Photo of a family of Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica). In the bottom left corner of the image we see part of one of the adults, who is resting with his or her head turned back so that their beak is buried between their back and and one wing. Above and to the right is the other adult, facing towards the left. At the back, and head poking up from behind the second adult, is the well-grown chick or Puffling, facing towards the right. The adult birds are white, with black crowns, necks, backs and wings; the beak of the one who is not hiding theirs, seen from the side, is triangular in shape, blue-grey edged with pale yellow at the base while the remainder is red with pale yellow, near-vertical stripes. Their eyes are black with orange rims. Their orange legs and feet cannot be seen. The Puffling also has a black crown and neck, plus a blackish patch on the side of otherwise grey-white face, extending from the base of the beak and surrounding the eye. The Puffling's beak is not as tall as an adult's (the shape is like that of a shark's fin on its side) and is dark grey in colour. His or her eye is black, with a thin white rim.

A pair of Atlantic #Puffins with their Puffling, near the entrance to their burrow on Skomer Island in July 2024, for #SuperSeabirdSunday and for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme #AdultsWithChicks. Looking forward to my third visit to Skomer later this year! #Birds #NaturePhotography #UKWildlife #EKC 🌿

A colour photograph of a beach on Lake Ontario, with smooth rocks in the foreground and an expanse of sand meeting the blue water, with the sun glistening on the surface and clear blue sky above.

A stunning view of Lake Ontario.

#Stunday #BlueSky #LakeOntario #beach #photography #EKC #EastCoastKin

A stone column supports a canvas-sailed windmill. It is covered by lush, vining fuchsia flowers. Trees and a pale blue sky are visible between the top sails.

My imagination is in Greece this morning, so my #Stunday is a flower-covered #windmill from a winery there. #photography #EKC

A Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), viewed side-on as he or she pulls a worm from the ground near the water's edge, where the vegetation is low. The bird is facing towards the left side of the picture, with the head end of body tilted downwards and the tail end upward. A wading bird, this species has longish legs which are pink in colour. The head is white, with black running up from the throat and over the front of the face onto the crown, from which sprouts a long, upward-curving crest of several black plumes. The black colour also extends from the base of the beak, in a thin stripe running just below the (black) eye, across the cheek. The bill, relatively short for a wader, is also black, as is the top part of the chest. The back and wings are greenish, with darker and purplish areas depending on how the light hits the feathers, and the underparts are white.

To continue this thread of photos taken at @wildlifebcn.org #SummerLeys reserve last Saturday here is another bird successfully worm-hunting. This Lapwing or Peewit kept tapping one foot then the other on the ground, an effective worm-charming technique. #Birds #NaturePhotography #UKWildlife #EKC 🌿

A Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), perched on a twig. The bird's body is facing towards us, but his or her head is turned to the right side of the image and looking up. Blue Tits are small, colourful, and characterful birds. The head is white with a blue crown, with a stripe (black from the beak up to and just beyond the eye, dark blue thereafter) encircling each cheek. The underparts are yellow, with a short, often irregular black stripe running down the middle of the belly. We can't see the back or much of the wings here, but the small part of the one wing that is visible is blue. The underside of the tail is grey. The beak, and the legs and feet, are dark grey.

For #BirdOfTheDay (theme: #blue) and for #SmallBirdSaturday here is a brilliant little Blue Tit who I photographed a little over a week ago at @warwickshirewt.bsky.social Brandon Marsh nature reserve. #Birds #NaturePhotography #UKWildlife #EKC 🌿

Two photos combined in a single image, both featuring rear views of the same Little Grebe or Dabchick (Tachybaptus ruficollis). Dabchicks are small, plump waterbirds which dive for small fish and aquatic insects. In the top photo the Grebe is rising from the water, with wings open; the plumage we see is mostly greyish, with dark brown on the head and running down the middle of the back to the rump. The rear end of the bird, which has no discernible tail, is pale (whitish and brown) and fluffy. In the lower photo the Grebe is is floating on the water, turned slightly to the left, and with the head turned fully to the left so that we see the large patch of reddish-brown on the lower half of the head, and the short black beak with a yeollow patch at its base.

