SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️
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skwinnicki.bsky.social
SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️
@skwinnicki.bsky.social
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
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!
November 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
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
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!
November 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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.
November 26, 2025 at 1:45 AM
"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
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Back on my bullshit for a second day in a row
November 26, 2025 at 1:39 AM
This young Tricolored Heron is very proud of its little fish and wants you to see it

#birds
November 26, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Huge fan of when herons go from smol to tall in seconds

(Tricolored Heron)
November 26, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Saw an exceptionally rare bird today-- a Ruby-crowned Kinglet that sat still for multiple photos
November 26, 2025 at 1:34 AM
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
November 26, 2025 at 1:27 AM
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
November 26, 2025 at 1:21 AM
I love a well-named bird.

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

#birds
November 26, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Ever just wake up on the wrong side of the bed and a photographer is standing there with a long lens

(Great Blue Heron)
November 26, 2025 at 1:14 AM
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
November 25, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Oh no he heard me and now he's leaving
November 25, 2025 at 11:19 PM
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
November 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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!
November 25, 2025 at 11:10 PM
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.
November 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
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.
November 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Awkward goober alert

(Roseate Spoonbill)
November 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM
There were even Black-bellied Whistling Duck families :D
November 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM
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
November 25, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Actually, you know what? I'd just avoid the ponds
November 25, 2025 at 10:41 PM
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
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Boat-tailed Grackles are friend-shaped

#birds
November 25, 2025 at 10:32 PM