Welcome to Birding.Pictures

Migration

The time of migration has begun.

They are travelers.

For some the distance is short.
For others it may be thousands of miles.
For most it is in the darkness they fly.

For some the journey may be their first; to a place they have never been, they find their way.
For others they have made this journey throughout their life, miles upon miles.
For all, it is a perilous journey.

For some I say hello.
For others I say goodbye.
For all, I wish you well - travelers.

-Adele-

Explore Birding.Pictures

It’s about birds and birding.

View a catalog of bird pictures - virtually join me on birding trips - learn about Great Horned Owls, identifying raptors in flight or warblers in the spring & fall. Watch eaglets, owlets and ducklings develop into fledglings. All this and more at Birding.Pictures.

Keeping it current -

Check out my most recent pictures.

-Select calendar to enlarge—

Magnolia Warbler - 05-15-25

I was birding in Queen Anne’s County, MD on 12 May 2025 and noticed a White-eyed Vireo going into a particular small tree. I then saw a second one. I spent the next hour standing very still watching them build their nest. This video includes both photos and videos I took while observing them.

New

The Hummingbird

Select the Learn more button to view documentaries and pictures and learn how to make your own nectar.

Are you interested in watching nesting birds as they raise their young? Check out this collection of Bird Cams.

My Rare Bird Sightings

Latest sightings:

Barrow’s Goldeneye

Seen in Calvert County, MD on 24 Feb 2025

On-line Courses

I invite you to check out these courses - they are free & no sign up required.

Audience: Beginner - Intermediate

Objective: Become more efficient at identifying warblers in the Fall & Spring seasons.

Audience: Beginner - Intermediate

Objective: Become more efficient at identifying raptors in flight.

Tips & Info

This section includes birding tips and bird/birding related information. I hope you find it useful.

Check back periodically as I will be adding new information to this section.

Have you noticed a decline in successful Osprey nests in and around the Chesapeake Bay over the last few years?

A must see documentary (about 30 minutes) - The Biggest Little Fish You’ve Never Seen

Bird in the Bins - Great Horned Owl

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Judy Wink of the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center as she talked about Great Horned Owls. Judy is an ornithologist with well over 50 years of field experience working with horned owls.

I separated this audio into segments with pictures and some videos associated with each segment.

So grab a beverage of choice and select the button to learn about these wonderful birds. Judy is an excellent story teller, so don’t miss the Stories to Tell at the end.

Note: I have created a Road Trip version so you can listen from your smart phone during your next road trip.

Sample from Segment 2

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Birding Locations…

…is a collection of birding hotspots. It lists birding information for each location.

Nest Monitoring & Interesting Facts

Did you know?

  • Branching is what the owlets do during the period before fledging. They leave the nest and climb (with their feet and beak) to nearby branches and even glide to adjacent trees.

  • Eagles perform a courtship display known as the cartwheel. They fly high in the sky together, lock talons and spin downward. Just as you think they are going to hit the ground they separate and fly up high again.

  • At approximately 24 hours old wood ducklings will jump from the nest cavity and follow their mother, capable of flight at 8-9 weeks old.

Join me in nest monitoring where we will witness nesting and the young develop and prepare for fledging. I warn you though - we have to wake up a 4:00am and sit in a blind for approximately 4 hours a day, multiple days in a row to wait for wood ducklings to leave the nest. We will also have to go out into the middle of a corn field in the dead of winter, the temperature sometimes below freezing with high winds to watch eaglets develop into juvenile eagles. Plan to stand there for at least an hour, about every five days.

On second thought, why don’t you join me virtually from the comfort of your home, or wherever you may be and watch the nesting process and the young prepare for fledging:

Birding Trips - Select the button below to join me on virtual birding trips to:

Cape May/Magee Marsh/Costa Rica/Hawk Mountain/Central Florida

Including day trips to:

Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory/Patuxent River Osprey Trip/Popular Island/Smith Island Pelican Tours/Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, NJ