Author | Lightnews

Carpingdiem

@birdmom707.bsky.social

370 followers 170 following 190 posts

Retired doc, POC, blue dot in red IN. All pictures taken by me; mostly birds or other nature. You may be blocked if you have no bio or original posts or otherwise look suspicious to me. Header: a hovering hummingbird. Avatar: Power Puff girls me.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · 14h

The Cooper's hawk has returned to haunt the feeders. #birds #hawk #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

This is a picture of an adult Cooper's hawk perched just above one of the feeders, which is hanging on the metal shepherd's hook. The Cooper is a medium-sized hawk with dark gray back, wings and cap, a white and cinnamon checked chest and belly and red eyes. It hangs out around the feeders in the fall and winter and takes unwary birds; it's favorite meal is starling, which is fine with me.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · 16d

Our first near-freeze will happen tonight, so I took a side trip to see these butterfly (and bee) beauties for maybe the last time. #insects #butterflies #bees #fall #nature #naturephotography

A Monarch butterfly (who is large, orange with black veins and black edges on its wings and a black body AND white dots in the black areas) sits on a hot pink zinnia looking for nectar.

A painted lady butterfly (who has orange and brown and tan spotted wings and a tan body and legs) takes off from a pale pink zinnia flower. The butterfly is facing the camera as it takes off, so you can seen the underside, which you don't typically see. It has a rather startling face in this picture, which I can't really describe, except to say it looks like it belongs on an H.R. Giger monster.

A silver spotted skipper butterfly (who is medium-sized and dark brown with splashes of orange and white on its wings and a dark brown body) looks for nectar on a pale pink zinnia (that looks like it is not going to last much longer). If you look closely at the center of the flower, you can see a tiny yellow beetle with black spots (a spotted cucumber beetle) sharing the flower.

A large hairy yellow and black bumblebee hovers above a bright red zinnia. If you look at its hind leg, it has a big orange pollen basket attached, which it will bring back to the hive to serve as food.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · 28d

You were very lucky not to hit it. There are more than 2 million deer-vehicle collisions every year at a economic loss of more than $10 milion. I've had some nerve rattling collisions. www.cnn.com/travel/deer-...

Forget sharks and bears – it’s deer that you should worry about hurting you | CNN

Deer-vehicle collisions are surprisingly common in the United States, with 2.1 million occuring each year, accounting for 59,000 human injuries and 440 human deaths.

www.cnn.com

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · 28d

It's been warm during the day and we've had some rain, so the wildflowers are blooming like crazy. And with that come the butterflies. #insects #butterflies #wildflowers #bloomscrolling #nature #naturephotography

This photo shows 3 clouded sulfur butterflies--they are medium sized butterflies, mostly light yellow in color with dark brown/black markings along the edges of their wings. In the back are two of them perched amongst tiny white aster flowers (heath aster). They are face-to-face and it looks like they might be kissing--in fact, they are mating. In the foreground, a similar butterfly appears to be attempting to interrupt the duo. It has spread its wings and subsequent to this picture, actually landed on the couple. It has yellow wings with solid dark brown borders. It is a male clouded sulfur butterfly. Nothing it did fazed the mating couple and it flew off eventually.

These lovely purple flowers with yellow centers are New England asters. On the right a medium sized brown butterfly with splashes of white and orange on its wings is nectaring (a silver spotted skipper) and in the background, a big black and yellow bumblebee is nectaring on a different flower.

A large butterfly, an orange and black Monarch, has spread its wings. It has landed on a big spray of tiny yellow goldenrod flowers.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Sep 23

I went for a walk yesterday, even though it was drizzling. Partway through my walk, the sun came out while the mist was still falling and I captured this. I was out in that for 20 minutes without a jacket and my clothing was barely damp. #rain #sun #video

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Sep 18

It's hot and the boneset is blooming. That means lots of butterflies. #insects #butterflies #wildflowers #nature #naturephotography #insectphotography

This is a medium sized butterfly. It is deep yellow with some dark brown or black markings around the edges of its wings. It has green eyes and red antennae. This is an orange sulfur butterfly and it is nectaring on tiny white spiky flowers of boneset. Boneset is a mid-fall bloomer, in flowers when most other flowers have been and gone. When you find boneset in the fall, you find butterflies.

