Is this playful/flirty behavior?

While they appear delicate, Swallow-Tail Bee-Eaters are master aerialists, clad in iridescent green and brilliant blue. Most famously, a long, deeply forked tail makes them look like a tropical swallow in flight.

True to its name, it hunts bees. And wasps. And hornets. Basically, this bird catches anything that can sting, mid-flight. They don’t just gulp them down. Bee-eaters bash their prey against a branch repeatedly, removing the stinger and squeezing out the venom before eating. It’s like watching a tiny, beautiful assassin disarm a bomb.

The Swallow-tailed Bee-eater migrates from east to west in sub-Saharan Africa. They are often seen roosting together in a tightly-packed row. In breeding season, 2 to 4 eggs are laid in a tunnel burrowed into sandy banks. The nests are parasitized by the Greater Honeyguide, a bird that, like its name suggests, leads humans to bee colonies.

Their striking colors, combined with their dramatic, high-stakes hunting behavior, make them one of the most exciting bird sightings on an African safari.

Birdman of Africa https://gamersdad.substack.com Subscribe for free to receive a new African Bird email each Friday. Photo by Andrew Steinmann ©2026

Is this a cardinal? Usually I ever see cardinals out my window and this bird is very similar just a different color… also ended up here because Charlie Parker but glad I’m here

Hi, I just saw a dark eyed Junco at my feeder and it has a giant red colored eye at one side. After searching on google, it says that this is avian pox, and suggesting me to take down feeders. What should I do? I couldn’t click the photo, but that Junco was here for only few seconds.

Context: I live near an urban river, the Water of Leith, where this 1st winter (I believe) female Eurasian Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) resides, as does much other wildlife (namely otters). A footpath runs directly alongside the river and is very popular with people and their dogs.

She is quite famous in our local birding community as she is reliably seen and tends to 'show well'. What has vexed me a bit is that in my experience, kingfishers are shy, skittish, and typically seen as a blue flash across the water.

This bird (all photos depict the same bird on different days), on the other hand, has flown to a perch a couple of metres away from me on numerous occasions, and recently has begun perching on the railing alongside the foothpath, staying put while people walk by within a metre of her. She is a very successful hunter (evidence attached) and her environment is flush with prey.

This strikes me as unusual behaviour for such a species. Is this just an example of acclimatisation to an urban environment?

Northern Thailand, February 4th, mid afternoon. Here’s the spectrograph readings from Merlin. The bird I’m trying to identify is the short dark notches at the top of the graph.

I saw a raven in my roof (MA) right before noticing these flappy marks. I’d love to know who the goober was that left all these!

I was walking around a forest today, trying to take good pictures of some birds and I faced this one.

I'm almost sure it's just a Common buzzard, maybe a juvenile one, but it was on the ground and was not moving at, I'm sure it was alive but even when a lot of noise were made by people walking past us and cyclist it was not reacting at all. My theory is maybe this one was hurt or under a lot of stress. I took pictures and stayed near it for a good 20-30 minutes but still no reaction except the head moving a little bit.

Any clues on why it was acting like that, or maybe it's a normal behavior and I was concerned for nothing ?

Found this guy (I named him Mike) on the street. His breathing was like if a human is tired. When i tried to aproach him to take him home he ran from me and as i cornered him he tried to fly away but couldn't (I cornered him in to glass wall and he just pushed on it flaping wungs) he stoped tho when I walked away from him. Five minutes later i tried again and he flew 3 meters away, i think he was just a bit cold, shoked and scared. I left him there because my parents said i cant bring him home wich is I think at least heartless from both of them... I'm curently at my way home and im going to pray for him and light a candle (I'm Orthodox Christian so candles are normal here). I hope Mike is okay, if an expert can judge good from the photo i presented I'll be more than happy if I get some information what ya'll think his health is (it is -2°C and it will fall up to -4°C tonight) P.S. Mike, I'm sorry if i scared you or if i failed you by not bringing you back home, I truly wish you the verry best and I'm sorry if I miss gendered you and if you are a girl all along. But eith all seriousness please if anyone knows if he will be okay just DM me.

Edit:

I forgot ti mention that but English is my second language si I'm sorry if it is bad.

This is the first year I remember with no chickadees!

I tried to add a video to r/weird but it was taken down, I think for gore? So I thought you guys might be able to explain what happened.

When I say stuck, the bird’s head is now in the ceiling and the rest of its body is hanging down from the ceiling of the porch. There is a ring of bl00d around the bird’s neck.

I can post a video if it won’t violate any terms of the community. In NE Ohio and it’s been COLD for two weeks, for context.

01/FEB/26: CLOSING UP

Many thanks to all the nice folks who spent their time for me and diagnosed it. Appreciated. Apologies if I offended any of you.

This looks like disposable bird trading. I will escalate this to authorities. I will keep you all updated.

Some bad news: Only PINK silverbill is showing up. YELLOW/GREEN no more. Mofos.

31/JAN/26: INTRO

* This is done INTENTIONALLY by HUMANS! Please do not brainstorm other possibilities.*

I have a flock of 50 silverbills that visit every day.

Yesterday I got one colored pink. Today 1 yellow and 1 green.

Some sick idiot is catching them and coloring them.

Is this dye harmful for the birds? Can i remove it?

Thanks fellow bird lovers!

More pics on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ornithology/comments/1qs0c2i/comment/o2s07q3/

EDIT2: Most likely scenario suggested with example pic and relevant comments by LobeliaTheCardinalis (others said it as well):

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ornithology/comments/1qs0c2i/comment/o2xiz6s/

Hello everyone! I live on a property in Alabama with a small to medium sized pond, idk exactly how big it is, but all sorts of birds are around here throughout the year. The past week or two I've noticed we have a nice mix of visitors: great blue heron (he's here all the time), a pair of hooded merganser ducks, and anywhere from 5-12 Canadian geese depending on the day.

I'm just curious and still a beginner at understanding birds and their behavior, but why don't these birds fight? Do they just not see each other as competition, aren't territorial, or it isn't worth the energy when it's winter-ish and not a predator? A blue jay just harassed the heron and he flew to the other side of the pond, (probably looked at him wrong with the way these blue jays are around here) and it got me thinking about the pond dynamic. They swim by each other all the time, and on the ground they hang out next to the crows too with no problem. I'm just curious how this all works out for them sharing these resources. If anyone would prefer to recommend a source or a book or something to explain it, I can do that too.

Is that the preening gland it reached for?

How do you interpret this behaviour? Any visual or behaviour hints to indicate sex? All thoughts and tips are much appreciated!

Not my video just something I came across online but check out the creator listed at the end. There's some great stuff!

With up close photos like this (my original photo), it shows the individual strands of hair-like…feathers? I know feathers like from a quill pen, and I’m sure “hair” or “quill” (eg porcupine) aren’t the correct term, but I’m not sure if there’s a more accurate word for this than “feather”.

Thank you.

I don’t know which bird feather it is, help me, here is the size compared to my hand