iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Nice one Mary! I love the expression on its face. I don’t exactly know why, but I do 😄

Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Super cute! Smaller than a teacup you say? I always wonder which bird species have occupied all the various tiny nests I see after the foliage clears. I’ve never photographed anyone occupying one though like this. 🪺

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Gorgeous! When they are against lush greenery like that it really makes that Indigo POP! 🤩 I love that the females get in on the indigo game as well, even if slightly duller. It’s still stunning especially since it gets extra accents of other colours.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Haha, this is one of the biggest joys in birding for me. I LOVE seeing cool birds just as much as slowly learning enough about them to figure out where and how to see them, and eventually follow through on a plan. 😀

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

I’m disgusted by this post. DISGUSTED I SAY! 😜 Why? Because I want to see one a lot. 😄 I believe all of my children have seen them, I apparantely am the cheese standing alone. Ok, back you *YOU*. Beautiful photo! It actually is nice to see even if not in person for me.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

I am actually shocked by the colour!! SO much brighter and more vivid that I ever imagined. 😲

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Awesome photo 😀 I swear that their heads have an antifocus coating on them. That is definitely a bird I would love to see more of.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

WOW 🤩 Consider my tri-coloured with envy! It’s a little trippy seeing a Heron with so much colour like that.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

It’s nice to see both of those. Flowers are still scarce here, but I’m excited to see them soon. This is a good reminder for me to quite literally stop and “photograph” the flowers! I love seeing the giant bumble bees buzzing around even if I’m still a bit scared (irrationally I know).

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Today’s birding anecdote is brought to you by the letter “H”, for “Harris Sparrow”. I definitely have days where I feel bloated. I just wish I could show it as spectacularly as #birds because then people would know that I might not be as chi(r)pper as usual! 😜 #winnipeg #canada #borb

A Harris Sparrow poses on my wooden fence to show of its high contrast fashion statement. Black face and hair, silver cheeks, and every soft colour of brown decorating its back and wings. It is one of the larger sparrows I know of, so it REALLY stands out!

Having not garnered quite as much attention as it may have liked, it has fluffed its entire body up to the point where it, quite genuinely, resembles a ball with a bird tattoo. The scientific name for this state amongst all respectable ornithologists and birdwatching enthusiasts is: BORB!!! A bird in orb form 😂

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

OMG, that never occured to me, but of course that would add to the challenge!

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

One of the thing that surprised me about Pelicans was that getting their food down is no simple feat. Because they don’t chew it up, because it fights back, and because it’s big, it takes time and patience. Yesterday it took 8 minutes to get down! ⏳#birds #winnipeg #canada

An American White Pelican flots on a still pond, with a medium sized “bullhead” fish gripped at the very end of its bill. The Pelican is getting ready to try to flip it up in the air so that it can catch it in hopefully a good spot to be able to swallow it.

Up in the air the bullhead goes. The Pelican tossed it only a few inches in the air between the two halves of its bill, so that it doesn’t risk missing and letting the fish get away.

Throughout the course of the endeavour to swallow this fish, the Pelican easily tossed it more than ten times. This is just one of them.

Once in the Pelican’s (gular) pouch/sac the battle isn’t over. The fish is still squirming at times, and sliding around into unfavourable positions for swallowing other times.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

I’m happy to see both of you! :-) Look, I still may go dark for periods of time, but I absolutely love my nature friends, and even more important, I love sharing what’s going on in nature around me. 😊

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Nice one Glen 🤩 Perfect lighting for it. Their head always gets a bit washed out for me, but you literally nailed it bill to tail 😄

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Pretty good. Was knocked out of birding for basically a year, but I’m back at it now! 👍 Here’s an article about my stay at the hospital where I was laid up at and had spinal surgery at following the utter collapse of my lower vertebrae while birding! www.hscfoundation.mb.ca/stories/a-ne...

