photo of a male rufous hummingbird perched on a horizontal rose branch. he is facing the camera looking to the left in 3/4 profile. his gorget is refracting red, orange and a hint of green.
Friday evening there were only 4 male Rufous in the yard - 3 of them were out in the sun guarding and being...Roufousy. This Mr. opted to quietly sit in the bramble in the shadows.
#birds #becurious
photo of a male anna's hummingbird perched on the leaf bud on top of a fig branch. he is in profile facing left, the sun is behind him so his head and gorget feathers appear to be black - except a tiny patch on his left side which are getting just enough light to refract fuchsia.
Backlit male Anna's Hummingbird is a whole different bird! 😂
#birds #becurious 🪶
HUGE apologies for my camera's refusal to focus...but
#Hummerpalooza2026 Round II is ON
At *least* 5 more males and ??? females showed up today.
This is two out of 5 feeders 👀
I'm sure they're headed your way soon @jhmsparky.bsky.social
#birds #becurious 🪶
photo of a male rufous hummingbird in flight. he is mostly in silhouette you can see some of the rufous color in the flared tail feathers. he is in profile facing upper right.
Gotta make the best of the angle and lighting you get!
Mr. Rufous hummingbird.
#birds #becurious 🪶
Photo of a western gray squirrel in a V of the trunk and large branch of a moss covered big leaf maple. there is a spray of ferns growing out of the moss below. the squirrel is facing the camera looking slightly to the left.
Western Gray Squirrel in peak PNW setting checking in for #SquirrelSaturday #mammals #becurious 🦊
#BirdOfTheDay options are #Blue or #Stripes - Steller's Jay has both options covered!
#birds #becurious
photo of a turkey vulture soaring against a cloudless blue sky. their wings are angled a bit up and they are flying to the right.
First Turkey Vulture photo of 2026 (they've been around a couple/few weeks - finally they were flying low over the yard).
#birds #becurious 🪶
Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #WingsOpenNotFlying.
Perfect for Peak Cormorant!
#birds #becurious
photo of two male flickers taken through window. one male is pressed up against the window back to camera looking up at second male flying right at him.
photo of two male flickers taken through window, male who just flew at second male who was backed up against window is full out attacking second male with his beak, wings are still open - it's a fly-by.
Cool! I can only tell from the back - lots of hybrids in my yard - some males have bright "V" some very pale...they do not like each other 😂
Usually their under feathers are orangey - a real blend! #birds #becurious 🪶
macro photo of a male rufous hummingbird with top half of his back covered in green feathers.
Meanwhile, I get Rufous like this...
Had one really green one last week, he moved on though, didn't get a good pic. #birds #becurious
photo of a well used paper back copy of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.
quote from the Letters of JRR Tolkien reading: "Anyway all this stuff is mainly concerned with Fall, Mortality, and the Machine. With Fall inevitably, and that motive occurs in several modes. With Mortality, especially as it affects art and the creative (or as I should say, sub-creative) desire which seems to have no biological function, and to be apart from the satisfactions of plain ordinary biological life, with which, in our world, it is indeed usually at strife. This desire is at once wedded to a passionate love of the real primary world, and hence filled with the sense of mortality, and yet unsatisfied by it. It has various opportunities of 'Fall'. It may become possessive, clinging to the things made as 'its own', the sub-creator wishes to be the Lord and God of his private creation. He will rebel against the laws of the Creator – especially against mortality. Both of these (alone or together) will lead to the desire for Power, for making the will more quickly effective, – and so to the Machine (or Magic). By the last I intend all use of external plans or devices (apparatus) instead of development of the inherent inner powers or talents — or even the use of these talents with the corrupted motive of dominating: bulldozing the real world, or coercing other wills. The Machine is our more obvious modern form though more closely related to Magic than is usually recognised." Letters #131 circa 1951
Today is National Read Tolkien Day (isn't that every day?)
I'm going with Letters - you should too!
Captured quote could've been written last week.
#JRRTolkien #becurious
close up photo of a male rufous hummingbird perched at the top of a bare fig branch. he is in profile facing right and looking upward. his gorget is refracting green and gold with a hint of orange at the lower right.
When the angle & light are *just* right you can see the green/gold refraction on Mr. Rufous.
You can ALWAYS see the anger.
#birds #becurious 🪶
photo at eye level with a california ground squirrel who is surrounded by spring plants. they are in profile facing right with their head turned back around looking just to the right of the camera. their cheeks are full and they have a couple of millet seeds on their mouth and chin.
Look, we've all been there - sometimes when you're packing in the lunch buffet you get a little on your chin!
Ca Ground Squirrel #mammals #becurious 🦊
photo of a white crowned sparrow standing on a bit of driftwood in a black plastic pond. they are in profile facing left.
One of the ~4 weeks per year I get these cuties!! In theory they could stay and nest...but...they don't. I def enjoy them while I can!