This tiny butterfly is orange with black lacy markings and dark brown/black wing edges. It is a pearl crescent butterfly and it is also nectaring on boneset flowers.

This is a medium sized butterfly. It looks a bit like a moth, but it's a silver spotted skipper butterfly. It's a warm brown color with a big splotch of white on the wings and smaller splotches of orange. It is nectaring on a pale pink, spiky, thistle flower.

This is a medium sized butterfly with pale white-green wings, edged in pink. It has green eyes and pink antennae. It is also nectaring on boneset. It is a clouded sulfur butterfly.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Sep 9

Fall birds. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

This is a male ruby throated hummingbird hovering next to the feeder. He is tilting his head to one side and you can see the red iridescent throat he has. The hummingbirds are constantly at the feeder as they are preparing for the long journey south. They'll be leaving shortly, but we'll keep the feeders up until early November just in case some late migrators need them.

This is a tiny bird, a red breasted nuthatch. They breed in the north, so we don't see them around in the summer. This one is migrating south, and occasionally they stay in this area for the winter, so maybe this one will stay.

Shot from below, this is a young Northern cardinal. It's getting redder (it started out all beige) and you can see its long red tail and pink feet and legs.

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Aug 30

I went looking for butterflies today and I found them, but only time for 1 picture tonight (sleepy). #insects #butterflies #wildflowers #bloomscrolling #naturephotography

The picture shows a large light yellow butterfly in flight. It has vertical black markings on its wings and its hindwings have big blue and smaller orange spots. It has just taken off from a spiky pink thistle flower where it was nectaring. It is a female eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly.

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Aug 24

Late summer is the time for a butterfly bonanza! #butterflies #insects #insectphotography #butterflyphotography #wildflowers

This big butterfly is a monarch, with its orange wings with black markings and white spots. It is nectaring on tall ironweed, a fall wildflower, with its spike purple flowers.

This big butterfly has black wings with yellow dots along its wing edges and yellow, blue and orange spots on its hindwing. It is a black swallowtail, a female.

This tiny orange butterfly has brown markings and wing edges. It has dark bulbs at the ends of its antennae, marking it as a male. It is a pearl crescent butterfly.

I almost never see this tiny butterfly with its wings open. It is a lovely dusky blue on top, with black wing edges, black markings and tiny "tails" on its hindwing. It is a short tailed blue butterfly and its blue color marks it as a male (the females are a dark brown/black).

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Aug 17

It's the last day of the #indianastatefair. Lovely chickens this year, after they have been absent for so long due to bird flu. #chickens #birdphotography #photography #statefair #chickens

I think this is a Plymouth Rock rooster. He has black and white bars on all his feathers, so he looks barred all over. He has a lovely red comb and wattles and a gold-colored beak.

This rakish looking rooster is a Rhode Island Red. He has dark brown feathers all over with a spiky comb and big wattles. He has a wicked curved beak.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Aug 10

Kids: "Mom, feed us!"
Mom: "If you expect me to chew your food and put it in your mouth, you can forget that!"
#birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

Blue jays are a medium sized birds related to crows. Like crows, they are very noisy. Unlike crows, they are different shads of blue all over. An adult blue jay sits on the suet feeder. Two fledgling blue jays are nearby, flapping their wings and crying for food. The adult continued to feed itself and did not respond to the juveniles.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Aug 4

I stopped by the Mayor's Garden today to look for butterflies and other interesting insects. Check. #insects #insectphotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #butterflies

The eastern tiger swallowtail is a large butterfly with light yellow wings with dark markings. This one does not have any blue on its hindwing, so it is a male. It was nectaring on a thistle flower, which you can't see in this picture.

The cabbage white butterfly is a medium sized butterfly with white wings with sparse black marking. It has blue eyes. It is nectaring on a zinnia.

This medium sized black and orange beetle resting on a milkweed leaf is a milkweed bug.

