Brian Rusnica

Aurora Borealis as seen from Townsend, MA

Aurora Borealis as seen from Townsend, MA

Aurora Borealis as seen from Townsend, MA

Aurora Borealis as seen from Townsend, MA

Scenes from last night’s Aurora (Townsend, MA) Pink and purple pillars at the absolute peak of intensity. I could see it still going from bed just before midnight but decided I wasn’t gearing up again 😴. We’ll see if tonight has more in store! #northernlights #auroraborealis

Two meteors streak across a sky lit up by a green and pink aurora borealis, with dark trees in the foreground.

Possibly the luckiest frame I could imagine... two bright meteors flashed overhead right in the middle of my 2 second exposure. Right around 8:58pm EST, my yard in Townsend, MA. #auroraborealis #northernlights 🌃

A collage of American Kestrels

Cape May Kestrels from October. I "only" saw 130 #AmericanKestrel at the #hawkwatch so they took a bit of a back seat to the other small raptors. Still a thrill. Yes, they were all going left! 😁 #birding 🦅🪶

Merlin in Cape May NJ

Merlin in Cape May NJ

Merlin in Cape May NJ

Merlin in Cape May NJ

As the sun set on Oct 15, a dozen Merlin seemed absolutely dead-set on not going to bed w/o a meal. For 30 mins, they made pass over pass around the pond at the hawkwatch platform, looking for a songbird, dragonfly or shorebird to pop...one of the coolest experiences I've had at any hawkwatch. 🦅😎

A collage of Merlin from Cape May (NJ) Hawkwatch

Ya like Merlins? Well no surprise, Cape May has them too. I saw over 200 #Merlin in my 3 days last month at the Cape May (NJ) #hawkwatch. (Official count was over 600.) In my notes, I wrote down that I saw 8 (!) individual birds in a single scan at one point. #birding #nature 🪶🦅😎

Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time

Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time

YouTube video by Focus Features HAMNET - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters This Thanksgiving

Trailer for HAMNET : www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYcg... Harris's Hawk appears right away.

Good one for the @thebirdist.bsky.social - I noticed the trailer for HAMNET has a hawk (YES!) but it's a Harris's Hawk. A common bird in modern #Falconry, but native to the southwest US. In Elizabethan-era England, the chances of this bird being used in Falconry, I'm guessing, is zero! #birding

it was overwhelming and so consistent... almost too many at times! 😁 Great pickup on the banded one, wonder if they just received that jewelry in CM!?

A collage of Cooper's Hawks

Cooper's Hawk (juvenile)

Cooper's Hawk (juvenile)

Cooper's Hawk (adult)

The Cape May NJ #hawkwatch is an amazing site for hawks. However I always 'just missed' the big flights...until now! From Oct 15-17, I caught a huge surge of Cooper's Hawk, Sharpie, Kestrel & Merlin migration. Personally, I saw ~500 Coops in 3 days. Official count was 1,700+ Coops. 🤯🪶 #birding

Collage of a Rough-legged Hawk flyby (light morph)

Getting that first Roughie of the year is always a good feeling. This light morph #RoughLeggedHawk flew by the Cape May #Hawkwatch on October 15th, probably a little early compared to your average winter migrant. 🦅❄️🪶 #birding

Collage of Turkey Vulture and Black Vulture images.

Vultures of Mt Watatic #Hawkwatch (MA). September doesn’t have many migrating Turkey Vulture but we see LOTS of locals soaring over the summit’s thermal or cruising updrafts. This year we hit a record 14 Black Vulture, our highest count ever, including 7 at once! #turkeyvulture #blackvulture 🦅🪶🌎

oh how excellent! Yes, we're just about a dozen miles N of Wachusett, we're all members of the same club 😎 Check out Watatic next September if you think of it!

A collage of Merlin images.

Merlins of September at Mt. Watatic #Hawkwatch (MA). One of my favorite parts of the watch is the last hour. Day hikers have wrapped up their visits and the summit empties out. Low sun makes for great lighting. And for whatever reason, #Merlin seem to be late day migrants in the East. #birding 🪶🦅😎✌️

A collage of American Kestrel images

American Kestrels migrating past Mt Watatic #Hawkwatch (MA) this September. A couple brave birds landed on the summit this fall, likely to pick off one of the Carolina Locusts that inhabit the rocky outcrops. This Sept we counted 108 migrants. Always love to see them! #AmericanKestrel #birding 🪶🦅😎✌️

A collage of Red-shouldered Hawk images

Next up the round out the buteos, Red-shouldered Hawks at Watatic #Hawkwatch (MA) in September were sporadic migrants and mostly noisy locals. Several juveniles came in close enough for pics, including a couple visits to the decoy owl. #redshoulderedhawk #birding 🪶🦅

A collage of Red-tailed Hawk images.