White-crowned Sparrow #birds #becurious 🪶
photo of a crow on a mossy, diagonal maple branch. the crow is facing the camera angled slightly to the right, they have a chunk of suet in the tip of their beak.
Crow vs. Suet - that peanut buttery block never stood a chance.
#birds #becurious 🪶
And Black-tailed Deer illustrates the difference in their names.
#mammals #becurious
Close up photo of a female rufous hummingbird perched on the tip of a fig branch, there's a teeny green bud on the branch. The hummingbird is in profile facing left.
Simply not enough hours in the day for picture taking!
Look at this Ms.! She's just perfection!
Female Rufous Hummingbird #becurious #birds🪶
close photo of a male anna's hummingbird in flight - wings are super motion blurred, body slightly motion blurred, his head is tack sharp. he is in profile facing left. His gorget and head feathers are refracting fuchsia.
Never ceases to amaze me how *perfectly* still they can hold their heads in flight.
Male Anna's Hummingbird #birds #becurious 🪶
photo of a male rufous hummingbird at a distance, he is perched on top of a fig branch facing the camera and his gorget is brightly refracting yellow-orange and vibrant coral.
Despite their teeeeeny size you can always spot a male Rufous Hummingbird, no matter how far across the yard they are😂🔥
#birds #becurious
photo of male black-chinned hummingbird on the red plastic flower of a hummingbird feeder. he is in profile facing left.
Went out as soon as it was light enough for pics to see if Anna'sXBlack-Chinned hybrid still around (he...was not)
THOUGHT I had him...then...nope! Straight up Black-chinned male 😂 fueling up to keep migrating (also rare in my area, 2nd in 5 years).
1/2
#Hummerpalooza2026 #birds #becurious 🪶
It's #TestimonialTuesday
I love working with people. Here's what others say about working with me.
#DrJoScience #STEMed #STEMeducation
#PriSci #PrimaryScience #ScienceActivities #Testimonial #TuesdayTestimonial #BeCurious #DrJo #SLT #CPD #TeachersFollowTeachers
Great to see the roundup from @britsciassoc.bsky.social #ScienceWeek chats for @imascientist.org.uk.
I love the variety of curious questions! We had lots of great chats about the brain and animals... and the 5 second rule 😆
#ScienceIsEverywhere #BeCurious #DrJoScience
photo of a male rufous hummingbird perched on a small fig branch. he is in profile facing left. he is shaking out his feathers, is wings and tail have motion blur, the rest is sharp. he is looking slightly up. his gorget feathers are refracting a bit of green and gold and red/red-orange.
So cute, so fierce, SO CUTE!
Rufous Hummingbird #birds #becurious 🪶
photo of motion blurred male rufous hummingbird who has just launched himself off of a branch. he is facing the camera angled downward.
90% of hummingbird pics are this.
8% are "branch where hummingbird was a second ago"
2% are...you know, actual birds.
#blurd #birds #becurious 🪶
#BirdOfTheDay #Preeners&Scratchers
When scratching that itch is just a *bit* precarious!
#birds #becurious
photo of a crow perched on a maple branch. they are in profile facing left looking slightly up.
One of the pair of yard crows reminding everyone that they OWN this yard.
It's a definite trade off - most of the other bird species nope on out and won't nest in the yard...but I get Yard Crows!
#birds #becurious 🪶
close up photo of a mature female rufous hummingbird with many refractive throat feathers. she is facing the camera looking up and to the right. her feathers are refracting red, orange and green.
All hail the QUEEN! 👑
Female Rufous get more refractive throat feathers as they age.
This Ms. wears her age like an emerald and ruby necklace!
#becurious #birds 🪶
Close up photo of a male rufous hummingbird on a horizontal fig branch. he is facing the camera looking slightly up and a bit to the right. He is missing a few refractive feathers from his gorget from fights with other males.
Now that we're a few days into #Hummerpalooza2026 and there are at least 4 male Rufous - those picture perfect gorgets are starting to show the effects of battle.
Incredibly tough wee birds!
#birds #becurious 🪶
photo of a male anna's hummingbird perched on a small fig branch. the branch runs from lower left to mid right. the anna's is facing the camera looking slightly up. his hood is refracting fuchsia, his gorget is refracting fuchsia and bright orange.
1. 344 hummingbird pics just this morning - you've been *warned*
2. Rufous ARE amazing, but y'all! LOOK AT THIS MR. ANNA'S 👀
#birds #becurious 🪶
photo of a male rufous hummingbird on a horizontal fig branch. there is a spring green leaf bud on the end of the branch - left side of photo. Rufous is facing the camera looking slightly up and to the left. His gorget is refracting vibrant red and orange.
#Hummerpalooza2026
BIG anger, little feets!
Male Rufous Hummingbird #birds #becurious 🪶
