Great Lakes region, USA. August 2026.

I spent a bit of time watching these eastern kingbirds do their thing. The insatiable hunger of the fledglings keeps mom busy.

Another from the short stack of physical photographs I recently reclaimed, which I've finally gotten around to scanning.

This is (was) one of my brother's birds, which appears to be a peregrine falcon. I took this snap in his rickety barn that he'd converted to a kind of rookery, with a wind-up disposable camera back when I was just a wee fledgling myself and as you can see also in rather poor light. He had several birds throughout his falconry career and as far as I know he did not keep them all at his place at the same time. I was not paying close attention at the time. I'm not an ornithologist now, and I certainly wasn't then. And alas, he's no longer around so I can't ask him for details.

I do know he also personally owned a gyrfalcon/Barbary falcon hybrid although I don't think I ever saw that bird in person and if I did I certainly didn't take a picture of her.

Just because it amuses me, so some of you might also like it.

Prospect Park, Reading, UK

Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800

Good news imo, more people to help w/ conservation. Now what "BirdTok" is I have no idea.

Never heard of these before but apparently thats what these two females are, cool name!

Taken with my xh2s and Tamron 150-500mm

Grey Crowned Crane I saw at Slimbridge today, wide range of native and not so native birds there. Was there for the Tidal Bore

Taken with my Xh2s and Tamron 150-500mm

Three-headed bird

Great crested grebes (Podiceps cristatus)
Olympus OM-1, Panasonic 100-300 II
300mm, f/7.1, 1/400s, ISO 4000

#bird #BirdPhotography #birds #darktable #photo #photography #UrbanWildlife @birding
https://zaktakespictures.com/three-headed-bird/

Red Kites just love the camera (actually they tend to fly off if I turn a camera to them, but...) so I can't resist taking ever more shots, so I'm afraid yet another from Prospect Park, today.

Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800

Prospect Park, Reading, UK

Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800

The magpies were singing for their breakfast, despite the cold rainy weather

Prospect Park, Reading, UK

Canon R5 MkII + RF 200-800

Bonus food photo:

Little Owl I took near Rashford last week, stupidly cute owl and quite happy to be out and hunting during the day time.

Taken with my XH2S & Tamron 150-500mm

Kingfisher eating his lunch he just caught.

Taken with my xt50 and Tamron 150-500mm

Does anyone have any experience/knowledge with mourning dove nesting behavior?

The top left platform was used continually during the nesting season the previous two years after I built it. I think I had 4 successive pairs of fledglings each summer.

At the beginning of this season, in may, the first fledgings were taken by crows. I have a backyard security camera that I was able to watch the action. The nest sits on a beam beneath my pergola and there's not enough vertical space for a crow to land, but one managed to figure how to basically fall from above and land sideways and get his head in there to grab a baby dove before completely falling down.

The nest has been scoped out by crows before but this was the first time one was taken.

So I built the lower right one, which puts the nesting area about six inches back, hoping it will be enough that the crows won't be able to get them. But it hasn't been used at all this season. Doves will occasionally check it out for a few days in a row. One pair even began building a nest but then abandoned it.

Also not shown is a small roof above the pergola I built to protect the nest from rain. I also made it a tiny bit bigger as the mentioned Crow was trying to get his face between the pergola slats but couldn't reach the squabs. I'm also hoping this slightly bigger roof makes the platform more hidden from predators.

I don't really want to reduce the size of the roof because of the crow issue.

So why was the slightly smaller platform so successful, and this one isn't? Any strategies for attracting doves to nest?

New guy in the neighborhood this morning. Midwest, IL, US

Where: Mississauga, ON
When: 2025-07-25 through 2025-07-30
Gear: Sony A6700 with Tamron 18-300mm

Following on from my first post of an American Robin nest just outside my kitchen window, here are some more shots of the same birds a few days later. This was just before they left the nest.

Far too high up in the sky even to be sure this was a Sparrowhawk, but a couple of Kites and this hawk were clearly interacting for a few minutes, though not that I noticed attacking each other - offered as I'd not seen this sort of interaction before (crows and jackdaws, now, they will eagerly take on Kites near their nests). Prospect Park, Reading, UK

Canon R5 MkII + RF200-800

Great Lakes region, USA. July 2026.

These swamp sparrows were giving dinosaur vibes running on top of these lily pads. A terrifying day to be a bug.