I got a little carried away and had to stop myself from turning this into an actual painting, but I think that hints at how beautiful I find these birds to be.
These finches have unusual bills for prying open pine cones to get at the seeds. Why no red on this bird? Because this is a female! Often, birds are named after adult male coloration, which can be very confusing!
Qiliania, from prehistoric China, was tiny (about the size of a small sparrow) with long legs. One of the Enantiornithes, an ancient lineage of birds with clawed wings and toothy snouts.
Today for #TeamBird#BirdABC we have P, for the Pacific Kingfisher. As a type of forest kingfisher, they eat lizards, insects, small birds and small mammals more than they eat fish, and if you've worked in their habitat you can hear this image.
All right #TeamBird you folks prefer cute over metal, don't you? So today's #BirdABC should be right up your alley. For O: Oregon Junco, a western subset of Dark-eyed Juncos that are the year-round epitome of round and cute. This one is taking a vigorous bath in a puddle.
Shrikes are predatory songbirds that hunt mice, lizards, smaller birds, and other prey just as successfully as the falcons far back in their ancestry. This one has caught a young Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler.
Let's spin back to the other side of the Pacific again for today's #TeamBird#BirdABC: M
The Mariana Fruit-Dove (Chamoru: paluman totot) is a genuine rainbow of color. It is a welcome sight in the rainforests of the Northern Mariana Islands + is the region's official bird.