The American goldfinch's gradual turn from brown to neon yellow is as sure a sign of spring as the plants sending out delicate new leaves in all directions. A quick visit to the feeders in a local park yielded this simple composition of a male about halfway through the yearly color change. Longueuil, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/sunset-study/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Snowyowl_sunset_3.jpg Sunset Study Sometimes, a last-ditch effort pans out. I was freezing cold, the sun was almost all the way down, and enough wind was blowing across the field to run the America's Cup. I decided to intentionally shoot the wrong way, straight into the sun, with the goal of capturing the pink light and curtains of blowing snow all around the snowy owl. It was just another December day for her, no hindrance at all for a bird of prey so accustomed to frigid conditions, but I was surprised my fingers could work the camera by the time I left. La Nation, Ontario https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/tufted-titmouse/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Titmouse_calling_square.jpg Tufted Titmouse Showing the sassy attitude that makes the species a perennial favourite of backyard birdwatchers and park visitors throughout southern Québec, a tufted titmouse jumps up to a mossy branch to tell off the competition. They have a "brrz-brrz-brrz" call that isn't the most melodic song in the world, but it leaves no doubt what kind of bird is around. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/approach/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Snowgoose_landing.jpg Approach Early winter in Québec sees the local reservoirs, fields, and rivers almost overflow with greater snow geese. At the Beaudet Reservoir in Victoriaville, about halfway between Montreal and the capital Québec City, this snow goose brakes to splash down into some of the scarce open water available. More geese dot the background, numbering well into the thousands. Victoriaville, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/wood-duck/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Woodduck_male_Granby.jpg Wood Duck I had to hang over the side of a boardwalk and shoot off the camera's flip screen to grab this shot. Some duck species, including this wood duck, have "teeth" along their beaks that allow them to feed more efficiently. As an added bonus, when they have their beaks open, they almost look like they're flashing a toothy grin. Granby, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/wood-duck-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Woodduck_male_frontvertical.jpg Wood Duck Male wood ducks are striking on their own, but nothing creates a better explosion of color than finding one on a clear fall day, swimming in a pond full of reds, yellows, oranges, and greens from the surrounding leaves. Laval, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-crowned-sparrow-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Whitecrowned_sparrow_spruce.jpg White-crowned Sparrow A white-crowned sparrow shows off his black and white racing stripes while clinging to an evergreen branch on Canada's Vancouver Island. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/rock-concert/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Whitecrowned_sparrow_singing_rock.jpg Rock Concert Thick carpets of moss and lichen coat the stones lining the ground on Vancouver Island. For a white-crowned sparrow, it's as good a stage as any to belt out his springtime song, no microphone required. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/singoff-in-the-spruces/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Whitecrowned_sparrow_singing_spruce.jpg Singoff in the Spruces How do you get a white-crowned sparrow's attention? You don't...you just wait for another one to start singing, and let the both of them start a scream-off. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-breasted-nuthatch-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/WBNuthatch_female_yellowBG.jpg White-breasted Nuthatch Fall foliage abounds as a female white-breasted nuthatch makes a pit stop at the top of a decayed birch log. Despite being friendly and often hand-tame, these birds won't hold still for long. Giving them something interesting to investigate, like an old rotten birch log, can be a useful way of getting their attention long enough for a picture. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/white-crowned-sparrow/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Whitecrowned_sparrow_singing_square.jpg White-crowned Sparrow A white-crowned sparrow sings from the top of an evergreen tree on Vancouver Island. It doesn't take much for these elegant sparrows to start belting out a song. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/orange-crowned-warbler/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Orangecrowned_warbler.jpg Orange-crowned Warbler This little orange-crowned warbler seems entirely unimpressed with the paparazzi. Once he'd stayed long enough to shoot the camera a proper withering look, he was gone back into the evergreen forest. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/juvenile-common-loon/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Loon_juvenile.jpg Juvenile Common Loon Loons have hair days too, it seems: this juvenile is only half molted, with patches of brown fluffy down feathers still stuck to his head, neck, and rear. In a few more weeks, he will have his first-winter plumage and look more or less the same as a winter adult. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/common-loon-chick/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Loon_baby_16x9.jpg Common Loon Chick Before shedding their down feathers and molting into their first-winter plumage, baby common loons are fuzzy little brown balls that float atop the water, pestering the parent birds for fish after fish. This individual was completely unbothered by my kayak and allowed me to photograph him a bit small in the frame, surrounded by an unbroken expanse of green from the trees and other plants around the lake. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/tapestry/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Loon_gold-water.jpg Tapestry A slight breeze, golden evening light, green reflections, and blue water accents combine to create a texture that almost appears woven on a secluded New Hampshire lake. Against this background, the loon sets himself off nicely with his strong blacks and whites. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/serene-green/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Loon_adult_green_water.jpg Serene Green A common loon in full summer plumage floats in an expanse of emerald green on a small New Hampshire lake. Clear skies and no wind are a must here, since shooting from a kayak means that any chop on the water will translate to a rocking boat and camera shake. More than a few times, gusty winds or encroaching clouds have resulted in unsuccessful loon outings. When the elements come together, however, and glassy water combines with the deep green reflections from the surrounding trees, this can be the result! Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/autumn-gold/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Loon_autumn_yellow.jpg Autumn Gold Loons molt out of their breeding plumage at the end of summer, but there are still plenty of chances to photograph them in their winter colors against the reflections of New England's renowned fall foliage. This individual was swimming through a glassy surface of reflected greens and yellows while I floated nearby in a kayak. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/american-tree-sparrow/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Tree_sparrow_sumac.jpg American Tree Sparrow Birds love sumac trees in the wintertime, since they provide shelter, food, and a good place to take a look around. This American tree sparrow, a common winter resident of the Montreal area, decided to use the sumac for a few seconds as a perch before heading on to a nearby bird feeder. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/springtime-scream-off/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redwinged_juv_calling.jpg Springtime Scream-off Spring isn't all flowers and sunshine if you're a red-winged blackbird, especially if it's your first year on the marsh and you've got a territory to stake out and lots girls to impress. The best way to go about doing that is to find the tallest cattail, head to the top, hold on tight, and scream it out. Boucherville, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/house-wren/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Housewren.jpg House Wren A sure sign of spring's arrival is the chattering song of the house wren, a little brown bird with a whole lot of vocal power! This one chose a maple branch as his venue of choice. Strong winds were blowing everything around, including the buds and clusters of new leaves, but it didn't seem to bother the bird! Boucherville, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/oregon-junco/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_Junco_branch.jpg Oregon Junco An Oregon junco doing what they do best: jumping from branch to branch in search of morsels to grab on the ground, at feeders, or wherever else they might find some. Vancouver Island is a bird photographer's paradise, as there are no bare branches here; thanks to the maritime climate, everything is covered in gorgeous moss and lichens. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/oregon-junco-2/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_junco_square.jpg Oregon Junco With their pink bills, grey heads, and brown bodies, Oregon juncos look a bit different from the dark-eyed juncos out east. Much like their eastern counterparts, however, they will use just about anything as a perch. This individual seemed almost intrigued that I was pointing the camera his way. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/log-lookout/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/OR_junco_log.jpg Log Lookout Following a rare wintry spell on Vancouver Island, an Oregon junco, by far one of the most endearing species found on the west coast of Canada, takes a look around from a top a snow-dappled log. These juncos differ from our dark-eyed juncos out east, which are entirely gray with no brown on them at all. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/horned-lark-at-sunset/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Horned_lark.jpg Horned Lark at Sunset In the coldest months of winter, horned larks forage in the frozen fields south of Montreal, where passing plows have heaped up piles of snow from the road. This one climbed right to the top of one of the snowbanksand helpfully framed himself in my viewfinder, right as the sunset was at its most colorful. St-Rémi, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/black-capped-chickadee/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Chickadee_sumac.jpg Black-capped Chickadee Barely the size of the red berry clusters hanging overhead, black-capped chickadees are year-long residents of eastern Canada and a favourite of park visitors and backyard birdwatchers alike. I captured this individual as he was flitting from place to place, in search of food after a heavy snowfall the night before. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/touch-of-red/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redbreasted_sapsucker_2x3_facing_left.jpg Touch of Red In the gray, overcast light of the cloud banks coming off the Pacific, a red-breasted sapsucker makes his way down a tree trunk.Typical of the region's oceanic climate, every surface is covered in moss and beard lichen. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/sapsucker-side-eye/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Redbreasted_Sapsucker_2x3.jpg Sapsucker Side-eye A red-breasted sapsucker clings to a mossy evergreen trunk in the temperate rain forest of Canada's Vancouver Island. These woodpeckers drill lines of small holes in tree trunks, which they then use as food sources, feeding on the sap that flows out of the drilled holes. The sapsucker family doesn't endear itself to gardeners, who don't enjoy losing new trees to the birds, but older, more established trees can take the damage from a hungry sapsucker and still survive. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/hairy-woodpeckeer/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Hairy_woodpecker_snow_16x9.jpg Hairy Woodpecker A female hairy woodpecker investigates an evergreen branch amid the snow in the Adirondacks. This photo session confirmed for me that if nuthatches are accustomed to people feeding them, and you happen to arrive without anything to offer, they will make their presence known by camping out on your head. Fortunately, the much larger woodpecker decided to stick to the branches instead. Adirondack Park, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/apex/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greatgray_owl_apex.jpg Apex A stand of bare sumac stems make a convenient lookout point for the top predator of this marsh: a great grey owl on the hunt for rodents tunnelling beneath the snow. Although the great grey is almost the size of a Labrador, the thin branches barely give at all under the owl's weight, since most of what we see is actually layers of feathers. