SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️
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skwinnicki.bsky.social
SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️
@skwinnicki.bsky.social
29K followers 7.9K following 20K posts
Evolutionary ecologist & ornithologist, postdoc Ohio State | PhD UIUC, MSc Kansas State | SciComm, birding, and nature photography | certified Lawn Hater, Cowbird Apologist, Stress Physiology Enthusiast, Typo Lover | they/them 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 | skwinnicki.com
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skwinnicki.bsky.social
I’ve never worked this hard for five tiny shark teeth, nor been so grateful to find any that I could cry. Trip has been saved and my heart is full!

Also found something rarer for me— the fragile white “dove” from the inside of a sand dollar! Only the second I’ve ever found in my life!
Hand holding five tiny black fossilized shark teeth, plus a small white bone-like structure in the shape of a flying bird.
November 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Did I get stuck by the high tide on a sandbar when I left my family on the holiday to go birding “for a few hours”? Sure

Will it go down as one of the best moments of my life? Also yes

There are thousands of birds here, letting me lay among them. Like, Piping Plovers and Black Skimmers! Phone vid:
November 27, 2025 at 6:27 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
The Anhinga in the lagoon behind this rental seems to go somewhere else to feed during the day, it leaves by 9AM most mornings.

I slept in today so I assumed I’d missed it, but it stayed an extra 15 minutes and flew over to my side so I could take water turkey photos from the porch on turkey day!
Four photos of an Anhinga, a waterbird also known as a darter, snakebird, or water turkey. It is black and brown, with a long snake-like neck and long tail, which sort of resembles the tail of a wild turkey. Its wings and black with silvery patches. The beak is yellow and stabby. In this photo the Anhinga is perched in the bushes across the lake. Now the Anhinga is closer, on the leaf-covered beach on this side of the lagoon, so you can see more details, like the silvery white long feathers on its back. The Anhinga has its wings half raised and its neck stretched out. The Anhinga is bending its neck back and inflating the gular skin pouch under its beak, making its head look fatter.
November 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Got another nictitating membrane photo today! This one on a Northern Mockingbird. I think it makes them look wise, like it is sending me on a quest.
A stately thin gray robin-sized bird on an ornamental shrub. It is clean gray on the top and whiter on the belly. Its wings and tail are darker gray, and it has two white wing-bars. A dark line runs from its eye to its beak, like cool eyeliner. In this photo the third eyelid is not visible, so its eye looks clear and lively. Same bird in the same pose, but in those photo the clear nictitating membrane is across the eye, making it look milky and gray.
November 26, 2025 at 1:45 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
"We're not going birding this morning, we're going to the pickleball courts"

joke's on you, if I'm outside I'm birding

Northern Mockingbird and Palm Warbler
A gray bird with a lighter belly, darker gray wings with white spots, a thin slightly curved gray bill, and a black line through the eye. I think the light is extra weird here, which is why the bird looks more brown than gray. The bird is perched on the top of a fence around a pickleball court. A small gray-brown warbler with stripes on its head and a lemon yellow butt is perched in a hole in a fence at the edge of a pickleball court.
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Back on my bullshit for a second day in a row
Another Gulf Fritillary butterfly, on a small white flower in dried grass. The butterfly is deep orange, almost red, with black spots and wing-edges, and three white spots on each wing near the leading edge.
November 26, 2025 at 1:39 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
This young Tricolored Heron is very proud of its little fish and wants you to see it

#birds
Close-up of a young Tricolored Heron, a small bird with chestnut brown on the neck, almost rusty colored, with blue-gray wings and head and yellow around the eyes. There is white on its belly and on stripes up its throat. In its black beak it holds a very tiny little fish, and it is looking directly at the photographer so you can see both eyes on either side of its head.
November 26, 2025 at 1:38 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Huge fan of when herons go from smol to tall in seconds

(Tricolored Heron)
A young Tricolored Heron leans down over some knocked over sea grass to hunt for fishes. It is gray-brown with chestnut brown on the neck and back, almost rusty looking. The legs are yellow-green and there is yellow near the eyes. It looks small. The same bird, now standing up very straight in the same area, showing off its white belly and white stripes on its neck. It is holding a very small fish in its beak, so small it is hard to see.
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Saw an exceptionally rare bird today-- a Ruby-crowned Kinglet that sat still for multiple photos
Two photos of a small gray-green bird, although it is in harsh lighting so the green doesn't look very bright. It is round, with tiny little legs and a little black beak, and white around small black eyes. It has darker wings with two white wing bars. In this photo, it is looking at the photographer. In this side view, you can see the wing and wing bars.
November 26, 2025 at 1:34 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
We went to a sculpture garden today. I forgot to take any photos of sculptures, but I did take a few hundred photos of beautiful herons, so there's that.

