iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

The owlets in my backyard have left their box! All 6 appear to be thriving and enjoying my mice problem #owls #birds #easternscreechowl #babybirdseason

A fledgling Eastern Screech Owl is peering down between some leaves at the viewer. One foot is visible with two talons gripping either side of a branch. The owl is looking directly into the camera. It is very young and still covered in downy white fuzzy feathers, but the reddish colored feathers around its eyes are starting to come in. Barely visibly seated next to it is one of its siblings from the same brood.

This particular owl's mother is a red-morph and its father is grey. Eggs were laid at the end of February in a box in my yard that was monitored with a camera.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

I’m reading through Gulls of North America to try and up my gull ID-ing game… and this bit in the acknowledgments is cracking me up #birding

A photo of a page from Fred Shaffer III’s “Gulls of North America.” It reads:

“Last but not least, thank you to my wife, Pam, and sons, Ben and Josh, for their patience and good humor. They endured countless stops over the years where I lingered far too long over a flock of gulls while hoping for a rarity or puzzling over a confusing bird. They put up with trips to the landfill, with only my vague assurances that the spectacular gulls we would see would far outweigh the noxious odors and unsightly rubbish. On Ben's first trip to a landfill, he was aghast that his father would go to a place like that and "know everybody there" (we ran into other birders. Ben also provided the captions on photos depicting gull topography. Pam encouraged my two trips to Alaska to see Ross's Gulls and Red-Legged Kittiwakes. Witnessing the annual fall migration of Ross's Gulls over the Arctic Ocean and seeing Red-Legged Kittiwakes at their Bering Sea home are memories that I'll always treasure (and hope to repeat).”

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

trying things out. I like the silhouette of this one more than the actual drawing lol 🪶 #CedarWaxwing #Digitalart #birds

A digital drawing of a Cedar Waxwing in a cartoony style over a flat, pale pink background. The bird has its back to the viewer but is looking over its shoulder. It has a pale brown upper half, while the lower half is grey. The bit of visible belly is pale yellow. The tips of its tail feathers are bright yellow. Attached to the edge of the secondary feathers are small red little points that the Waxwing gets its name from. The bill is dark grey and the bird has a black mask going across its face. The feet are dark grey. A small "Sb" has been written underneath the bird to the right of the tail feathers. Done in Krita.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Kinglets are way too fast!! It’s so hard to get their photo #birds #RubyCrownedKinglet

A Ruby-Crowned Kingle is perched on a small branch in a tree against an overcast, but bright, sky. The bird is olive-yellow-green colored with a darker colored back in comparison to its belly, breast and throat. It has off-white wing bars and bright yellow edging on each primary. The bird is facing the right and its whole body is in the shot.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

I was pretty shocked to see a wood duck in the middle of our busy park 🪶 #WoodDuck

A male Wood Duck is swimming in a pond. The water appears green to pale yellow in the sunlight. The duck has a white and orange bill, red eyes, an elaborate green crest with white markings, a purple neck and chest and a beige side. His wings appear black in this photo with only a sliver of blue visible on the top of them.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

I spent my lunch break trying to read under a tree that this blue jay was hammering open nuts in #birds #BlueJay

A Blue Jay is perched on a branch with a nut in its mouth. It’s facing towards the right, and since the photo was taken from underneath the bird, very little of its blue color is visible.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

I went to the zoo today. The Cape Vultures are ridiculously pretty 🪶 #CapeVulture

A Cape Vulture is standing on a broken piece of wood. The bird is almost entirely white, but its primaries are black. Its tail feathers are also black. The bird has no feathers on its neck or head, save for some long whisky white feathers on the back of its head. It’s skin is pale grey. It’s beak ends in a sharp downward point. Its eyes are yellow-orange. In this picture, its wings are slightly outstretched. The photo was taken just before the bird took flight.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Brown Thrashers are such cool birds. They were “tsk”ing all around us as we took measurements of this one. All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s BBL. #birds #BrownThrasher #birdbanding

A photo of a Brown Thrasher being held by me in bander’s grip. The bird has a brown-rufous back and wings, a cream colored belly with brown stripes or dots down it and a bright yellow eye. The bright yellow eye tells us that this is an after-hatch-year bird. In the back ground a table with bird banding tools are visible.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

I can’t decide if I should say this is done or if I should add in anything in the background/fix the wing shape a bit more #wip #birds

A stylized acrylic painting of a White-Eyed Vireo against a bright blue background. The bird has a yellow to grey head, a white throat, a yellow belly and an olive to grey colored back. It has white-ish wing bars and the primaries have yellow-green edges. The bird’s beak is grey and its eyes are white with a tint of blue. The tail is dark grey with bright yellow-green. The legs are dark grey.

