Tweets for Tweets (4): My Favorite Bird Photos of H1 2021

Common Grackle, stained-glass variety

The first six months of 2021 were a blur. I checked into Beth Israel in Boston at the end of January to have my wonky aortic valve replaced and, ever since, have been working out my new normal. 

That's in addition to finding the other, post-COVID, new normal that we've all been seeking. 

Hoping we're post-COVID, of course.

Birding turns out to be the perfect activity for someone ordered by his cardiologist to walk an hour every day. And with Audubon trips just resuming, everything in the first half of 2021 has been local, gentle, and mostly solo.

I'm looking forward to the second half of 2021. Meals at restaurants. Gettysburg visits. Puffins. Old Colony cemetery walks. Nantucket. Book-talks for Innovation on Tap. The next book. A new white paper or two. A blog post or three. A wedding. Maybe a West Coast junket. My new porcine valve--monitored by Sensitech, I assume--needs only to open and close 1.3 million times to get me through to New Year's. 

Piece of cake. 😎🐷

Below are some of my favorite bird photos from the first six months of 2021.

Snowy Owl

Chipping Sparrow in full camo

Photobombed

Northern Mockingbird protecting his turf

Mourning Doves 1

Mourning Doves 2 (think they like each other?)

This is a mature Bald Eagle warning off a youngster. What you can't see is the young lady, just out of the frame. This shot was beyond my camera, but there's no mistaking intent.

Turkey Vulture, sunning itself

Wood Duck

White-breasted Nuthatches. What says love like trading a bug upside-down?

Wild Turkey

Palm Warbler

Nesting Season, or not

This is why they're called Yellow-rumped Warblers

House Finch. I've learned it pays to hang near the berry bushes.

Barred Owl, checking me out

Grey Catbird. My buddy. He sits in the tree outside my study and sings his heart out.

Mourning Dove 3, getting its good side

Bobolink

Kildeer (but it doesn't)

Love is in the air, or something

Pileated Woodpecker did. not. care. I was there

House Finch version of Lady and the Tramp

I was visiting Mom, Dad, and brother Carl on Memorial Day
when this good-luck Mockingbird paid a visit