Good morning. 🌊🪸🐚

24 March 2026

We’re going to pile into the car and head south this morning to Lake Charles, Louisiana. It’s just off I‑10 and sits right on the edge of the wetlands—what we call the bayou in Louisiana. But we won’t be going for birding or anything like that. Today it’s the wonderful world of shopping, and of course we’ll stop somewhere for lunch. Where we live, the choices are limited, though we do have a Taco Bell.

I’m going to keep it short this morning because I have a feeling the day is about to get moving quickly.

I haven’t even grabbed my hearing aids yet. But you know what—sometimes the extra quiet in the morning keeps me more at ease than hearing every little click and crinkle around me. A thing about hearing aids is that even if they don’t help you understand people any better, they definitely pick up all the annoying sounds like knocks and squeaks.

That’s enough gibberish for this morning. I hope you have a good day.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” — Lao Tzu

“The morning steals upon the night, melting the darkness.” — Shakespeare

“I am a little deaf now. Without my hearing aids in, I miss a lot of peripheral sounds.” — Roger Taylor

“Wake up and be awesome!” — Code Hostel Edinburgh

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #shorebirds #gulls #morning #travel #hearing

Flag and Feathers

I took this photo of hundreds of black skimmers sweeping past a prominent building near the docks in Gulfport, Mississippi. I played with the light to create a sky washed in deep orange, leaving the birds and the building softly pale against it.

The photographs I share here don’t appear as vivid as they do in my Pixel’s gallery. To make them load more easily, I reduce their size and slightly lower their quality. Take a look:

https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #blackskimmers #Gulfport #shorebirds

Don't Get Your Feathers Ruffled

I’ve been studying this photo of a sanderling (Calidris alba), trying to make sense of what’s happening with the feathers along its back. One possibility is that a gust of wind lifted them, giving the bird that tousled look. Another is behavioral: the sanderling may be fluffing its feathers intentionally, either to shake out sand and moisture or to make itself appear larger in response to a territorial challenge.

Step into a world where even the smallest moments—like the glint in a bird's eye—tell their own story.

https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #shorebirds #sanderling

Another Jones Beach, NY bird last Saturday, an unseasonal Piping Plover. They usually don't return from their winter range in parts south until March or April, but in recent years, as the climate has warmed, a rare few have remained up here all winter. This winter that may have posed a problem for pipers lime this one, as the polar vortex brought weeks of intense cold and major snowfalls. Food became scarce. This Plover was out and about foraging on this first mild day in a while, and seemed to be behaving erratically.

Piping Plovers are an endangered species due to habit loss and climate change, including rising sea levels. Concerted education and outreach efforts and protection of nesting colonies (often on public beaches) have led to recovery in some places, but overall, numbers continue to decline. The Audubon Society estimates that they stand to lose half their current range by 2050 if global warming continues at its current rate.
#climatechange #extinction #birds #birding #birdphotography #birdsofmastodon #biodiversity #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #shorebirds #peeps #pipingplover

Some photos of Purple Pipers at Jones Beach, NY, last Saturday (Feb. 28).

Unusually there were dozens if not more of these shorebirds present, and not only on their favored rocky habitats, but running around on the beach in multitudes with Sanderlings and Dunlins. I suspect the intense cold and snow storms we've had over the past two months affected their food supply on the jetties, leading them to forage with their cousins. These birds nest in the Arctic tundra and overwinter in our middle latitudes. In a sense, by favoring the expansion of the polar vortex, climate change was bringing the Arctic conditions they migrate away from right to them.
#birds #birding #birdphotography #birdsofmastodon #biodiversity #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #winterbirds #shorebirds #peeps #PurpleSandpiper

Tide Dancers

Here’s a photograph of a gathering of Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger) at Gulfport, Mississippi. Every time we visited, I ended up taking hundreds of pictures of these fascinating birds, so I like to post one every now and then.

If you enjoy wildlife and nature photography, check out my photo gallery here:

https://swede1952-photographs.pixels.com

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #shorebirds #blackskimmers