Winged Wednesday 1/7/2026 : Beauty and Motion

[Eric Gofreed]

It’s Winged Wednesday, where feathers, flutters, and flight steal the show! Whether they’re zipping, swooping, sunbathing, or just striking a sassy pose, we want to see your favorite winged wonders. Birds, bugs, bats, or butterflies—if it’s got wings, it’s fair game! You can share up to six photos each week.

My contribution this time? Beauty and motion.
A celebration of avian charm—some birds in midair, others simply letting the light love them. I've chosen birds you may not have seen before—or familiar ones doing things you’ve rarely seen captured.

Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest parrot on Earth, dressed head to tail in electric blue. It opens Brazil nuts like they're grapes, and looks good doing it.

Black-crowned Night-Heron: Ambition Without Talons
With great focus and absolutely no practical means of success, the Heron attempts an osprey-style takedown of a large fish.
Unfortunately, he brings enthusiasm to a job that traditionally requires talons.

Barn Owl
I always thought Barn Owls lived in barns… but clearly, they’re open to real estate with more character. This one decided a cozy tree hollow with the perfect picture window—and it seems to be judging me for interrupting the open house.

Western Bluebird
He is launching from a thorny perch like it was a runway. Style points awarded.

Gray-breasted Mountain Toucan:
The bird is real, though you’d swear it was painted by an optimist with a fruit obsession

 

[Roger Bailey]

Black Oystercatcher in Flight

Another shot of a Bonapart's Gull in flight

 

[Trent Watts]

It’s Winged Wednesday, where feathers, flutters, and flight steal the show! Whether they’re zipping, swooping, sunbathing, or just striking a sassy pose, we want to see your favorite winged wonders. Birds, bugs, bats, or butterflies—if it’s got wings, it’s fair game! You can share up to six photos each week.

My contribution this time? Beauty and motion.
A celebration of avian charm—some birds in midair, others simply letting the light love them. I've chosen birds you may not have seen before—or familiar ones doing things you’ve rarely seen captured.


View attachment 86551
Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest parrot on Earth, dressed head to tail in electric blue. It opens Brazil nuts like they're grapes, and looks good doing it.


View attachment 86548
Black-crowned Night-Heron: Ambition Without Talons
With great focus and absolutely no practical means of success, the Heron attempts an osprey-style takedown of a large fish.
Unfortunately, he brings enthusiasm to a job that traditionally requires talons.


View attachment 86549
Barn Owl
I always thought Barn Owls lived in barns… but clearly, they’re open to real estate with more character. This one decided a cozy tree hollow with the perfect picture window—and it seems to be judging me for interrupting the open house.

View attachment 86552
Western Bluebird
He is launching from a thorny perch like it was a runway. Style points awarded.

View attachment 86555
Gray-breasted Mountain Toucan:
The bird is real, though you’d swear it was painted by an optimist with a fruit obsession

Such wonderful colours and poses in all of these Eric. I enjoyed your Substack story about the Hyacinth Mcaw. It truly does have an astonishing blue coat.

 

[Trent Watts]

Black Oystercatcher in FlightView attachment 86556
Another shot of a Bonapart's Gull in flightView attachment 86557

Nice ones Roger. I would love to see a Bonapart"s Gull. You captured it so well.

 

[Trent Watts]

Here are four images from me today. I know I have posted some of these before but I'm into recycling!

Three immature Long-eared Owlets from this summer in a backyard close to my home.

An immature Lazuli Bunting from a trip to B.C. last August.

When visiting a Falconer friend this Purple Martin was upset the Peregrine was flying in its territory. Seems like a brave thing to do when you are a meal in waiting.

This Lygus bugs was doing a poor job of trying to be inconspicuous in a bowl of raspberries I had just picked.

 

[AlanLichty]

Delightful wings so far and as is often the case some hard acts to follow.

My meager offerings for today are from a visit to some wetlands near my house. This place got flooded out towards the end of last month but the high water has subsided and the winter residents have returned in force with a lot more Tundra Swans than usual. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me and had a 2x extender mounted so can only offer a sample of the swan population that has settled in for the winter:

While I was looking around for interesting specimens I caught an Egret showing us how to strut:

 

[larryj]

Here are a few from my archive:

A pair of Sandhill Crane flying together

A single Sandhill Crane soaring over a lake and preparing to land

Four Sandhill Cranes flying of a small pond with resting cranes

Dance of the Cranes

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Black Oystercatcher in FlightView attachment 86556
Another shot of a Bonapart's Gull in flightView attachment 86557

Two superb flight shots., Roger. Highest compliments.
The black oystercatcher was my 500th North American bird species.

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Delightful wings so far and as is often the case some hard acts to follow.

My meager offerings for today are from a visit to some wetlands near my house. This place got flooded out towards the end of last month but the high water has subsided and the winter residents have returned in force with a lot more Tundra Swans than usual. I didn't have a wide angle lens with me and had a 2x extender mounted so can only offer a sample of the swan population that has settled in for the winter:

View attachment 86600

While I was looking around for interesting specimens I caught an Egret showing us how to strut:

View attachment 86601

Excellent work, Alan. The egret close up is exceptional. Beware of cropping too close, give him room to breathe, This crop is good,

Here are a few from my archive:

A pair of Sandhill Crane flying together

A single Sandhill Crane soaring over a lake and preparing to land

Four Sandhill Cranes flying of a small pond with resting cranes

Dance of the Cranes

Backlit and low light bird photography is hard. I try to avoid it, but I'll shoot in any light. I use exposure compensation to get more details and avoid gray photos.

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Such wonderful colors and poses in all of these Eric. I enjoyed your Substack story about the Hyacinth McCaw. It truly does have an astonishing blue coat.

Thanks, Trent. Some of my post are much better than others, but I hope I share a photo, a laugh, or a quote that's meaningful too,

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Here are four images from me today. I know I have posted some of these before but I'm into recycling!

Three immature Long-eared Owlets from this summer in a backyard close to my home.
View attachment 86592

An immature Lazuli Bunting from a trip to B.C. last August.
View attachment 86593

When visiting a Falconer friend this Purple Martin was upset the Peregrine was flying in its territory. Seems like a brave thing to do when you are a meal in waiting.
View attachment 86594

This Lygus bugs was doing a poor job of trying to be inconspicuous in a bowl of raspberries I had just picked.
View attachment 86595

Your work is always extraordinary, Trent. Those long-eared owlets are adorable. Envy even seeing one and in the open too. Spectacular. Your tiny bug photo is very impressive too!

 

[Roger Bailey]

Two superb flight shots., Roger. Highest compliments.
The black oystercatcher was my 500th North American bird species.

Wow, 500 is impressive, Congratulations on so many, Love all your bird shots, they are very inspiring for sure. Thanks for giving us such a great start for the thread each week!

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Wow, 500 is impressive, Congratulations on so many, Love all your bird shots, they are very inspiring for sure. Thanks for giving us such a great start for the thread each week!

Roger, I’ve been birding for 50 years. I kept lists early on, like most people, and eventually realized they don’t mean much to me.
I remember the Black Oystercatcher because 500 was a milestone. I couldn’t tell you what my 511th bird was—and that says everything.

 

[Comet Hunter]

I loved the action in the 2nd image. Nice moment in time captured