Red-tailed Hawks from Mt. Watatic (MA) in September. This species doesn’t migrate here until later in the fall, so we mostly get to see juvenile local birds hunting the surrounding slopes. Some of the close shots here are from a run in with the decoy owl. #redtailedhawk #hawkwatch #birding 🪶🦅✌️😎

A collage of Bald Eagle images

Bald Eagles have always seemed to deliver in my time as counter at Mt. Watatic (MA). We see many locals and plenty of migrants often w/nice close looks. And it’s always a good chance to study the various plumages of immature birds. This year’s count in September was 118 #baldeagle. 🦅🪶 #birding

Stickers depicting two Willow Ptarmigans on snow with a spruce forest behind them

Ptarmigan stickers are up! www.etsy.com/listing/1502... #awebo #awebobird #ptarmigan

A collage of Sharp-shinned Hawks in flight

Sharpie time! It’s always fun to get close looks at #sharpshinnedhawk - they have such personality and are so dynamic during migration at Mt Watatic (MA). We had a respectable count for the #hawkwatch season with 308. Some of my fave frames here! #birding 🪶🦅

A collage of Cooper's Hawk images

A few Cooper’s Hawk frames from this season at Mt. Watatic (MA) #hawkwatch. Not quite as many #coopershawk as last season, but still 66 in September. They typically peak in October so of course we miss a good deal of them. #birding 🪶🦅

A collage of Broad-winged Hawk images

A look at my favorite Broad-wing photos from this Fall at Mt. Watatic (MA). By mid-October, most #broadwingedhawk have already left the US, heading south. It was a delight (and relief) to see thousands of them again at our #hawkwatch site after <1K last year. Total count : 3,624! #birding 🦅🪶

Joe Ingles completes goal of hitting a backwards 3/4 court shot during warmups in all 30 NBA arenas

Annual reminder of the best sale in bird books! Not many new titles since last year but there’s a few I’m excited to finally get.

press.princeton.edu/sale/70-off

OMG i love THISSSS

Two juvenile Bald Eagles, striking an identical pose

Juvenile Bald Eagle in flight.

Juvenile Bald Eagle in flight.

Twinsies! 🦅🦅 These 2 juvenile #BaldEagle passed by my #hawkwatch site (Mt. Watatic, MA) this weekend, and both struck an identical pose on the way by! Note the variation in plumage between individuals at this age... identical ages but far from the same patterns of color. Neat! #birding 🪶

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

still missing Aplomado; but maybe I can get 0.5 falcon credits for a Crested Caracara

My Fall Season: I'll be counting every dry day 9/11-9/24, approx 9am-4pm. Mt. Watatic is a 35-45 min hike-up. No restrooms, water, or trash facilities. Also always looking for folks to help before and after ”my” coverage.

Best days/times. Wind direction! N, NW or NE. Big flights can occur any time of day. 10am-2pm is a good window, but conditions change rapidly. More time on site = more hawks.

Gear to Bring (in order of importance): Binoculars, Water, Sun protection, Layered clothing, Snacks

Thanks so much for showing interest in #hawkwatching at Mt. Watatic! 2025 will be my 11th Fall counting raptors there, and I really think it’s one of the best birding experiences in Massachusetts! #birding 🦅🪶 (3/3)

Mount Watatic / On the MA/NH border, North of Fitchburg. 1,832 ft mountain on the Wapack Ridge. Hawkwatching records date back to 1988.

The Count. Last 5 Fall Seasons: 2024: 1,884 Raptors (10-year low!) 2023: 12,815 Raptors (10-year high!) 2022: 9,461 Raptors 2021: 5,476 Raptors 2020: 6,683 Raptors 10-year avg: 5,853 Raptors

What raptors do you see? Mostly Broad-winged Hawks. 88% of the total count. Lots of Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawks & Cooper’s Hawks. Daily Regulars: Osprey, Turkey Vulture, American Kestrel. Frequent: Merlin, Peregrine Falcon. Occasionally: Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Northern Harrier, Black Vulture.

I’ve got a FAQ page on my website (brianrusnica.com/wp/mount-wat...) that covers the hike up to Mt. Watatic (MA) and what to expect. I’ll be covering the summit from 9/11-24 plus surrounding weekends. (2/3) #birding 🪶🦅