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Amazing. My interactions with them have always been at great distances and usually with them moving swiftly through the sky.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Mike, is this a juvenile or an adult? In as many photos of these awesome raptors as I’ve taken, this really beautiful angle/perspective on it is like looking at a whole new bird. I love it! I’m staring at details I’ve never seen quite like this before. 😃

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

If you’ve never taken your camera (or camera phone) out during the golden hour before sunset, GO. Do it. A female Canvasback. It’s mate. Then a female and male Blue-winged teal. I mean, really, how could you NOT fall in love with birds in this light! 🤩 #birds #winnipeg #canada

A female Canvasback (diving duck) slowly paddles at sunset across golden tinted water covered in almost magical ripples.

A male Canvasback (diving duck) paddles at sunset on water shimmering with smooth, lucious wripples that reflect all sorts of colours.

A female Blue-winged Teal (tiny diving duck) leads the way for her mate, a male Blue-winged Teal. The water is smooth but decorated with soft dimples from the gentle ripples at sunset.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

The lady butter butts are showing up the boys by a large marg(ar)in, hence why lack photos of the butter boys 😄

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

My life’s work is to find one that doesn’t 😂

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

They always sing/call over their left shoulder. Seriously. I’ll wait while you check your photos. 🧐 Ok, maybe you knew this already, but it blew my mind four or five years ago when a friend told me this. I scoured thousands of my photos of them to prove him wrong. I failed. 😄

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Warblers….WARBLERS!🤬 😂 The annual Warbler ID guessing game is upon me. I strongly believe this is an Orange-crowned Warbler because of the broken eye-ring, faint smudgy streaks on the breast, dull olive and yellow colouring, and yellow undertail coverts. #birds #winnipeg #canada

A tiny, light olive and yellow coloured bird clings to the stalk of a reed in a marsh as it reaches its head towards the fluffy head of the plant.

Our tiny Orange-crowned Warbler is still nibbling away at the tops of reeds (or are they bull rushes…hmm)

Finally we get a peak at the undercarriage of our tiny bird. Various shades of light yellow for the most part.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

I love answering questions about blackbirds, because they really aren’t black! The Brewer’s Blackbird is one that flies under the radar of many people. Often confused with the Common Grackle, the Brewer’s Blackbird has a PURPLE head vs. BLUE in the males, they are smaller, and have more pale eyes.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Oh Janet, as I take breaks from social media and then start dabbling again, you’re always here to represent the prairies and make me smile!!!

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

The mating chase is still on-going for almost all #bird species in my backyard. On any given day we have between four and eight Northern Shovelers on the pond. The males outnumber the females so the females are quite literally run/flown ragged fending them off. #birdwatching #winnipeg #canada

A female Northern Shoveler (diving duck with a large shovel type bill) is being chased in the air by two males fighting to win her as their mate. Nesting sites have been picked and ready to be sat upon but lone males without a mate will keep trying to win over a mate despite most pairs already being set.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

This morning I went looking for #birds including a rare, stray visitor that @jeope.bsky.social got to have an amazing encounter with. While I didn’t see that bird, I did see around 50 Tree Swallows Zooooooooming inches above the water grabbing small insects. AMAZING! #Winnipeg #Canada

Four Tree Swallows (dark blue tops, white underneath) perch on a very delicate branch.

A Tree Swallow cranes its neck down as it flies at blisteringly fast speeds an inch above the water of a pond, and bites down on a tiny insect on the surface.

A Tree Swallow banks sharply in the air, displaying its pure white underbelly as it readies itself for another high speed pass across the surface of the pond to grab more insects.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

FANTASTIC! I recognize those branches oh so well as it is the home to so many other gems that most people rarely see. WELL DONE!!!

