A female black redstart from just the wrong angle. #birds #stickhappens

Two great horned owlets in a tree looking at each other which would be a really adorable picture but my camera focused on a stick in front of one of them to the left

Gear that costs more than my first 2 cars combined.

27 years of visual media experience

About 3 million shots the past year.

And yet, I'm still getting some real banger shots of sticks. #StickHappens 🪶

Agreed. If you're documenting what a species looks like, removing a stick makes sense. But who's actually doing that? If you're making a calendar to sell, okay I guess. But the folks I know who love birds and photography take part in #StickHappens and #WorstBirdPic.

black & white warbler is one of many #migratory birds we see in the northeast US.
#birdoftheday #stickhappens

Two softly sunlit creamy tan birds with pale blue eye rings, darker tan wings, and deep pink legs and feet stand on a curved branch side by side in profile facing right against a marbled gray blue background. The bird in the back has its head raised and turned slightly toward the camera as if listening to the other bird. The marginally smaller bird in the front has its head tucked down into the other birds neck giving the pair a look of a contented couple enjoying a peaceful moment together after a long day. A couple of thin twigs in unfortunate placements cut across the sweet scene.

Just a couple of love birds.

Mourning Doves

#BirdOfTheDay #MarriedCouples #ECK #StickHappens #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

When you think you've got a decent picture of a tree creeper but #stickhappens #birds

Sometimes, #StickHappens, which in this tree it's almost a given. This time, the Cardinal managed a pretty unobstructed perch for me.

#birds #Texas #wildlife #photography #BirdsSeenIn2026

Speaking of bluebirds, this is a favorite #WorstBirdPic of mine for #PhotoFailFriday. A truly unfortunate #StickHappens moment! 😅

#birds 🌿

Blue jay perched in a bare tree. From this angle a twig cuts directly across the birds eyes.

"This View Master is broken, all I see is a dark blur!" 🪶 #stickhappens

Fierce looking black and white and grey bird with black mask and hooked black beak is perched near the top of a bare, vertical branch with head turned to the side. The narrow branch crosses its face between eye and beak.

Northern Shrike trying to make stick happen #birds #stickhappens

First time we've even SEEN one of these elusive little desert birbs, the Verdin is known for its bright yellow head and chestnut shoulder patch, both of which I managed to catch through the thick scramble of our cholla patch today.

Hey now... Does it still count as a lifer...🪶

🌿...with a little #stickhappens? Asking for a friend. 😏

📸 Auriparus flaviceps, aka Verdin #1, as in my first 🍒

#Lifer
#Birding
#TinyTuesday
#TheLittleThings
#Yellowbirds
#BirdLovers

Peek-a-boo! A male Gambel's Quail hiding up in the tree peeks around the trunk to stare down at me...

...which I did, but had to thread a tight window in the bare branches for some topknot in profile.

🤫 Quail don't actually like to be photographed.

🪶🪶🌿 So you get a couple thread-the-needle clicks for #TopKnotTuesday because today's birb made it to the neighbors' tree before I even got my lens cap off. 🤘😶‍🌫️

#Quail
#Birding
#BirdLovers
#StickHappens
#Photography
#BirdOfTheDay
#StareDown

A blue tit about to launch itself off a skinny branch.

#Paridae #BirdOfTheDay you say? #StickHappens

Pileated Woodpecker stares at the camera through a maze of twigs

#Birds #Stickhappens #Canon

new camera does much better at stick battles
not perfect but still not a blurry blob in the sticks.

Pileated Woodpecker watching me.... see replies for some stcik-free shots 😀

Ok, where's Waldo? My old eyes did not see the female Flicker (of the high desert) hiding in the dead cholla, but my wife spotted her so I clicked the whole cactus first...

Put my glasses on, and then found the Flicker peeking at us with one eye while hiding with her polka-dots on the dead cholla. Sneaky.

DYK polka-dots are great camo? Ask me how I know.