Post #13 in my Brandon Marsh thread, and a late entry for #BirdOfTheDay (theme #WingsOpenNotFlying), features a Little Grebe or Dabchick. Displaying a fluffy butt, first with wings open and then with wings closed, this bird was active by the Ted Jury Hide last week. #Birds #UKWildlife #EKC 🌿

#Butterflies are among the jewels in the crown of Llanymynech Rocks. Exhibit A. #EKC #UKWildlife

Photograph of a Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), a type of warbler. The bird has mostly brownish plumage on its upperparts, with a pale stripe running across each side of the face above the eye, whitish underparts, and dark legs. This one, perched on a small Willow or Sallow branch, surrounded by catkin-bearing twigs, and is facing towards our left while tilted downward so that the head is pointed towards the bottom left corner of the picture. Behind the bird and the twigs, a blue sky can be seen.

The star of post #6 in this Summer Leys #NaturePhotography thread is a charming #Chiffchaff. This one, who may have overwintered here but is more likely a recent arrival from Southern Europe or North Africa, was looking for insect prey amongst the catkins. #Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EKC

Photo of a single Elf or Ruby Elf-cup fungus (genus Sarcoscypha), amongst green moss plus dead twigs and leaf litter. The fungus is like a small bowl with a notch in it; the uppermost, inner surface is red, while the underside or outer surface (which we can't see much of, as we are looking down on this specimen) is a pale reddish pink.

Possibly the last of the Scarlet (or Ruby?) Elf Cup #fungi at Brandon Marsh last week, certainly the only one I spotted in the area where there were others a month before. With moss and a dead Oak leaf for scale. #BrandonMarsh thread post #12. #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #EKC #ShroomScrolling 🌿

Matchy
#ColorADay
#Yellow
#Street
#Urban
#HumansOfBluesky
#PhotographersOfBluesky
#EKC
#EastCoastKin

A Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) perched in a clump of Heather, facing towards the left of the picture. The Skylark is a small passerine (or perching) bird. The plumage is mostly pale brown or buff, with darker patches on the wing feathers and darker streaks and speckles on the chest, on the crest (which is raised) and on the back of the head. There is a well defined, pale line on the side of the head, running from the beak, past the eye, circling the cheek and ending at the pale patch below the beak. The beak, fairly short and pointed, is mostly yellowish, but dark along the top. The legs and feet of this particular bird are hidden in the heather.

#BirdOfTheDay, March 26th – the main theme today is #speckled. Here is a #Skylark, perched in some Heather while taking a break from skylarking about in the Stiperstones, #Shropshire, back in May 2024. #Birds #NaturePhotography #UKWildlife #EKC 🌿

Orpheum Theatre
Conrad, MT
#ColorADay #YellowThu
#UrbanGaze #EKC #photo

Child with a stuffed animal, happily exiting a night ferry.

Little #HumansOfBlueSky
#ClassicMono #EKC #photography

Two photos combined into one image. Top and bottom both show three Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) standing on some uneven, sparsely vegetated ground, part sandy and part stony. The Puffin on the right, with his or her beak open, is facing towards the other two. In the top picture, those two Puffins are leaning forward as if listening attentively. In the second picture they are standing upright and looking like they would rather be somewhere else. At least that's how I'm interpreting the scene! The Atlantic Puffin has a black back, wings, tail and neck, with the top of the head also black. Each side of the face is white. The eyes are black with orange rims, and the legs and webbed feet are orange. The colourful beak is narrow when seen from the front, triangular in shape when seen from the side. The base of the beak has a large patch of blue-grey enclosed within a pale yellow border, while the rest of the beak is red with a couple of pale yellow stripes.

Thirty seconds into Peter’s story, Penny and Paul realised they’d heard it before – and that it would go on for at least another ten minutes. #BirdOfTheDay #BeakOpen #Birds #Puffins #UKWildlife #EKC 🌿

The #cherry tree by our front door is humming with bees

#photography #photo #photographersOfBlueSky #tree #blossom #ekc

Male House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in the plum tree 🌸 ten minutes ago for #BirdsSeenIn2026 🇩🇪

#birds #ekc #naturephotography #spring

A small river winds around an old red barn. There are mountains in the background. Long , straw colored, grass looks pressed flat due to recent snowmelt. The buds of spring are still a few weeks away.

Clear river water looks golden as it passes over larger rocks and a log. The far bank is covered by white and black birch trunks, and the burgundy branches of lower shrub plants.

