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Mute Swan for #birdoftheday alt theme #swans These are another popular bird that aren't really native to the US; a little more info about that in the alt #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature 🪶

Basically Mute Swans were taken to the US to be decorations by European Immigrants starting in the 1800s. They were introduced both to private estates but also parks and zoos and eventually enough of them escaped or were released that they started a wild population.

That being said I don't think they are a huge problem for native birds unlike other invasives. Doing some quick googling it looks like there are only around 20,000 Mute Swans compared to hundreds of thousands of tundra or trumpeter swans

It's just central Indiana only has our native species migrate through the area and we have a lot of Mute Swans that live here seemingly all year. So I've only seen one of our native species one time but I see mute swans often

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I guess I’m actually waiting a bit to upload my Bird of the day post. Images seem not to be loading correctly?

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Chipping Sparrow on a wooden post. I love these little guys. #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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Belle @bellebellel.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

A male House Finch carrying either food or nesting material. A not so fun fact in the alt 😅 #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

Something about them is that unlike other herbivorous birds these friends also almost exclusively feed their babies a vegetarian diet meaning that baby cowbirds with adoptive house finch parents often starve to death :(

Their diet is also apparently what gives the males their red color (which is probably why you see some variation in shades of color like orange) the darker the red the better he is at collecting food and therefore the more attractive he is to the females.

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I was most excited by all the different birds I saw during my Colorado trip. BUT I also saw some other cool animals. One of those being a Jackrabbit?!?! A tiny bit more detail in alt :) #wildlife #photography #nature #animal #colorado #mammal

They are insane to see in person. Wayyy bigger than than rabbits and if you’ve never seen one run look up a video. It’s so wild.

Taken at the Pawnee National Grasslands in Colorado

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Belle @bellebellel.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

A group of American Coots from the winter. I think their spooky little red eyes go well with their nightmare fuel feets 🙈 #birdoftheday #redbeakfeeteyes #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

These guys and other various weird waterfowl are mostly only in central Indiana for the late fall / winter. And I was thinking today while going through my photos that I miss seeing them; but then I remembered that winter is cold.

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Belle @bellebellel.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

House Sparrows in America are obviously controversial, but it’s not their fault and I really like this photo #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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Belle @bellebellel.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Is a group of crows still a murder if they are Fish Crows? I saw these friends right before I found the Painted Bunting at Clinton State Park in Kansas #birding #kansas #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography #crows 🪶

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Belle @bellebellel.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Female (I think) Yellow-rumped Warbler from April She looks very wistful here, it’s probably hard work to be one of the heralds of spring #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

Yellow-rumpled warblers are one of the first (in Indiana at least) warblers you see in the spring migration. So once they start appearing you know that warbler season is starting a thus spring is here. Unfortunately this year it got warm then got super cold and rainy again so I did not do great at spring warblers. Let’s hope fall migration goes better

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Belle @bellebellel.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

This momma raccoon was hanging out (literally) in my yard a few weeks ago. We have several families living in our section of the neighborhood. They get into my bird feeders 😅 but they are cute enough to forgive #notabird #mammalmonday #wildlife #photography #nature #animal #indiana #raccoon

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A Widow Skimmer I’m only just now getting into identifying bugs. I rely mostly on iNaturalist I can’t identify much of anything on my own yet 😅 #macromonday #macro #dragonfly #nature #insect #photography #bugs #entomology #wildlife #indiana

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This month I found 30 new lifers so picking a favorite picture was very difficult. I ended up going with not a lifer but definitely my best photo. My #birdoftheday #bestofjune26 is this juvenile Barn Swallow. It’s too cute not to post #birding #kansas #wildlife #photography #birds #nature🪶

This was taken at Baker Wetlands in Kansas. The whole time we were there the swallows were flying around catching food and generally being photography-proof menaces. But we continued along the boardwalk there and this dude was just hanging on on a bridge waiting for its parents to bring food. I think it was my non-birding sister’s favorite bird we saw.

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Baltimore Oriole I think he’s kinda looking a little rough, maybe he had a late night 🙈 #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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Red-bellied Woodpecker This is one of the birds I think falls into the confusing names category. Most have the ones I’ve seen have next to no red on their bellies #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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This Warbling Vireo probably meant to be hanging like this but it definitely looks like it’s barely hanging on… good thing it can fly 🙈 #birdoftheday #lifeinthebalance #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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Palm Warbler I saw way too many of these dudes compared to other warblers this spring 🙈 #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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An Eastern Phoebe as another #rotund #birdoftheday submission This has been my favorite prompt so far. I’m enjoying seeing everyone’s round bird photos #birding #indiana #wildlife #photography #birds #nature #birdphotography 🪶

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