Volume 1 of the Handbook of the Birds of the World, Ostrich to Ducks.

Early Christmas gift! My wife and I are exchanging volumes of our respective interests for holidays and birthdays until we have them all (she's getting Volumes I and II of Flora of North America).

#birds

My wife and I were fortunate enough to visit Sydney last year. Did we see the Opera House? No. Did we stop by two sewage lagoons to see ducks? Absolutely.

A Tufted Duck floats on the water in front of two Redhead ducks.

A Barnacle Goose walking on grass with water in the background.

It was a double rare bird weekend in Michigan! Tufted Duck and Barnacle Goose.

A Ruffed Grouse perched in tree branches.

A companion to my photo from yesterday, a Ruffed Grouse perched along the roadside.

#birding

A Sharp-tailed Grouse is sitting on the top branch of a pine tree against a blue sky. The bird is fluffed up and round due to the cold temperature.

I went back and forth on what to post for my first bird photo to Bluesky but decided to include a particularly round Sharp-tailed Grouse from our cold weekend in the Upper Peninsula.

#birds

It's a Nothern Pariula, a warbler who should be migrating to South/Central America. It probably hit a window on it's way.