Pic 1) Ok, so hiking the cholla patch, wifey stops me and whispers "Right THERE, don't ya see her?" pointing at a dead cholla. Me: Nope. But I click the cholla anyway.🌵

Pic 2) Put my glasses on. THEN, I see her. 🤘😂

#FlickerFriday 🪶
#StickHappens 🌿

She knows what she's doing, too...don't doubt for a minute. I have 30 of these! Always with a branch across her face, but always with her looking at me...with intention! This season's female Phainopepla enjoys kicking my butt...

See! Just an eye peeking! At least here, I was able to move a few steps...

...and finally catch a small window in the branches to frame her looking back over her shoulder. This was SO much easier, last year!

🤔💡 I'll sneak these in, late at night, when nobody's really looking...

🤨 Ya ever get the feeling a birb REALLY doesn't want you taking pictures???

🌿 Well, lemme show ya what I'm workin' with...and this season's female Phainopepla! 🤘😂

#Birding
#BirdLovers
#StickHappens
#LookingAtYou
#Photography

A very large black woodpecker with a white face, bright red crown and mustache and black eye line clings to the left side of a tree against a bright blue sky. He is behind blurred branches in the foreground and his face is partially covered by one of them. I hear and see them frequently but never in a place where I can get a photo. This guy stayed on the backside of the tree for the longest time before peeking out briefly and taking off. Some day I will get a clear shot, but it is not this day.

Sitting outside freezing my rear off when my nemesis bird who I've been waiting an eternity to see again landed in the tree right in front of me and proceeded to hide behind every branch he could find. 🤬 🤣

Pileated Woodpecker

#WoodpeckerWednesday #StickHappens #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

Great tits nºs 3 & 4 of today's walk. #birds #stickhappens

Today's robin in Leioa, northern Spain started off turning its back on me then perched side-on among the twigs... #birdbums #stickhappens

"I'm invisible" ...is what the deer thinks staring at you from behind bare branches...

...while her shady friend keeps foraging the green stuff.

Where's Waldo? The Mule Deer wonders if you can see her...

...and goes back to foraging when I told her no.

🤘😶‍🌫️ When a deer looks directly at you, it often pauses instead of fleeing. That stillness can feel intentional. Psychologically, humans are wired to read eye contact as communication, even across species.

🌿 Even when #stickhappens... 🦌

#MammalMonday
#EastCoastKin
#Photography
#Mammals
#LookingAtYou

Huffing and puffing just behind that big pine branch in bokeh in the foreground sits a disgruntled male Western Bluebird.

#MondayVibes

You know shit's bad...

...when even your Bluebird of Happiness is pissed! 🐦🌿

📸 Sialia mexicana, aka the Western Bluebird 🪶

#BorbAlert
#Bluebirds
#BlueSkyMonday
#Photography
#BirdLovers
#StickHappens

Need more birds on here! #Robin #Stickhappens #birds #ukbirding #birdphotography #naturephotography #EastCoastKin

The #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #Natural any bird in its natural habitat.

Doesn't get more natural than #StickHappens - Varied Thrush Edition 😂

#birds #becurious 🪶

When a TuftedTitmouse goes to a good branch to break up a seed is hard to resist trying to get a video, even if half of its behind another stick. 🪶 #StickHappens

photo of a sooty fox sparrow in dense shrubbery. they are in profile facing right, partially obscured.

For @saskajanet.bsky.social and @junkboxjim.bsky.social - Sooty Fox Sparrow in typical Threading the Needle habitat! 😂 with a little #StickHappens bonus.

#birds #becurious 🪶

Scaly-breasted munia - Highly skilled at finding a stick to slip behind it whenever I'm taking their picture.

#stickhappens #birding #wildlife #photography #Texas

Thanks Patrick! They are a cool bird! #StickHappens and #BirdButt for sure!😂

Well #StickHappens and then there’s #BirdButt!
All fooling aside, wonderful catches of a very cool little raptor 😍

Photo of a male northern flicker on the trunk of a mossy big leaf maple. his back is to the camera and his head is angled slightly so you see the right side of his face. his beak is open, he's digging for something in the tree bark. to his left, there are ferns growing out of the moss on the tree.

Bit of #StickHappens happening, but Mr. Northern Flicker looks SO happy at finding...whatever he found!

#birds #becurious 🪶

OR hiding.

(*&$^! Kingfishers also excel at hiding!

#StickHappens #becurious #birds