Sam B.

Welp time to keep an eye out in San Diego! I want to find all the shorebird babies this year!

These are such gorgeous images!

Found an additional graphic that gets even more of these quotes together.

I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.

An illustration of a group of stellar’s jays in various poses. From top left clockwise: back to audience, wings folded smirking; eating a peanut; wings extended grumpy; wings extended back to audience excited; beak turned up knowing they are pretty; flying and confused; snoozy fluffy bird; and crest down crying tears bird. Around them are doodles of california poppies, acorns, and oak leaves.

Got busy and #birbfest2026 kind of got away from me but I’ve been working on these Stellar’s Jays for a hot minute! Stellar’s jays have such tude I love these little guys.

#birds #illustration #stellarsjay

A male brandt's cormorant mounts a female brandt's cormorant. Her bill is open and he is biting her neck.

A brandt's cormorant grooms the feathers under their wing. Their feathers are colored like an oil slick, under their bill is an iridescent blue, as are their eye.

A goofy looking brandt's cormorant throws it's head back. Their bill is open and their neck is an amazing electric blue, as are their eye.

A pair of brandt's cormorants flirt, their necks stretched out and the bright blue on their throats are showing.

These birds are so beautiful and also kind of a crack up to watch.

A brandt's cormorant with bright blue eyes and a blue and pink throat looks off to the right. A feather rests on it's beak.

A brandt's cormorant stands up on a seaweed nest on the cliffs. In the nest are two white perfect eggs. The cormorant is surrounded by other cormorants on their nests.

Two brandt's cormorants in blue breeding colors flirt with each other with their bills open.

A brandt's cormorant strikes a pose, tail up like a turkey, wings back, and head thrown back as far as possible. You can see their bright blue throat and their funny little side whiskery feathers on their head.

Went out to La Jolla Cove over the weekend to see the brandt's cormorants in their breeding plumage! Their courtship rituals are so funny to watch.

#birds #photography #lajolla

The geese at Salton Sea are so magical! There are so many birds! And they are so loud!

An osprey flies over a blue ocean carrying an orange garibaldi fish. In the background two stadium lights loom. An osprey perches on the left, and an osprey sits on the right one in a giant nest. Under the waves three orange garibaldi swim amongst the kelp.

Today’s #birbfest2026 art is the osprey! I love watching them go to and from their nests this time of year with large sticks and fish. Fun fact, when they catch fish they turn them so that they are being held parallel to the bird while it flies for peak aerodynamics!

#birds #illustration #osprey

I had this exact same problem!!! I kept having to try and readjust how I was sitting.

A large brown bird with a long curved beak and a long tail perches on the branches of a bush

Today’s #birbfest2026 is the California Thrasher! They use their long curved beak to push through the leaf litter in the undergrowth looking for insects. Fun fact they are a relative of mockingbirds!

#illustration #californiathrasher #procreate #birds

That’s always the way it happens. I had a kinglet land right next to me on a trail the other day and it stayed there until I brought my camera up and then it flew away. 😢

Thank you! I wish I had a longer lens for my camera, buffleheads love being not near the shore. -_- I’m hoping to get out this weekend and see more of them! There’s some hanging out with some northern pintails in the San Diego Bay.

An illustration of a male and female pair of buffleheads flying. The female duck in the back has her wings down, and the male duck in the front has his wings outstretched. The background is cartoon fluffy clouds.

Todays #birbfest2026 birds are buffleheads! It’s bufflehead season in San Diego and I’m so happy! I love the way they dive around, they are so cute!

#birds #birdart #bufflehead

A small black duck with a bright yellow and orange bill swims in a green ocean on a cloudy day.

I did it! I saw the surf scoters under the pier in Imperial Beach! They are gorgeous birds.

#birds #birdphotography #surfscoter

An illustration of a small grey bird with a yellow head hangs in a creosote bush. The bush has yellow flowers and white poofy seeds.

Today’s #birbfest2026 illustration is a verdin! I see them out in the desert but they are always so fast and hard to photograph. They are such beautiful little birds though!

#verdin #birdart #birds

I’ve been TEARING through KJ Charles’s books. The Will Darling series is especially a fav of mine but all of their books are so hypnotic and sexy and fun.

Going out birding tomorrow amd hoping I’ll see one of these guys! That would be a lifer for me.