The painting has a black outline and the eye is larger than it would be on an actual bird.

A bookshelf is barely visible behind the painting.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Anyway, here’s a wrench checking out the birdbath cam from the other day #birds #CarolinaWren

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

I’ve never seen a Muscovy this color before. My daughter desperately wanted to say hello to it #birds

A Muscovy Duck is standing in some grass next to a pond at a neighborhood park. The duck is light grey. A second Muscovy is in the background off to its left. That one is black with a white throat and face.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

The world is a lot, so here, have a hummingbird! #birds

A hummingbird, possibly a juvenile male ruby-throated hummingbird or an adult female, is flying over a section of Turk’s Cap flowers. The flowers are bright red-orange in this lighting. The bird has a white throat, an emerald green back, and various shades of brown to green mixed in. It has a spot of white just above its eye. The wings are moving too fast for the camera to focus on and are just a blur.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Hummingbirds are migrating right now and the park I frequent is absolutely full of Turk’s Cap, making it a refueling station. #birds #hummingbird

A hummingbird is perched on a branch. This is either a female ruby-throated hummingbird or a juvenile male I believe. The bird is looking towards the right. The background is out of focus but you can see light diffusing through green leaves.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Banded, measured, and released! A 3rd year (I believe) Red-Bellied Woodpecker. Super cute. All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s BBL. #birds #RedBelliedWoodpecker #woodpecker

A photo of my hand holding a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker. The bird’s mouth is open, and the band on his leg is visible. He has a bright red crown, a cream colored belly, and black and white wings. The background is a wooded area with a gravel road further back.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

I, uh, get The Onion in the mail and it’s too fucking real lol #epa #theonion #politics #environtment #satire ?

A photo of a page from the most recent physical issue of The Onion. This page features an article titled “EPA To Monarch Butterflies: ‘Count Your Fucking Days’” with a picture of a monarch butterfly on some flowers.Below that it reads:

“VOW MADE TO MUNT DOWN EVERY LAST ONE OF THOSE SHITS”

Underneath the article is a fake advertisement for a movie that reads:
“ONN STUDIOS PRESENTS
JEFFREY EPSTEIN:
BAD PEDOPHILE
COMING SOON”

Half of Epsteins face is visible on the far right side of the advertisement. The other half of his face is in deep shadow. The ad is in black, white and green only.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Finished “The Faceless Thing We Adore” last night and it might be my favorite read of the year! Cults, cosmic horror, and feminine rage = 💕 #booksky #TheFacelessThingWeAdore #books #cosmichorror #horrorlit

A photo of the copy of The Faceless Thing We Adore that I had checked out from my library. It’s a bright pink book with a purple “face” on it that appears to be breaking apart into butterflies or perhaps just swirling about. The author is Hester Steel. The book is sitting on top of a purple blanket.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Western or Eastern Kingbird? I’m in the overlap zone… leaning towards Western #birds #birdID #kingbird #WesternKingbird #EasternKingbird ?

A Kingbird is perched on a branch with a few wispy leaves. The bird has a black head and back, with what appears to be a white throat/cheek and underbelly. The sky is completely overcast in this photo.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

For my birthday we went to see Yayoi Kusama’s All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins #YayoiKusama

A photo of Yayoi Kusama’s All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins. This piece is a mirrored infinity room filled with Kusama’s iconic spotted pumpkins. They are yellow with black dots and lit up, while the room itself is dark. Because the walls are mirrored, the amount of pumpkins appears to be infinite.

I wasn’t familiar with Yayoi Kusama until I moved to Japan in 2016. I fell in love with her work, visited her hometown of Matsumoto, and just a few days before I moved back to the US in 2019, I visited her new museum in Tokyo. It is one of my favorite memories. The exhibit at the time was her Infinity Net series.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

The five baby Carolina wrens all successfully fledged about a week ago! #birds #carolinawren

An adult Carolina wren is delivering an insect to its young in a birdhouse. One of the baby’s mouths is visible through the opening; it’s wide open waiting for the bug. Whatever the insect is, it’s bright green. At this point, the parent had already taken the insect back from the babies several times, and it is quite mutilated by now…

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Mourning doves don’t get enough love… from me included oops #birds #mourningdove

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Here’s the 5 baby wrens getting a breakfast delivery 🪶 #birds #carolinawren #nestling

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Annnnd Muscovy ducklings. These little guys are at my near-by park too. #birds #muscovy #ducks

Some very young Muscovy ducklings huddled up together! Centered are two pale brown ducklings. Both have their heads slightly inclined towards the camera. The ducklings are all very fuzzy and lacking feathers still.

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sunballer 🐦‍⬛📚💙 @sunballer.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

My local Canada Geese goslings are just about all grown up 🥲 #birds #CanadaGoose

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