Birds don’t really spit like we do and whatever sound they make when doing a bird version of spitting certainly wouldn’t be “ptooey.” Whatever the sound though, this Black-capped Chickadee didn’t seem to want the piece of shell it picked off the black sunflower seed it was eating and used its tongue to eject it from its beak. I noticed this behavior over and over as we watched them at Sax-Zim Bog in Minnesota yesterday.
The adorable American Red Squirrel is Minnesota’s smallest tree squirrel. It is feisty and vocal but sometimes it holds still long enough for a portrait session. On our first full day at Sax-Zim Bog, we walked down a trail and at the snowy trailhead, this little guy was perched atop a snow-covered stump just watching. We were able to get fairly close and it barely moved while we took its portrait. Then, it had other business in the bog and disappeared from view.
The adorable male Vermilion Flycatcher seems to have caught something other than a fly. I think he’s standing on the trunk of a Cottonwood and so it might be bit of a seed pod from a Cottonwood tree that is stuck to his beak.
A male Ring-necked Duck floats on a pond in Arizona in late November. I was fascinated by Ring-necked Ducks during my visit to Arizona in late November. I had never seen or photographed one and now I have taken more images of Ring-necked Ducks than any other duck.
A handsome Bighorn ram posing in Yellowstone National Park in November.
Happy New Year!