An illustration of three surf scoters. In the upper right one spreads his wings, while in the bottom left a female and male swim serenely by. In the water is text that says “surf scoter”

Ok starting to play with the #birbfest2026 prompts a little. Birds native to SoCal are my bread and butter, so I’m taking birds on the list and doing a similar native bird instead. So instead of a razorbill doing another water bird, a surf scoter!

#birds #birdart #surfscoter

An illustration of three small colorful round birds face each other and yell. They are yellow with blue faces and there are yellow stripes on their heads that look like angry eyebrows. In between them the onomatopoeia for their call is written out. It says “bewahhbewbewbew”

Today’s #birbfesf2026 bird is the many-colored rush tyrant, a colorful round orb of a flycatcher from South America!

#birds #birdart #manycoloredrushtyrant

An illustration of a purple blue pigeon who is standing on one leg and stretching out there wing. On their wing is a reflected rainbow of color.

Want to start the year off with some art so I’m participating in #birbfest2026 and see how many birbs I can draw! Today’s bird is the beautiful bronzewing pigeon from Australia!

#birdart #birds #bronzewingpigeon

An illustration of a fat woman resting gracefully in a pond. She has blue hair with willow leaves tangled in it. Her cheeks are flushed. Her hands rest on her chest. She is wearing a turquoise blue silk dress that transitions into the water of the pond itself. The pond is filled with lily pads in bloom and surrounded by rocks, reeds, and trees.

Here’s a piece I’ve been plugging away at this month! I was inspired by photos that Haus Dahlia on instagram took of her latest collection, especially her silk dresses. They remind me so much of water that it turned into a water nymph in a pond!

#art #illustration #procreate

One of my biggest inspirations since childhood. I love Jann Brett’s books.

tea kettle guys

‘It's Just a Mess:' 23 People Explain How Tariffs Have Suddenly Ruined Their Hobby "The real kick in the teeth is no matter how much manufacturing is brought back to the US these items will never be made in the USA. There is no upside."

"It's the one hobby I really have that hasn't been saturated by AI and now it's feeling more and more out of reach."

All these small physical connections in globally linked hobbyist communities are being severed...in a moment where our digital communities are being flooded with AI slop. 🫠🫠🫠

A lorquin's admiral rests with wings open on butterfly bush flowers.

An anise swallowtail drinks from a butterfly bush's flowers

A gulf fritillary drinks from a butterfly bush flower

An anise swallowtail prepares to take flight on a butterfly bush

Also got some pretty butterfly pics at the Bird & Butterfly Garden!

#butterflies #photography #swallowtail #fritillary #lorquinsadmiral

Two yellow lesser goldfinches sit drinking at the side of a small pond. Another one flies in from the right.

Four lesser goldfinches stand in a pond. The far left one is drinking, the middle two are dunking their heads for baths, and the far right one is staring at the camera.

A lesser goldfinch flies over four other lesser goldfinches bathing in a pond.

A lesser goldfinch flies in to touch down in a pond. Four others are already there drinking.

Went to the Bird & Butterfly garden in the Tijuana River Valley and got some pics of some lesser goldfinches being some cutie patooties.

#birds #lessergoldfinch #birdphotography

A little humanoid lady bug is shown from the side, looking back over her shoulder. She has two sets of arms and is holding a big purple flower. She is holding the flower with both her arms. She is wearing a green calf length dress.

Sat down to doodle and made this little ladybird! I’m really enjoying working with colored pencils.

#art #ladybug #coloredpencil

California, Urge State Lawmakers to Stop the Puppy Mill Pipeline While retail puppy sales ended in California a few years ago, an investigative report conducted by the Los Angeles Times uncovered a disturbing underground puppy resale market that uses deceptive tact...

THANK YOU, @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov, for supporting bills that will address the puppy mill pipeline in Cali! This will help reduce animal cruelty & protect CA's from puppy mills. @caspeakerrivas.bsky.social, @buffywicks.bsky.social, please support these bills! secure.aspca.org/action/ca-pmp

Such a great article. There is no such thing as an "easy" pet!! Please do your research before getting any pet and realize that some creatures shouldn't be pets at all.

70 years of data show extreme heat is already wiping out tropical bird populations A study using more than 90,000 scientific observations shows Earth is getting too hot for many tropical birds.

I usually tell people that *so far*, habitat loss, not climate change, has been the major driver of bird population declines... but now we're starting to get analyses directly connecting bird declines to extreme weather events fueled by climate change. 🪶 theconversation.com/70-years-of-...