Urban Dinosaurs

Earlier this week, I was at a workshop on the 9th floor of Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy. There was a view I'd never had before of the Capitol—the dome was eye level. And not to stretch a metaphor, but it made it look as if Congress were hollowed out…

These are the last pictures I'll post from my Death Valley trip, from the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes. First: I saw no giant worms, which is just as well because I didn't see enough rock there to hold a good sietch. Second: when I saw some different-colored sand, I wondered if it was drum stand; fortunately, a closer look showed that it was just where a puddle had dried. (Three massive storms hit the area in the three weeks before I visited. Some roads are still washed out.)

It's Superb Owl Sunday!

A long-eared owl (Central Park, NYC), an eastern screech owl (Inwood Hill Park, NYC), a barred owl (Central Park, NYC), and a spectacled owl (Arenal Hanging Bridges, Costa Rica).
#superbOwlSunday #birds #birdCPP #birdsforbecsnan

Three more pictures from my Death Valley trip: a salt flat, a spectacular sunset from Zabriskie Point, and the Glass Bottle House from Rhyolite, a ghost town near the park. Apparently, they were short on building materials, so they used whatever they could, including empty beer and whiskey bottles.

I went to the Blue Mash Nature Trail today in hopes of seeing a rough-legged hawk that has been reported there. No luck on that, but I saw what is (probably) a sharp-shinned hawk and a brown thrasher.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdsforbecsnan

Some Death Valley terrain. The shapes and banding are amazing.

I visited Death Valley recently, and while this is not a good time of year for birding there, there are many other attractions, including a clear night sky. Here's a bad attempt to photograph Orion's belt (200mm, f/1.8, 3 seconds, ISO 2800)—but what's really interesting are those two streaks, which I believe are Starlink satellites.

In honor of today's weather, here's a picture from my archives of an ice storm in Brooklyn in January 1978. As I recall, there was a coating of at least ¼" (about 6.3 mm) of ice all around. I had to chip a car loose to pick someone up at the airport…

So many fish crows gathering at sunset that it's not just a murder of crows, it's a shareholder meeting of Murder (of Crows), Inc.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdsforbecsnan #sunset

Light and shadow games…
The first two are silhouettes of bare trees. The third is another bare tree with late afternoon, low angle sun on it, giving it an unusual color cast. The last is a shot of a building under construction, so there are no interior lights or window treatments.

No particularly good bird photos yesterday, but I loved this fallen tree, and in particular the way it twisted on the way down, and the almost board-like segments at the fracture zone.

I went out with my camera, looking for birds. I didn't see anything interesting, so I went home to change lenses to do some more artistic photography. Naturally, as soon as I went back outside I saw this Cooper's hawk…
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdsforbecsnan

I have many photos of white-tailed deer, but none, I think, with this nice a rack of antlers. Theodore Roosevelt Island (which is a lovely place, but right under the flight path to runway 19 at DCA).
#wildlifePhotography

I went to a new spot today for some year-end birding. The prize for today was a redhead duck—not a lifer for me, but apparently rare around here. I also got a better shot at a wigeon, and saw a ring-necked duck. The other good bird was a Carolina wren—I've been hearing lots of them, but this was the first one lately that deigned to show itself.
#birds #birdsforbecsnan #wildlifePhotography

A sundog, I believe. (I didn't take out my protractor, but yes, I think it was about 22° from the sun. I didn't see anything on the other side of the sun.)

My 2026 bird calendar is ready! There are three formats, "classic", designed for spiral binding on the long edge at a print shop (cost last year for me was ~$25-30), "onepage", for home printing, and"legal", the same but for legal-size paper. These have US holidays—I can produce other formats, paper sizes, holidays, etc.; if you need that, DM me.

Classic: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/nudxq7cwvxeaacpzg43pv/calendar-classic.pdf?rlkey=3vqdwpnswufcc9nd6hfplqhix&dl=0

Onepage: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hnxoif3ccceukuaufrf61/calendar-onepage.pdf?rlkey=ysu9njdcmtsymyuuqr68ii7xy&dl=0

Legal: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0f7488xoa5zgizwbp6gf7/calendar-legal.pdf?rlkey=thof26gwmahedynczz1710dd1&dl=0

A gorgeous day today, and very light traffic, so I could get to a park in Virginia in ~40 minutes instead of the usual hour. The highlight was a soaring bald eagle. Also: a hooded merganser, a great blue heron (which looks like it's sporting a beard…), and a red-shouldered hawk.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdsforbecsnan

A few weeks ago, I posted a picture of many fish crows perched in a group of trees(@urbandinosaurs@urbanists.social). This is what it's like when they're arriving, every evening around sunset.
#birds #wildlifePhotography #birdsforbecsnan