I think this medium sized black and yellow striped wasp is a sand tailed digger wasp. It's black with several yellow stripes and has brown wings. It is nectaring on rattlesnake master flowers. By the way, rattlesnake master, when it flowers, seems to have the most pollinators per square inch of any flower.

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 27

The feeders are busy. At this time of year, there are a lot of babies, so we are keeping Chewy busy. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #fledglings

This is a first ever. A small warbler, a female or juvenile American redstart, has visited the feeder. It has a grey head, a yellow-orange patch on its shoulders and a yellow-orange wingbar. When it landed, the resident male house finches tried to bully it off the feeder, but it stood its ground.

A juvenile blue jay flutters its feathers, begging for a meal from its parent, located below it on the feeder. You can tell it's a juvenile by the gray feathers on its back. The adults are all blue.

A female juvenile pileated woodpecker (front), perches on the same branch as her dad. They look very much the same, with bright red crests and black and white feathers. She is almost as big as him, but you can see his eyes are gold-rimmed with a dark center, while her dark eyes mark her as a juvenile. It was very, very hot (105F/40.5C heat index) so that is probably why both have open mouths--birds pant to get rid of excess heat and while their usual body temperature is about 105F, they do overheat.

A female or juvenile hummingbird approaches the nectar feeder. At this time of year, I am never sure if this is a baby or adult. This nectar feeder was pulled down and smashed by a raccoon the next day.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 15

Seen at the Indy Cycloplex this weekend. #IndyCrit #Cycloplex #Butterfly #insects #cycling #naturephotography

A monarch butterfly is searching for nectar on common milkweed flowers. The butterfly is orange with black and white accents and the milkweed flowers are clusters of small flowers, medium to pale pink.

I'm not sure which race this was, but it was a road race around the Cycloplex, as opposed to a race in the Major Taylor Velodrome itself. The leading riders are taking a sharp corner and their bicycles are leaning heavily, which the riders in the back are still on the straightaway.

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 11

It was very hot today, so here are insects and sunflowers. #insects #bees #dragonflies #butterflies #insectphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #sunflowers

This is a small brown dragonfly with brown eyes and orange-brown wings. It is a male eastern amberwing. It is clutching a blade of grass, which tells you how small it is.

This is a big brown belted bumblebee hanging off the edge of a bishops weed flower (which looks like Queen Anne's lace). In the background, another insect flies past--it has black and white horizontal stripes and I think it is a four banded stink bug hunter wasp.

This little beauty landed on my screen. It is a hackberry emperor butterfly. It has its wings folded, so you can only see the underside, which are beige and darker brown with big black and yellow "eyes".

I stopped by the Mayor's Garden where people rent small patches of land to do gardening. The sunflowers were more than 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall. Here are 3 sunflowers towering above my head.

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 9

I haven't been able to capture this guy all summer. Now, on a cloudy, rainy day, he finally shows up for his (relative) closeup. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #hummingbird

A male ruby throated hummingbird (a tiny bird) hovers next to a nectar feeder. The sunlight is hitting his throat just right, showing his red gorget.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 5

With the hot weather came an explosion of insects. They are strange and beautiful and they hold still for pictures. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

This picture shows a bright green dragonfly. It has clear wings, has black bands along its abdomen and bright green eyes. It is perching on a grass stem. It is a female eastern pondhawk.

This picture shows a dusty blue dragonfly. It has clear wings and bright green eyes. It is perched on a bare stem. It is a male eastern pondhawk dragonfly.

This picture shows a large black butterfly perched on red clover flowers. Its body is black with white spots arranged vertically and its wings are dark brown to black with big orange splotches. I am not very good at the black butterflies, but I believe it is a black swallowtail.

This picture shows a close up of a bumblebee on the pink flowers of a common milkweed plant.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 5

I birded from the deck today, as it was too hot to do anything else. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

This is a female Northern cardinal. She is a medium sized bird, with golden brown feathers over her body and red accents on her wings and head crest. She also has an orange-red beak.

This small bird is a male house finch. He has a red head and chest and brown the white feathers elsewhere. This guy has his head tilted way over and is giving me a very skeptical eye.

