Mike Saccone

One of the most beautiful backyard bullies

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 220, f8, 1/800s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

The squeakiest boys in the pines: the brown-headed nuthatch. This fellow was one of about two dozen bringing down the house in the trees at Janes Island State Park this past weekend.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 3600, f8, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

One of two extremely well camouflaged sedge wren haunting the dry reeds and grasses at Rumbly Point this past weekend.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 3200, f6.3, 1/400s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

An American bittern skulking around a muddy ditch just after sunrise on an overcast, gray day at Rumbly Point in Somerset County, #Maryland

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

One of several boat-tailed grackles poking around the shallows just before sunset at Rumbly Point.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 4500, f6.3, 1/320s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

Borb 🪶

An American robin taking advantage of recent rain and a shallow hole to bathe.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 4500, f6.3, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A red-shouldered hawk tucking in a talon on a frigid, gray, windy day

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 2800, f7.1, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A lady red-winged blackbird showing off her brilliantly patterned back, wings, and tail feathers while posing for an over-the-shoulder glamor shot.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 2000, f7.1, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A golden-crowned kinglet posing with some late-season greenery

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 800, f7.1, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A swamp sparrow basking in the morning light

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 1400, f8, 1/4000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A ring-billed gull in flight near North Point State Park

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 720, f8, 1/2000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

If you only have a bird at the center of your life for one day a year, you're doing it wrong.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 1400, f8, 1/1000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

One of our winter regulars in the Mid-Atlantic: the dark-eyed junco. Its clicky calls are a herald of cold weather.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 1000, f8, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

Bradford pear. I can’t stand the tree, which is invasive and in the neighbor’s yard … but the waxwings are a nice benefit.

A backyard cedar waxwing. A small group posed in the pre-dawn light right outside my upstairs window. This individual was showing off its arrowhead-shape tongue.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 5600, f6.3, 1/400s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A song sparrow taking in its surroundings on a crisp November morning at North Point State Park. The fields at the park abounded with juncos and several sparrow species — and are worth a visit.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 800, f8, 1/2000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A Northern mockingbird availing itself of an autumnal berry

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 1000, f8, 1/2000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A downy woodpecker making the rounds on a tree near Violette's Lock along the C&O Canal

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 640, f8, 1/800s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

Colder weather in suburban Washington, D.C. often brings with it juvenile Cooper's hawks hunting backyard birds and mammals. This hawk was enjoying a freshly caught chipmunk in a neighbor's tree.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 5000, f6.3, 1/250s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A double-crested cormorant drying off on a windy day along the Potomac River

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 800, f9, 1/1000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

An especially emerald mallard enduring a windy day at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 800, f9, 1/1000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A classy, understated photo lifer (219) for me from last week: An American tree #sparrow at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 320, f8, 1/2500s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

An attentive tufted titmouse dropping by the backyard on a sunny fall afternoon.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 2500, f8, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A young red-winged blackbird perched on a cattail on a windy fall day

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 500, f9, 1/1000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

Leaving the leaves is the easiest way to support wildlife and give Carolina wrens seasonal props. Happy #wrensday.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 900, f9, 1/1000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A yellow-bellied sapsucker taking a break from sipping the backyard's finest trees

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 4000, f8, 1/640s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

A classy, understated gadwall

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 1000, f8, 1/1600s)

#birds #birdphotography

A white-crowned sparrow striking a pose at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge on a chilly, breezy morning.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 900, f9, 1/2000s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography

One of the least conspicuous bird you’ll ever see: the brown creeper. Often described as “living bark,” its camouflage even tricked my autofocus for a while. Luckily it paused long enough for this photo.

📷 #Nikon #Z8 + Nikkor 180-600mm (ISO 2800, f7.1, 1/500s) 🪶

#birds #birdphotography