Cin-Ty Lee

that's interesting. Are Alders and Willows breeding very close to each other?

when were these willows banded? are they migrants or birds on territory/breeding?

hi Dan, I think both are Traill's and they both look like Willows based on longish bill, dull wingbars, lack of eyering and the longer P6-5 vs P7-6 primary tip gaps.

Coastal Tiger Beetle along the upper Texas coast. These beetles are found on the beaches, but they seem to be strictly found at the top of the littoral zone, right at the high tide line where the beach sands are coated with thin algal biofilms, giving the sand a slightly mottled green-brown color.

Lilac-breasted Roller, an iconic bird of eastern and southern africa. This one we photographed in Zimbabwe.

Night time with a thermal imaging telescope. African leopard lumbering along the trail. Zambia.

It's that dreaded time of the year when one has to sort thru Willow and Alder Flycatchers. Primary tip spacing can make one's life much easier as outlined in Andrew Birch's and my article in Western Birds. Photo below from @evornithology.bsky.social static1.squarespace.com/static/54b9b...

An adult male Eastern Kingbird dragging its bill along the surface of a pond. I've never seen such behavior. Have I just overlooked this behavior over the years? Have anyone seen such behavior?

The piney woods of east Texas with @edyong209.bsky.social and Melanie Barboni. These regenerating longleaf pine forests r the haunts of Prairie Warblers. Songbird migration this season has been slow (birds are not stopping), so heading to the breeding grounds was the way to go. My son in foreground.

Garnet phenocrysts from a dacitic volcano in southern Spain. Like candy!

Where in the world can you get a Red-footed Booby, Bullock's Oriole, Chuck-will's-Widow and an Amur Stonechat within 60 miles of each other in a span of a week? The Upper Texas Coast of course, where east meets west, north meets south.

Green-tailed Towhee from Madera Canyon, Arizona.

Nature Night: Flycatcher Identification Demystified Join Cin-Ty Lee and Andrew Birch for an engaging night of guiding you through the fascinating world of flycatcher identification. Discover the secrets to recognizing these elusive birds by exploring f...

This virtual event is going to be awesome! Pretty sure I will never misidentify a flycatcher ever again! 😆
@cintylee.bsky.social
#birds 🪶

birdallianceoregon.org/event/nature...

lots of fun!!!! thanks for organizing all this Kau. Birds and geology together for the win!

A photograph of a Hammond's Flycatcher

A photograph of a Hammond's Flycatcher

A photograph of an Ash-Throated Flycatcher

A photograph of an Ash-Throated Flycatcher

Finally, it was a really fun experience being out seeing #Empidonax & #Myiarchus #flycatchers with @cintylee.bsky.social—who has recently published a series of definitive ID guides for these clades. Here's a Hammond's Flycatcher & and an Ash-Throated Flycatcher. fin 🪶

it was fun to get all the feedback from all of you!

Editors then are not doing their job. When I was editor, I rarely ever sent for re-review. If an editor doesn’t know enough to judge based on the reviews, then that editor is unfit for the job. Might as well have an AI robot, which would probably do better than most editors these days.

Hooded Warblers are arriving. Rice University.

why the re-review? what a waste of time.

I may follow your footsteps. LOL

Anyone submit a paper to Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta recently? Every one of my papers has been rejected without review in the last 2 months on the premise that the paper or topic is not of high enough impact/interest. Maybe I'm alone in this LOL. So what's big in geochemistry these days? 😶🤔

Chuck-will's-Widow at Rice University this morning. Deeply embedded in the foliage. A typical view, obstructed by branches.

Spotted from the car and photographed with only a few seconds of visibility!

In Belize, on the Yucatan Peninsula, lie an ancient and isolated granite massif, lateritized by tropical weathering. My son and I stumbled upon several large colonies of Pinguicula, a carnivorous plant. There have only been a couple Pinguicula photographed or collected in Belize.

Parasitic Jaeger headed north in Galveston Bay. On its way back to the Arctic. Gulf of Mexico birding in the great state of Texas.

Those in high positions are thought to have power, but most really don't have power because they care too much about their career. Real power comes when you don't give a damn. Only then, can you speak the truth.

ah that's right! the one initially reported as a VEFL and identified later by Sullivan. Amazing record! San Clemente Island is amazing.

Anything is possible. Even the impossible. An Amur Stonechat at Anahuac NWR in coastal Texas. Discovered by two amazing birders last December, this bird has remained at its favored spot all winter. This is a bird from Siberia. Only the first time ever reported in the Americas outside of Alaska.

yeah, very interesting point on PNW. You're right that many of the birds in PNW are not bright. Only a few like W Tanager are. I really don't know

I'm not an expert but the female is green and blends in more with the vegetation, so the male's bright colors are probably because it wants to be seen. In these tropical forests, it's hard to be seen and heard, so being brightly colored and having loud calls might be useful.