Tricolored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Heron, and Tricolored Heron again
Close-up of the back and head of a Tricolored Heron. These are really lovely dark blue-purple birds with yellow on the face and the bottom of their otherwise black beak. Note the plumes on their back and how they shimmer purple. Close-up of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron face. The bird's neck and body are gray. The head is black, with a white patch on the cheek, light yellow on the top of the head and on plumes that shoot backward from the back of the head. The eye is blood red, and the beak is black, thick, and stout for a heron. Great Blue Heron, a big gray heron on the edge of the pond, looking rumpled with feathers in all directions. Tricolored Heron fishing in the saltmarsh. It is poised over some fallen plants, looking for fishes. The bird has yellow-green legs, yellow near the eyes, and a body that is gray-blue and chestnut brown.
November 26, 2025 at 1:27 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
I'm a couple of days early for my traditional Thanksgiving (water) turkey post but I couldn't resist

They are also called Anhinga and I like them very much!

#birds
Four different angles of an Anhinga perched on a dock. These waterbirds are also called water turkeys because they resemble a Wild Turkey a bit-- brown bird, long tail, silvery wings. They also have a long brown neck and a sharp yellow beak they use to spear fish. This bird is perched on the bottom of a dock, above water, drying its wings by spreading them and sitting in the sun. Different angle of the same bird-- you can see its silhouette on the dock and its reflection reflected below in the water. Close-up of the bird, looking head on with a mildly curious expression. Note the feet, with webbing between all four toes instead of only the front-facing three like a duck would have. Reflection of the Anhinga in the water below the dock, from a side angle.
November 26, 2025 at 1:21 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
I love a well-named bird.

What is that warbler up in the pine? A Pine Warbler, of course

#birds
A small lemon yellow bird with a white rump, gray wings, white wing-bars, and yellow-green on the face and back. There are yellow patches around its eyes. It is perched on a pinecone, on a branch in a pine tree.
November 26, 2025 at 1:16 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Ever just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and a photographer is standing there with a long lens

(Great Blue Heron)
Large gray heron standing near the edge of a small drainage pond surrounded by thick grass. The bird is really rumpled because it was just preening, so its feathers are sticking in all directions, especially on its head, making it look like it has bed head.
November 26, 2025 at 1:14 AM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
I'll spare y'all a thousand Black Skimmer photos (although I took enough that I really like ~50 of them, which means I took about 500)

But here's a few more that I really like, I love them so so very much

#birds
Four photos of strange tern-like seabird with very long wings, each wing as long as their body is long. The upperside of their wings are black, with a white trailing edge, and a white tail with a black stripe in the middle. The top of their head is also black, with white around it. They are white below. Their beak is very long, red-orange near their face and black near the tip. The upper half of the beak is about half as long as the bottom half, which they drag along the surface as they skim along, feeling for surface fishes. In this photo, you can see the back of the bird as it pivots over the sea. In this side view, you can see the bird's belly and face and beak as it flies over a pinkish sunset-lit sea. Here's another photo of the bird, probably a foot above the waves. The bird is preparing to put the longer bottom portion of its beak into the surface of the water to skim. Because of a forced perspective, it looks like it is coming down on top of a young Ring-billed Gull in the foreground.
November 25, 2025 at 11:31 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Oh no he heard me and now he's leaving
Light pink Roseate Spoonbill lifting out of the water, its legs dragging behind and dripping water, its large spoon-shape beak almost covered by its flapping wings. Out of focus shot of the spoonbill awkwardly flapping away over the sea grass, its neck stretched out low ahead of it, its black legs dangling. Its wings look like it is struggling to lift its weight above the grass.
November 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Also, compare that clear eyelid on that heron to this very white eyelid on the White Ibis, I'm not sure why theirs would be so opaque (I'm assuming this is the nictitating membrane still but wow is it white!)