Today at the Whitefish River #Scape
#Montana #landscape #photography
#EKC

The banner for #ForestFriday has a closeup shot of fern fronds in different hues and shades of green. The text says, "It is #ForestFriday. A weekly celebration of the outdoors & nature. If you are so inclined, post your forest-related photographs or artwork with the hashtag #ForestFriday. Happy trails, my friends."

Tomorrow is the Spring Equinox.

It's also #forestfriday

Win. Win.

Celebrate the start of spring and nature by posting your forest-related photos or artwork using the FF hashtag.

Cheers 🌳🌲

#hike l #woods l #spring
#nature l #outdoors l #ekc

Robin on a rainy day 🧡🌧️
This was today.
Tomorrow should be a dry one... 🤞

#birds #nature #EKC #eastcoastkin #naturephotography
#BirdsSeenIn2026 🇩🇪

A three lobed white flower with maroon interior highlight is shown against its narrow, elongated leaves (Asimina angustifolia). Zebra swallowtails depend on pawpaws to complete their life cycle

Another pawpaw species, slimleaf pawpaw. See my post with a zebra swallowtail and their dependence on pawpaw. #🦋 #nature #nativeplants #wildflowers #EKC #spring #Florida #bloomscrolling

Photo of a young Crested Duck chick facing forward, his head thrown back and surrounded by large droplets of sea water where it has just ducked under and re-emerged.

But we can still have lots of fun! 😆
The duckling is out of focus but it was just too joyful to discard😂💚
#BirdOfTheDay #Splash #EastCoastKin #EKC

A black and white tripped swallowtail butterfly with red markings at the base of it's posterior wing is shown. (Eurytides marcellus) The butterfly is resting on sandy soil with brown leaf litter

Zebra swallowtails are dependent upon pawpaw plants to lay their eggs and have their caterpillars develop. This photo was taken near a group of pawpaws. Caterpillars derive toxins from pawpaw that make them distasteful to predators. 🦋🐛 #swallowtails #butterflies #nature #spring #EKC #insects #bugsky

A river winds through a misty morning of yellow grasses and stark trees

Winter’s end
#Stunday #landscape
#mobilephotography
#EKC

Abstract orange & pink sunset surrounding a multi-layered green forest scape with etchings of trees holding hues mimicking the sunset. Skyline of a sleeping giant shaped mountain line holds the dream like landscape in view.

Sleeping giant on the breezy horizon..

#abstract: by me
#blueskyartshow #horizontal #dreamscape #GreenSat #EKC

A stack of newspapers bundled for sale. ‘ The Times’ is visible under the fold

Changing
#BlueSkyArtShow #horizontal
#ohBoy #photography #EKC

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekJforJuxtaposition
#EKC

Looking up a through the middle of semicircular staircase. The wrought iron railing has a floral pattern. There is a skylight in the ceiling. A close look will reveal hands over the balustrade, taking pictures.

An alternate view of the staircase in the previous picture on this post, this time from above looking down. The staircase is a semicircular staircase, but the edge of the left side of the photo cuts off the straight side. Decorative wrought iron railing and wide stairs spiral down through multiple floors.

Upstairs and Downstairs at Somerset House, London for #PalacesAndGardens #AboveAndBelow
#ClassicMono #EKC

A photograph of an Ivy draped trunk of a tree to its left and more focused. To the right a more fully vertical post, I think possibly a lamp example. Between them a river flows and in lower focus. The principal subject however is the afternoon sunlight both bathing the scene and highlighting aspects as it shines through trees and from an out of shot direction. Spring time!

A Forest Friday POST (Sort Of) or Through a Wardrobe in SpringTime 🌳 #ForestFriday #Canon #Spring #Photography #Fotografia #Light #EKC #EastCoastKin #PhotoHour #River #Kent #GoOutside #Nature #ThickTrunk #March #Scape #FTFOI #Ivy #LampPost

Wild honeysuckle macro photography

Soft and lovely with a heavenly scent
#YellowThu #BloomScrolling #EKC

Bands of rainbow colours show in wispy clouds against a dark sky.

Bands of rainbow colours show in wispy clouds against a dark sky.

Bands of rainbow colours show in wispy clouds against a dark sky.

Bands of rainbow colours show in wispy clouds against a dark sky.

Some iridescent clouds from today's cold and blustery walk #clouds #iridescent #iridescence #EKC #photography #rainbow #colour