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/vent-du-nord/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Greatgray_Ventdu-nord.jpg Vent du Nord A frigid winter breeze ruffles the feathers of a great grey owl, perched atop a dead tree in a frozen marsh. There were four different owls flying around the park the day that I took this picture, which wasn't the ideal situation that it sounds like: with an entire protected island for them to hunt over, finding one of the great greys meant lots of telephone-style word of mouth, and they were often gone and off to another part of the preserve by the time I arrived with the camera. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/undercling/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Downy-_Lichen.jpg Undercling A downy woodpecker works over a tree branch covered in lichens on Île Saint-Bernard, a protected area on the St. Lawrence River just south of Montreal. So personable that they'll sit in your hand, downy woodpeckers are bird feeder favorites that will readily come to a variety of different foods. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/downy-woodpecker/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Downy_birch.jpg Downy Woodpecker A downy woodpecker, the smallest North American woodpecker species, searches for insects on a decaying birch limb. The flash of red on the rear of the bird's head mark this one as a male; females are completely black and white. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/cape-may-warbler/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Capemay_warbler_Mingan.jpg Cape May Warbler Already changed into fall plumage at the beginning of August, a Cape May warbler sits on top of a wild celery plant in the Mingan Archipelago of eastern Québec. I all but walked into this shot by chance as I was headed down to the shore on Île-aux-Perroquets to try for puffin and razorbill shots. The heads of the wild celery make an almost alien setting around the warbler, who was gleaning insects from the plants in preparation for its southbound fall migration. Minganie, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/wilsons-warbler/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/WIlsons_warbler_2x3.jpg Wilson's Warbler A male Wilson's warbler perches on a mossy tree branch on Vancouver Island, British Columbia at the beginning of the spring migration season. In between rounds of coffee and dodging some typical PNW rain showers, we got a few looks at the Wilson's warbler when he wasn't busy running off everything else out of his territory. Dark overcast meant some slow shutter speeds, but it was no problem for a mirrorless camera. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/little-winter-watcher/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Canadajay_winterwatcher.jpg Little Winter Watcher The snow starts to fly, but this Canada jay remains undisturbed. A little bad weather isn't going to deter this classic boreal forest bird from watching over any humans who come through his woods. This image was a Top 100 finalist in the Animal Portraits category for the 2022 Golden Turtle Nature Photography Awards. Offered in a limited edition of 100 prints total in 8" x 12", 12" x 18", and 16" x 24" sizes. Sizes larger than 16" x 24" are available upon consultation. Adirondack Park, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/canada-jay/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Canada-jay_square.jpg Canada Jay Following leaf drop but before the first snowfall of the year, the boreal forests of upstate New York are all cool tones of blue, green, and gray on overcast days, matching nicely with the subtle colours of the Canada jay. Wild birds as they are, they seldom miss a chance to come check out a human photographer. Adirondack Park, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/almost-spring/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Songsparrow_mossyrock.jpg Almost Spring Spring has barely arrived, but the sparrows are out foraging. Without any new grown to cover the ground, this song sparrow made a pleasing image for me on a rock covered with natural moss and lichen. Not two weeks later, the brown background of dead grass, had already sprouted plentiful new growth, which had gotten even taller than the rock in the picture. Longueuil, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/song-sparrow/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Songsparrow_square.jpg Song Sparrow A song sparrow, one of the most vocal residents of the eastern forests, pauses momentarily from foraging to rest on a mossy branch. More than one song sparrow had territory on this little triangle of land, but of the three I usually heard out and about, this lighter-colored male was by far the most responsive. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/pacific-wren/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Pacific_Wren_singing.jpg Pacific Wren Small but proud and most certainly loud, Pacific wrens breed early and are enthusiastic singers. A mossy tree trunk in British Columbia's temperate rain forest provided an elegant backdrop to this active little performer on Vancouver Island. Victoria, British Columbia https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/song-sparrow-serenade/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Songsparrow_serenade.jpg Song Sparrow Serenade A familiar sound to anyone who walks through a New England forest in the spring and summer, song sparrows take advantage of stumps, branches, treetops, and anything else that could serve as a podium to mark out their breeding territories. This energetic male went straight to the top of this spruce and proceeded to belt it out for minutes at a time. Grantham, New Hampshire https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/coming-storm/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Canadajay_snow_pine_4x5vert.jpg Coming Storm As the snow begins to fall in the Adirondack Mountains, a curious Canada jay hops onto a spruce branch and looks skyward, almost as if he can tell that the weather's about to get a bit wintry. This image won Bronze in the 2023 Bird Photographer of the Year "Best Portrait" category and is offered in a limited edition of 100 prints of up to size 16" x 20", with larger sizes available upon consultation. Adirondack Park, New York https://www.birdsbyjake.com/photo/sprightly-sumac-sitter/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/images/xl/Titmouse_sumac.jpg Sprightly Sumac Sitter A little snow never gets a tufted titmouse down! These sassy little birds have a ton of personality and have been delighting backyard birdwatchers for decades. They can even become hand-tame, but a cluster of sumac berries works just as well as a convenient perch. This print is offered in a limited edition of 100, up to size 16" x 24". Larger sizes are available upon consultation. Châteauguay, Québec https://www.birdsbyjake.com/news/ https://www.birdsbyjake.com/contact/