This is an American robin, a medium-sized bird said to have a red breast, but really it's kind of orange-brown. It's a kind of thrush. In this picture, it's perching on the edge of the bird bath. It's hot today and a lot of birds came for a drink.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jul 2

Shortly after this sequence was taken, I saw a fledgling eating mealworms independently altho when dad got close, the baby started begging. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #fledgling #feeding

An adult male bluebird (right) has a mealworm in its beak. A fledgling (just left the nest) bluebird is begging for food-- fluttering its wings and opening its beak wide.

The adult bluebird is placing the mealworm in the baby's beak.

The adult bluebird's whole face is encompassed by the baby's beak. You can't see it in this picture, but the adults third eyelid has covered its eyes, to protect them from damage.

Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jun 29

Normally, bluebird fledglings from the 1st brood come to feeders in May, but there were none this year. The 2nd brood is due in July and we were happy to see at least 2. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #fledglings

This photo shows two fledgling bluebirds perched next to each other on a branch. They look very different than the adults, with dark brown and cream feathers speckled over their bodies. One of them has visible bright blue feathers on the sides of its wings (the primary feathers) and I assume this one is a boy. The other is perched such that I can't see its wings.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jun 27

The male summer tanager always comes to the suet feeder as the twilight is fading, which is why he is always blurry. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #tanager

A summer tanager is a medium sized bird with a stout yellow bill. This is a male, so he is a reddish-orange all over. This one is flying up to the suet feeder from below. Because it was already dark, the shutter speed is slow and his body and tail is a blur. However, he hovered for a moment below the feeder, so his head is in sharp focus.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jun 20

Over 65,000 people in my city lost power yesterday after a storm with winds >80 mph came thru. Not much damage in my neighborhood, though there was an odd dearth of insects. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

This is a great blue heron. It has a long white neck, gray blue body and wing feathers and long legs for wading. You can't see the legs because it is standing in pond water up to its mid leg. It is possible that if it stands up straight and stretches out its neck, it could be as tall as I am.

This little guy is an eastern wood pee-wee. It's a medium sized flycatcher and it's got a little crest on its head, so the head looks almost triangular. It not much to look at, as it has gray-olive drab feathers on its back, wings and tail and dirty white feathers on it's chest and belly. But it has the cutest little song. Bet you can't guess what it sounds like...https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Wood-Pewee/sounds

I was just about to step across a small puddle in the mud of the trail when this little frog hopped out from under where my foot was headed. It's very small, maybe an inch or less in length. When I looked around, I realized there were dozens of them around the little puddle. It's light brown with darker brown spots outlined in black and black marks on its legs.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jun 14

Seen in or near a pond at the park. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #topazai

This medium-sized bird has a white front and dark gray wings and back with a white edge to its tail. It is an eastern kingbird and it is perched on a branch over the water of pond, waiting for an unwary insect to happen by.

This is a tiny butterfly, as you can tell, comparing it to the white clover flower it is resting on. It is a blue-gray color with navy dots on the undersides of it wings and two little orange spots near its tiny "tail". It is a short tailed blue butterfly.

These ducks were very far away and so pixelated that I ended up using Topaz AI to make them presentable. I think it makes them look like AI creations, what do you think? There is a female wood duck in the middle. She has a brown head with a white stripe over her eye. You can't see the interesting feather pattern on her wings. She is surrounded by five ducklings, which is kind of a small number for a wood duck, so maybe a few have been eaten already.

The common milkweed is starting to bloom and this large orange and black butterfly has landed on a ball of light pink milkweed flowers to drink nectar. This is a monarch butterfly. They must lay their eggs on milkweed, as that is the only food their caterpillars can eat.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jun 13

I'm testing out a new lens on a cloudy day. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography

A medium sized bird with blue feathers and black accents on face and neck, the blue jay likes to mimic other birds, like hawks.

The smallest woodpecker is the downy. It has a white chest and belly and black and white wings, tail and head. This one is hanging onto the suet nugget feeder, her favorite.

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Carpingdiem @birdmom707.bsky.social · Jun 9

Slow motion video clip of downy woodpecker mommy feeding baby who as big as her.
Q: How do you feed a woodpecker?
A: Very carefully. #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #photography #nature #naturephotography #video #woodpecker