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Now, the female Buffleheads, being far smarter and wiser than their testosterone laden lads, relax and let the boys wear themselves out before she picks one that she deems worthy of giving her everything she wishes. :-)

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Good morning fellow birders. The pond by our house is currently inundated with Buffleheads, YAY! These tiny diving ducks are some of the best water skiiers around. I LOVE watching the males trying to prove who’s the biggest and bravest to the females this time of year. #birds #winnipeg #canada

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Here’s the female. In contrast to the males that have to prove how macho they are by being all flashy, I love how the female is more subtle, but just as, if not more, full of incredible colours and patterns. She’s much smarter than the male and becomes lunch less often because of improved camouflage

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

The humble “Butter Butt”, a.k.a. Yellow-rumped Warbler. A simple, common bird, but one that certainly helps brighten up the place. #birds

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Northern Shoveler today on the retention pond. Yes, it does have a shovel on its face! I hope they nest and make little “shovelettes” like they did last year!! #birds #notpolitics

A Northern Shoveler drifts effortlessly across the gently rippling water of a small pond.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Sometimes birding though turns into a mad dash down your street knocking on doors warning people to not let their kids or animals out as a VERY sick Raccoon stumbles through their yards, across walking paths and literally up to several people’s front doors! #giantJuncos? :-D Ah, the life of a birder

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Fantastic! I was pleasantly surprised at FortWhyte to see Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teals, Ring-necked Ducks, Yellow-headed Blackbird…etc Winnipeg and Manitoba as a whole are pretty darn awesome for birding :-) Next week will be outside the perimeter adventures!

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

I put out a bowl of mixed seeds to see how different species would interact around a more open and accessible food source. Hilarious. Juncos are fearless and fast. Grackles think they own the place…until a Red-winged Blackbird shows up. Sparrows pickup scraps and stay out of it all! :-D

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Hah, fewer rides, but yeah, it is truly their happy place! I saw my first of the season yesterday, only given away by the sound of its double-leg-jerk-back-uncover-leaves move :-)

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Reposted by Brock Gunter-Smith

Paul Krugman @pkrugman.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Just remembering that my first Substack post after leaving the Times was about the fraudulence of DOGE. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-fraudu...

paulkrugman.substack.com

The Fraudulence of “Waste, Fraud and Abuse”

History repeats itself, the first time as farce, the second as clown show

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Amazing Heather. I can’t wait until we see them on the retention pond again. The ice has retreated from the edges and is fast melting all over so it very well could be today/tomorrow even

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

We’re not alone people. The birds are just as affected!!!

“Hanging out with a friend.” Two birds perched on a fence.

“Talking Politics with a friend.” The lettering is in blue, black, and yellow, distorted to match with the apparent screaming one bird is doing while puffed up, and while the other bird, now puffed up as well, angrily watches and listens to the tirade.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

It’s a day time silhouette but still one that makes me giggle! A tiny Pied-billed Grebe went running and then sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiding across the retention pond attached to my backyard :-D Bless those tiny little legs and alien feet!

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Oh Mary, if I could cross the border without fearing for my life, I would be driving down there to finally see your ridiculously amazing Sandhill Cranes. I’ll pencil the trip in for four years from now. :-)

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

I just did a quick drive around my area this afternoon. 5 Western Meadowlarks but only had time to stop and capture the song on this one. Such amazing birds!!!

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

When driving my kids to work and school we invariably get stuck behind a vehicle that REEEEEEEEKS of weed. Smells like they’re trafficking (light exaggeration) or have a small weed bonfire in their vehicle (a little more). This morning we had to get 9 vehicles behind and in another lane to breathe.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

HARUMPH! No blooms have pushed through the thin crust of ice still holding back any semblance of spring yet in central Canada. This Grackle in my backyard so perfectly communicates the mood right now as we wait for sunshine, warmth and happiness!

A Common Grackle perches in a tree bare of leaves as it waits for the last of the snow and ice to leave so it can find a mate and live it up a little.

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Brock Gunter-Smith @brockgs.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Ok, a new fun way to waste billions of dollars of investment into AI…making your own political cartoons!

White House spokesperson teaching a class in “Advanced Propaganda Writing” that is attended by Russia, North Korea, China and Iran.

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