I looked out the window to find a house sparrow project gone wrong. I’ve seen overstuffed bird nests before, but this one beats all. I don’t know what the plan was here. Perhaps a sparrow with ADHD like me? Or else someone in the residence is a hoarder sparrow who can’t stand to give away good material? Or perhaps there’s a subplot. House sparrows often compete with house wrens for nesting boxes. Some wrens will make multiple nests just to keep other birds out. It’s all messy business in some corners of the bird world. #birds #birders #sparrows #bird

I never liked the fake critters in Pokémon. But I did learn as a parent from them.

Today, on the way home from an oil change I saw a red tailed hawk perched on a small tree. I always stop to take photos of red-tails even though they are relatively common, easy subjects. I have more red-tail photos, perhaps, than any other birds. A few years back, I found a western-phase red-tail here in Illinois with its beautiful russet plumage all over its body. Thrills like that keep my eyes open. I've done dozens of red-tailed paintings over five decades of work, and still find them interesting. Way back in the late 1970s, while still in college, I found a dead red-tailed hawk by the roadside. Having already done some taxidermy for biology, I carved up the bird to use its wings and such for reference. In a fit of youthful inspiration, I cut one of its talons off its feet and made a necklace out of it. That served as my inspiration during a college cross country season where I moved from 5th to 2nd man, helping to lead our team to a 2nd place NCAA D3 cross country nationals championship. All through college and beyond, I kept painting red-tails, and gifted the one with its wings raised in this photo to a friend for a wedding gift. He still has it. So while I've seen probably thousands of red-tailed hawks across much of this country, I'll not stop looking at them. Do you see red-tails frequently where you live?

As our backyard wetland expanded it flooded the trees leaving them bare. That’s a good thing for woodpeckers, wood ducks, tree swallows and this young bald eagle surveying the marsh for fish or other food. We also get osprey in summer, adult bald eagles from two miles away at Mooseheart, plus many herons, egrets, cormorants and even hooded mergansers. It’s always a fine day to look behind your home and see an eagle!