The Falkland Islands are home to huge colonies of sea birds. On Steeple Jason Island there is a massive Black-Browed Albatross colony that has hundreds of thousands of nesting pairs. It is one of those locations that is impossible to describe in words, and standing at the edge of the colony while thousands of huge Albatross flew overhead was an unforgettable experience.

#falkland #falklands #falklandislands #albatross #birdphotography #birds #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #photography #birdinflight #birdsofinstagram

Here's a cute little Gentoo Penguin to start your week. This penguin was photographed on Prion Island, which is a small island off the coast of South Georgia Island. South Georgia is well known for the millions of King Penguins that nest on the many beaches, but there were always a few pockets of Gentoo Penguins mixed in with them as well.

On the remote South Georgia Island there are no land-based predators for nesting birds (now that rats have been eliminated from the island), but the Southern Giant Petrels are always around, looking for unattended eggs, chicks, or sick/dying/dead birds. These are very large and powerful birds with wingspans over 6 feet!

🦉 Owl Friday!🦉

Baby owls are all a bit awkward-looking, but I think the Long-Eared Owlet takes the cake when it comes to strange looks. It's amazing how much they transform from these scraggly-looking muppet creatures.

This is a Hoopoe -- a member of the hornbill family that is found across Africa, Asia, and Europe. This one is an African Hoopoe that was photographed in Kenya. The bird was sacred to the ancient Egyptians, but other cultures and religions have not treated it so kindly, with some even considering it a bad omen connected with death and war.

Regardless of being a good or bad omen, this one just wanted to eat some bugs out of the grass.

#hoopoe #africa #africanbird #kenyabirds #kenyabird #africabird

It's not often that wildlife is so accommodating to photographers, but these three Killdeer could not have have lined themselves up better for us. I promise that no bird bribes were involved in making this shot.

Going through some old photos from Costa Rica I found a whole series that I had somehow missed initially. When you take tens of thousands of photos I guess that can happen, and it's certainly a treat to find these missed treasure troves once in a while. Here's a beautiful Baltimore Oriole from that series of shots.

Costa Rica is a must-visit country for a lot of birders because of the incredible variety and quantity of birds throughout the country. This Blue-Grey Tanager is just one example of the beautiful birds you can see in that country.

Happy Mother's Day everyone! A nice early morning photo of a lion cub and its mother seems appropriate for today. 😀

The Forster's Tern is a common marsh bird in Alberta, and if you've ever been unfortunate enough to get too close to their nest (usually by kayak or canoe) you'll also know they are fiercely defensive and will dive bomb your head until you go away. Thankfully this one was diving for minnows in front of me and not at all worried about my presence.

The lakes and marshes of Alberta are alive with the sounds of these beautiful Yellow-Headed Blackbirds right now. As beautiful as the males of this species are, they are inversely gifted with one of the worst-sounding bird calls. This male was photographed mid-call, and those familiar with the sound can probably hear the tortured call in their head right now.

We had the opportunity last night to photograph a huge variety of bird species from the shore of a large Alberta lake. The shores of the big lakes are all open, but the rest remain iced up still, so all the migrating birds tend to stick to the open water on the edges and present easy photographic opportunities. In the middle of all this action, this American Coot decided to put on a good show running across the water right in front of us. The size of their feet always surprises me.