David Scott

A flyer for the book Bird Brains and Behavior: A Synthesis, written by Georg F. Striedter and Andrew N. Iwaniuk and published by MIT Press.

For everyone in Canada, I will be on Daybreak Alberta this Sunday morning talking about our new book on bird brains and behaviour.

It will be available on the CBC listen app on demand too.
@mitpress.bsky.social

#birds #brains #neuroskyence 🪶🧠🇨🇦🧪

Lots of fledgling robins out and about, learning the ropes of being a bird.

#birds #Alberta

Nondescript female and young Red-winged Blackbirds are often mistaken for other birds, such as sparrows. Identification is made somewhat easier, however, when they perch on cattails in wetland habitat!

#birds #birdphotography

It's estimated that 97% of the world's White-throated Sparrows breed in Canada. Is that why they sing "Oh-Sweet-Canada-Canada"? Americans may be more likely to render their song "Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody," but they're wrong, of course. ;)

#birds #birdphotography #Alberta

I spotted a warbler ferrying insects to a thicket. Figuring I'd see a wee warbler, I peered into the vegetation, only to find this voracious behemoth—a cowbird chick. The way it spied me from its concealed perch, it was almost as if it knew it was the beneficiary of a dubious arrangement.

#birds

Alas, like the works of Ozymandias, these roots are a thing of the past across much of the prairies.

Yesterday, I was excited to have found a new-to-me bumble bee! I didn't.

Orange-legged Drone Fly
July 21, 2025
Lethbridge, #Alberta

#bugs #insects #bugsky #photography

A White-crowned Sparrow spies me from a small spruce.

#birds #Alberta

@aba.org Easily my most memorable encounter with the American Birding Association's bird of the year in 2025!

This morning, I came across a confiding Common Loon on a small mountain lake.

#birds #birdphotography #Alberta

No sooner had I sat down to snap some photos of longspurs and larks in the golden morning light than this ground squirrel scared them off. I'd have been upset at the little guy, but then he looked at me like this.

#birds #notabird #Alberta

Haha! I rather like that. Perhaps I'll submit a name-change proposal.

A Violet-green Swallow eyes a suspicious photographer from a badlands snag. This is quite strictly a swallow of the west.

#birds #birdphotography #Alberta

This fledgling grackle only left the nest a couple of days ago. It looks rather dozy here, but when an adult comes along with food, it'll perk right up!

#birds #birdphotography

TIL what TIL means.

It almost feels like cheating when a snipe sits atop a fence post and let's you photograph it from the car window.

Er, I mean, I definitely donned camo and crouched in a buggy wetland for several hours for this shot...

#birds #birdphotography

That's too sensible an observation to be given serious consideration by taxonomic authorities.

A kaleidoscope of fritillaries had descended on this blossoming tree in Medicine Hat, #Alberta.

#bugs #invertebrates

Yesterday, this bird became a blackbird. Or rather, it has been recategorized into the blackbird family. I'm sure the bird doesn't know it, let alone care, but it's at least exciting to taxonomists.

Yellow-breasted Chat
Medicine Hat, Alberta
June 11, 2025

#birds

That could be. It would make sense.

Yeah, Rocky certainly won't net one as many as northeastern Alberta will. That's interesting about the flycatchers.

Thanks Andrew! I probably crossed paths with about 20 warbler species during my trip; this is the only one I managed a good shot of.

Among my favourite places and times to bird in #Alberta is the boreal forest in early June. Virtually all of the breeding birds are back and busy, including the stunning Blackburnian Warbler.

#birds

The highlight of today's trip to the Rockies: a pair of Harlequin Ducks in their element, diving among the rapids of a clear mountain stream.

#birds

While I was waiting in vain for a bird the other evening, this porcupine nonchalantly ambled right on by me.

#birds #notabird

Dark-eyed Junco in Golden Currant

Haha! But now we know why he was a bit perturbed; he was mistaken for the common rabble! Not that I would characterize the jaunty Red-winged Blackbird that way, but I have little doubt that's how the Yellow-heads regard them.

I think juvie #3 is a Yellow-headed Blackbird, sporting that apricot head, contrasting lores, and no streaks below.

Excited to see my first goslings of the year!

#birds

There are quite a few shorebirds that can be tough to tell apart. The American Avocet, with its upturned bill, peachy head, bold black and white wings, and blue legs, is not among them!

#birds