#birds
Two photos of a white ibis perched on a rotting log on the edge of a mucky green pond. The bird is white with a long neck, long pink legs, and a long down-curved pink beak. In both photos it is curled so its beak is probing the log. In this photo, its eye looks milky white as if it is covered by a white eyelid. Same bird, same pose, but now its eye looks normal again-- a bright light blue iris with a black pupil.
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
I never notice that I've gotten photos of a birds' nictitating membrane until I'm processing the photos later. I like this capture a lot, with that clear "third eyelid" half-covering this Little Blue Heron's eye!
A completely white-feathered young Little Blue Heron walking on the top of vegetative matter in the shallow edge of a pond. It is pale gray legs that are covered in green pond scum. Its beak is light gray, almost blue, and there is a hint of green near its eyes. You can't really see that clear nictitating membrane over the eye in this photo. Close crop of the previous photo, showing just the heron's face. Now you can see that its pale yellow-almost white eye is half-covered by a clear inner eyelid that is extending from the front of the eye, closest to the beak.
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Any idea why this Common Gallinule kept putting its head down sideways toward on the duckweed-covered water? I don't know much about their behavior in general-- could it be looking into the water below? It did it multiple times while I watched.
A Common Gallinule, a weird waterbird. It is small and round, with a dark gray-almost black body with brown on the wings, a hint of white on the sides, and long yellow legs that are hidden in the green duckweed at the edge of the reeds. Its beak is yellow-white, and its face covered by a red face shield. Same bird; it is now stretching out its neck to twist its head to place it down near the water, so its side-placed eye is facing down and the other is facing up.
November 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
I was today years old when I learned the black feathers on Wood Stork wings are iridescent and can shine green at the right light angle.
A Wood Stork is perched up on a tree at the end of a marsh. The bird is tall, with white feathers, long gray legs, a bald gray head, and a long gray beak. Blurry and over-exposed photo of the same bird flying away. Now that its wings are spread you can see that its flight feathers on the back edge of the wings are actually black, and the feathers visible on the top of the wing have a green shine at the edges.
November 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Awkward goober alert

(Roseate Spoonbill)
A strange wading bird peeks from behind some sea grass with water at its roots. The bird is white and light pink toward its legs, which are in the water. The bird's head seems small and bald relative to its long bill, which is wider at the end like a wooden cooking spoon. The bird seems to be peeking shyly from behind the grass.
November 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
There were even Black-bellied Whistling Duck families :D
Two adult whistling ducks, tall warm brown ducks with pink beaks and long legs, stand at attention at the edge of a pond as their smaller drabber ducklings cluster between them. They are more plain and have dark beaks. There were actually six of them, just tucked behind vegetation in this photo so you can only see three babies from this angle.
November 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
My target bird at the wildlife refuge yesterday was a Black-bellied Whistling Duck, because my dad has never seen them before. I was afraid we'd have to really work to spot them, but we absolutely did not have that problem!

#birds
Four photos of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, awkward tall ducks that almost look like geese. Their backs are a warm cinnamon brown, with silvery white below their wings and matte black toward the belly and tail. Their neck is longer than you'd expect for a duck, and gray-brown with a darker warm brown stripe on the back and top of the head. There is white around their eye. Their beak and legs and feet are a bright salmon pink. This one is tucked in slimy duck weed and water is dripping from the beak. It looks friendly. Four whistling ducks stand at attention in the slimy duck weed, with their shadows behind them. Three are looking toward the left and the one in front is looking the opposite direction. They look like statues. Three whistling ducks hanging out together in the slimy pond. They are lit with very warm light, making their cinnamon brown coloration really pop. A whistling duck stands in a log in a pond covered in duckweed. You can see its long pink legs and pink webbed feet.
November 25, 2025 at 10:49 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Actually, you know what? I'd just avoid the ponds
Three photos of American Alligators. Here is one with just its nose and eyes peeking above the duck weed. You can see its face under the water. Tiny round alligator head seen through the brush at the edge of the pond. Alligator doing its best log impression, with its back and head sticking up above the duckweed.
November 25, 2025 at 10:41 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
When I first approached this pond covered in duck weed I thought it looked pretty gross, but by the time I was processing my photos I came to really appreciate how colorful it made each scene!

Really makes the red pop on this White Ibis (and oh I love their blue eyes!)

#birds
Close-up of a white bird with a long red downturned beak and a piercing sky blue eye. It is a bit goofy looking, and has some green duck weed on its beak. Behind it, the water and duckweed has blurred to a rich green and blue.
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
skwinnicki.bsky.social
Boat-tailed Grackles are friend-shaped

#birds
A close-up of a grackle on a wooden dock with water behind. It is a large warm cinnamon brown bird with darker wings, a thick beak, long gray legs and toes, and white eyes. She looks close and friendly.
November 25, 2025 at 10:32 PM