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Aberrant Avians

Posted on October 13, 2022January 30, 2025

A while ago, I did a post on birds and their internal navigational compass – also called Zugunruhe. That post honoured the beauty and elegance of our backyard birds with photos I captured in the early spring of this year. This post, however, is a different matter.

After watching birds and capturing their antics and appearance in my camera lens, I noticed that I got some photos that were a bit odd: namely, showing birds in their ungainly, agitated element. These photos have quite the comical light to them, displaying rare and poorly-timed footage of an awkward heron or strange-looking woodpecker.

I hope that as you look through these photos, they bring some laughs and some wonder into your day with evidence that birds are, above all, just another form of nature, with their own elegance and awkwardness that we all in turn carry.

A crow zips across an overcast sky. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A Steller’s jay hops to another branch. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
This pileated woodpecker looks more like an avian UFO, set against the Skimmerhorn mountains. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A black-eyed junco flaps away in the top left corner of the frame. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A swallow flies away. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A robin startled into flight on a budding mountain ash tree. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A belted kingfisher flies over the water, sounding an alarm call. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
© Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A pair of mallard ducks flapping away in a burst of alarm. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A female red-winged blackbird hopping through reeds. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A trio of grosbeaks enjoying a neighbour’s cache of seeds – I love the centre-left bird’s expression. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
At opposite corners of this image, a Steller’s jay and a robin fly away from each other. These two species have “bird wars” often. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
A blue heron unfolding into flight. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
Belted kingfisher. © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022
“I got a peanut!” © Hazel Peel-Hodgson, 2022

3 thoughts on “Aberrant Avians”

  1. aloha69 says:
    October 14, 2022 at 7:54 pm

    The photo of the heron unfolding into flight took my mind to think of an airport. The heron is raking off the runway just after the bird in front of it. The white tank appearing structure is the airport control tower….

    Reply
    1. hazelraine says:
      October 17, 2022 at 10:18 am

      I see your imagining of the avian airport now after looking back at that photo…

      Reply
  2. timwickstromgmailcom says:
    October 18, 2022 at 8:44 am

    Good to see you pushing your comfort zone with your photos, Hazel. I imagine it’s hard to catch those birds in the moment.

    Reply

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