Richard A. Fleming

Datura has long been a plant with mystery, intrigue, superstition and conspiracy swirling around its “magical” properties. According to Wade Davis’ somewhat dramatic anthropological thriller The Serpent and the Rainbow, it’s a critical ingredient in Haitian zombification powder.

Channeling Pibe!

Oops here’s the photo…

This Brown Noddy was actively harassing the fisherman piloting this boat to the point where he ultimately was trying to swat it away. Maybe the tern thought he was a big fish? #birding #birdsseenin2026 although I think I already posted this one! #avesColombia

Just want to go on record as admitting that I am only a mediocre #bird photographer, especially with an iPhone through binoculars. “Digibinning,” as I hear the youngsters refer to it. But this photo of a Bare-faced Ibis is not bad, if I am allowed to say so myself! #birdsseenin2026 in #Colombia

A black bird with a pale eye and astonishingly long and wavy toes sits on a white railing.

The Great-tailed grackle is perhaps not the rarest or most exciting of #bird species,but look at these toes! Are they all like this or is this one special? It’s like one of those Indian sadhus who never cut their fingernails! #avescolombia #birdsseenin2026 #birding

Bare-throated Tiger-heron along a channel through the mangroves on the Barú peninsula SW of Cartagena, showing off its astonishing vermiculations. #birdsseenin2026 #avescolombia #birding

I was swimming in the Caribbean with my daughter when this Brown Noddy flew in and started foraging within just a few feet of us! Once on land I discovered it flagged rare in #eBird— no proof! But, thankfully, it soon came back for photos. Only the 95th record in #Colombia #birdsseenin2026 #birding

I didn’t want to risk having my new camera jacked as I wandered some slightly sketchy mangroves this morning so you will have to make do with this stellar iphone photo of a Whimbrel for #avescolombia #birdsseenin2026 #birding #cartagena A country bird for me!

A ghostly all-white seabird flies in front of the lower Manhattan skyline.

Iceland Gull, still rare but I think objectively increasing in New York City. Yesterday I had two separate individuals at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, including this 2nd year #bird that conveniently flew in front of the #FreedomTower! #birdsseenin2026

Here’s another one from my excellent trip last month to RN La Isla Escondida in Putumayo. Lemon-browed Flycatcher breeds right in the garden there, in disused oropendola nests. #birdsseenin2026 #AvesColombia #birding

A top bird from
my last day on a recent trip to Colombia was this Green-bearded Helmetcrest. This splendid family of hummingbirds have extremely small ranges on high altitude paramos, the species isolated from one other by valleys. #birdsseenin2026 #birding

A small streak-backed wren collects fluffy white nesting material deep within the laminate, tongue-like fronds of a unique paramo succulent.

Although you can’t see much of the Apollinar’s Wren tucked in to the heart of this espeletia, or frailejon, as they call it in Colombia, the graphic power of this amazing plant seemed worth a post! #birdsseenin2026 #birding #birdingbogotá He seems to be making a nest!

A pale gull with flashy white wingtips lifts off the water, as if it knew in advance I was going to try and photograph it.

A yellow-legged slate-backed gull with a sooty face stands on a patch of dirty ice near a landfill in New Jersey.

These two were the consolation prizes for four hours of sorting through gulls looking for the no-show Glaucous-winged Gull that had fled the scene just prior to my arrival. First-year Iceland Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull in NJ for #birdsseenin2026 #gulling #birding

This immature Bald Eagle was not a welcome visitor a couple of days ago when we were trying to find NJ’s first Glaucous-winged Gull in a crowd of hundreds of more usual gulls. When this youngster came over, every single one of them fled the scene! #birdsseenin2026 #gulling #birding

Hooded Merganser uncharacteristically fishing on the salty waters of NY harbor. All the fresh water around here is frozen! #birdsseenin2026 #birding

Paradise Tanager, La Isla Escondida, Putumayo, for #birdsseenin2026 #birding

This is Gould’s Jewelfront, an absolutely spectacular hummingbird I was lucky enough to see yesterday on my birthday at the remote but wonderful La Isla Escondida, in Putumayo, Colombia. #birdsseenin2026 #birding

One thing I've learned since my partner got into birding. I no longer have a favorite bird.

Streak-throated Bush-tyrant, giving an exemplary view of its streaky throat this morning at Montserrate, 1000 meters above the plains, and the city, of Bogotá, for #birdsseenin2026 #birding

This is the rig that most birders I know use, those who can afford it. Minus the extender.

Yes, that’s the demographic

Rough-legged #Hawk at Staten Island’s Brookfield Park. There is a major influx of these handsome raptors to the region this winter—usually seeing one requires a long, dawn, drive to the “black dirt” region of Orange County, NY. #birdsseenin2026

Ornithology For Beginners

The bird that feeds from off my palm
Is sleek, affectionate, and calm,
But double to me, is worth the thrush
A-flickering in the elder-bush.

#DorothyParker #Parker

The tail of a black-and-white bird sticks up out of the water in the final split second before it will disappear below the surface in a dive.

This is the underside of the rear end of a razorbill (that’s a #bird), very often all you see when you try to photograph one. These petite auks seem to spend 90% of their time underwater. Spot one, and if you’re fast you can get your camera up just in time for them to disappear! #birdsseenin2026

A tiny gull with a black bill and a dark dot behind its eye looks down as it flies above the wintry gray waters outside New York harbor, perhaps searching for scraps.

A phenomenally beautiful immature-plumaged Bonaparte’s Gull dancing over the water just off one of the Coney Island jetties a few days ago. These tiny, elegant gulls are a highlight of the winter #birding season in #Brooklyn #birdsseenin2026

By the way they are definitely not common!

A black-masked brilliant green bird with a crimson bill and bright red feet and a large maroon wing-panel perches in dense tropical foliage.

Yesterday while blundering around in an old hard-drive I found a cache of #bird photos I had totally forgotten about! I’ve become borderline obsessed with documenting all my #eBird sightings, so I immediately added this Common Green Magpie to my Malaysian list for #birdsseenin2011 !!! #birding

An all-white gull with sandy overtones and a jet-black eye and beak bobs in the swell off the coast of Staten Island.

Spectacular first winter Iceland Gull on Staten Island this afternoon, my first for Richmond County. Found a few days ago by my friend Anthony C, but not there yesterday when I looked for it. Today, success! #birds #birdsseenin2026 And to think some people just call them all “seagulls.”

These are from the day before yesterday but a friend went yesterday and these were all still in close. I think higher side of the incoming tide is maybe better but honestly I don’t pay attention to the tide chart when going there.