Winged Wednesday 5.27.2026: Best Photos of the Week

[Eric Gofreed]

It’s Winged Wednesday—where feathers, flutters, and flight steal the show! Whether they’re soaring, skimming, stalking, or striking a pose… birds, bugs, bats, insects, or even airplanes—if it has wings, we want to see it. If it’s got wings, it belongs here.

Open theme every week — all winged photos welcome.

My contributions this week: Best Photos of the Week.
These are a few of my favorite winged moments from the past week—birds that caught the light just right, landed where they were supposed to, or cooperated briefly before returning to their usual policy of doing whatever they please.

Some were planned. Some were luck. A few were probably the birds taking pity on the photographer. That’s part of the fun.

Gambel’s Quail Chick
Freshly assembled, lightly feathered, and already walking around like he owns the desert.

Hooded Oriole
A flying burst of sunshine, balanced on red yucca like he planned the whole color scheme himself.

Northern Cardinal
Every landing is dramatic. Every feather says, “Yes, I meant to do that.”

Juniper Stink Bug
Nature occasionally designs something that looks hand-painted… and then gives it opinions.

Great Horned Owl Chick
He wasn’t photographed this week… but from his cactus throne he insisted on being included anyway.

 

[Trent Watts]

These are great Eric. That GHO chick is so good.
I also had a good week of birding. It finally warmed up and migrants appeared, nesting started and birds everywhere sang their own songs.

A male Yellow-headed Blackbird.

You really have to admire the colour choices of the male Ruddy duck. He even managed to get the blue sky reflected in the ripples created when he surfaced from a dive.

Another iconic spring migrant. The male Red-winged blackbird.

The female Red-winged Blackbird has a more subtle beauty.

A Horned Grebe, maybe waiting for a mate.

I was able to get a few seconds of a Brown Thrasher singing. They are reported to have the largest repertoire of any bird in North America. (Not sure how accurate that is but they sure can sing in any event).
Here is a short video on YouTube.

 

[Eric Gofreed]

These are great Eric. That GHO chick is so good.
I also had a good week of birding. It finally warmed up and migrants appeared, nesting started and birds everywhere sang their own songs.

A male Yellow-headed Blackbird.
View attachment 89320

You really have to admire the colour choices of the male Ruddy duck. He even managed to get the blue sky reflected in the ripples created when he surfaced from a dive.
View attachment 89321

Another iconic spring migrant. The male Red-winged blackbird.
View attachment 89322

The female Red-winged Blackbird has a more subtle beauty.
View attachment 89323

A Horned Grebe, maybe waiting for a mate.
View attachment 89324
I was able to get a few seconds of a Brown Thrasher singing. They are reported to have the largest repertoire of any bird in North America. (Not sure how accurate that is but they sure can sing in any event).
Here is a short video on YouTube.

You are a bird photographer extraordinaire, Trent!!!

 

[Ken Rennie]

Yesterday evening while trying to photograph swifts and I noticed this pair of wood pigeons billing and cooing. The strong back light wasn't helping

. Ken

 

[AlanLichty]

My biggest problem with getting shots of the local birds is the density of the tree cover. I can hear them constantly when I am out in our yard but only rarely get a glimpse of them in passing. I decided to get serious about some of the little guys flitting about in a Birch tree in front of my house yesterday and did catch some shots of some chickadees between the leaves:

Heading for another branch:

One that ventured onto a dead branch:

One species that's easy to shoot since they are in constant broadcast mode from the tallest perch they can find:

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Yesterday evening while trying to photograph swifts and I noticed this pair of wood pigeons billing and cooing. The strong back light wasn't helpingView attachment 89326. Ken

Fabulous photo, Ken. Perhaps even a Valentine's Day card,

 

[Eric Gofreed]

My biggest problem with getting shots of the local birds is the density of the tree cover. I can hear them constantly when I am out in our yard but only rarely get a glimpse of them in passing. I decided to get serious about some of the little guys flitting about in a Birch tree in front of my house yesterday and did catch some shots of some chickadees between the leaves:

View attachment 89332

Heading for another branch:

View attachment 89333

One that ventured onto a dead branch:

View attachment 89334

One species that's easy to shoot since they are in constant broadcast mode from the tallest perch they can find:

View attachment 89335

Wonderful photos, Alan! Birs have a way of hiding behind leaves. My camera hasa way of locking onto a twig instead of the bird—on one outing, I had 17,000 photos and 16,998 were the twig.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wonderful photos, Alan! Birs have a way of hiding behind leaves. My camera hasa way of locking onto a twig instead of the bird—on one outing, I had 17,000 photos and 16,998 were the twig.

I'll never complain about the task of culling again