This year I’ve seen and heard Red-breasted Nuthatches in my yard far more often than in 2023 and 2024. Here, a female briefly clings to dead goldenrod after a snowstorm.
Image of the month – December 2025
Tag: bird lives
Image of the month – November 2025
Belted Kingfishers can be found year-round in southern Maine. Males, like this individual, have a dark blue collar. Females have the dark blue collar, and a rusty orange band below it. Belted Kingfishers, as their name suggests, mostly eat fish. Occasionally however, they eat foods like amphibians, young birds of other species, and berries.
Image of the month – October 2025
Tufted Titmice pairs usually remain in the same territory year round, and they are one of the birds I most frequently see and hear in my yard. At this time of year they are busy caching seeds to help them get through the winter.
Image of the month – September 2025
The pigeons in this photo are from the same flock that appear in my June image of the month. The day I took this photo, the pigeons were resting on the power line when this juvenile Cooper’s Hawk swooped in and flew around with them for a bit. In the end, the hawk decided to try and catch a shorebird rather than a pigeon.
Image of the month – June 2025
Here are some Rock Pigeons, captured on film with my pinhole camera. Pinhole cameras capture a wide view, providing a completely different feel than what I normally get with my telephoto lens. For this photo my camera was on the ground, so the pigeons appear almost as large as the building, which is quite far away from the pigeons.
It is important to note that these pigeons hang out in a parking lot where humans often feed them. This worked to my advantage for the photo – when I crouched down on the ground the pigeons came running over. I did not feed them. This photo is also evidence of how much human behavior can condition wildlife in ways that ultimately can kill the animals. I’ve seen humans feed these pigeons out of their car windows many times, and I’ve seen several dead pigeons in this parking lot – run over by cars because the pigeons approached in hopes of a meal.
Image of the month – April 2025
I photographed this female Northern Cardinal perched in a sunbeam earlier this month. Cardinals are year-round residents in Maine and they are one of the few species of birds where both males and females sing. Pairs share song phrases.
Image of the month – March 2025
Although Dark-eyed Juncos are year round residents of Maine, I only see them in my yard outside of their breeding season. This one was part of a large flock, hunting for seeds in the snow.
Image of the month – February 2025
Earlier this month, I watched a flock of Wild Turkeys forage for food near the woods where the snow was shallow. Here are two of them. Wild Turkeys occur in every U.S. state except Alaska.
Image of the month – October 2024
I always enjoy thinking about how a photograph can show not just a cool animal, but how it can also convey part of a story. Eastern Bluebirds stay in Maine year round. If you have a bluebird house and leave it up in the winter, you may see a stream of bluebirds leaving the house on chilly mornings after they’ve all packed inside to stay warm at night. Here’s a bluebird in my oak tree after an ice storm – puffed up and sitting in the sun for warmth.
Image of the month – April 2024
A Dark-eyed Junco sits on a snowy and icy white pine tree. I took this photo after the ice storm in early April.