Katharine Spencer (she/her)
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katharinespencer.bsky.social
Katharine Spencer (she/her)
@katharinespencer.bsky.social
48 followers 72 following 39 posts
♾️ Disabled Birder & nature enthusiast
🐦 Last lifer: Red Phalarope
📖 What I’m reading: Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery
Posts Replies Media Videos
katharinespencer.bsky.social
🐞 Find me crouching down on the sidewalk to take a closer look at the #bugs all summer long.

#cicada #hotcicadasummer
A close up shot of an annual cicada on sidewalk head on. The cicada has two large eyes that bulge out to either side, a light-colored underside, and a green, black, and brown pattern on its back. A close up shot of an annual cicada on sidewalk viewed from the top. The cicada has two large eyes that bulge out to either side, a green, black, and brown pattern on its back/thorax, and a black lower half. The black-veined wings are mostly visible in this image as well.
July 19, 2025 at 10:44 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
🪶 snowy egret on a sunny morning in California
A small-in-frame snowy egret stands in the center of the photo on top of a railing. The egret is in focus and half in shadow, half in light, while the rest of the photo is blurred at very shallow DOF
July 11, 2025 at 12:27 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
New season, new profile pic and banner ☀️ so here’s some beach photos (from fall, because that makes sense):

🪶: Royal Tern, Black Skimmer, and Snowy Plover

📍: #California
Image of a Royal Tern in in non-breeding plumage flying with head in focus just to the right of center of the image. The wingtips are slightly motion-blurred and the background is completely blurred sand. A profile view of a Black Skimmer in flight with wings postured up and back. The background is gray sky and on the left side of the photo there are blurred palm trees in the background. One small, round, snowy plover in non-breeding plumage stands in whitish, blurred sand and background on the right third of the image next to an ascending pile of seaweed.
June 15, 2025 at 12:22 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
The #GoldenAlexander and #Columbine 🥹🥹😭😭 prairie plants rule!

#PlantNative
Photo of wildflowers at sunset - there is blooming red columbine and blooming golden Alexander in most of the foreground, and the background starting at the top third of the photo shows other green trees and vegetation with the sun shining through and casting a beam on the flowers.
May 14, 2025 at 12:58 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Nothing beats choosing a place to sleep based purely on one, year-old eBird checklist comment, and having the pay off be watching an #ElfOwl emerge from her hole to start her night hunting ❤️ 🪶
A digiscoped photo of an elf owl sitting upright in her hole that is inside a telephone pole with a blank expression, not looking directly at the camera. There are small indents all over the wooden surface of the pole created by acorn woodpeckers previously using the pole as acorn storage.
May 12, 2025 at 4:20 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
I slept in my car a lot while #camping… I know that isn’t the point, but #autism means being overwhelmed w/ sensations a lot of the time and my car offered the ability to shut out sounds and itchy feelings that my tent just couldn’t. BUT I did set up the hammock a couple times to rest in the shade!
Photo right side foreground shows the lower half of an outstretched pink woven hammock tied to a large shady tree. The background shows more trees and shrubs, as well as ball moss up in the trees.
May 10, 2025 at 12:58 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Clear water and soundscape of Golden-cheeked and Black-and-white Warblers, Vireos, Wrens, and so on and so on - 1000/10
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
A 500-year-old Live Oak 🌳 was an absolute stunner that I had to stop for while dashing through the bloodthirsty hordes of mosquitoes 😅 Aransas NWR rules even when there’s not that many birds there!

#Trees
A wide angle photo of a large Live Oak tree with gnarled, expansive, branches. There is a bit of sunlight coming through the tree, and in the foreground there are brown leaves scattered on the grass, dirt, and small slab of concrete. There is an illegible interpretive sign on the left side of the photo toward the middle (in front of the tree).
May 7, 2025 at 3:19 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Say less 😎
Can’t wait to go looking for my neighborhood Coop nest when I get back soon!!

Cooper’s Hawk (Astur cooperii) from last September 💛 🪶
May 6, 2025 at 6:00 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
I’m all for people being excited about birds, sharing sitings, and getting cool shots. I’ve also been blocked out of areas by big dude photographers and their tripods, and sometimes not scaring the birds off means shutting up! Or at least whisper, damn 🫣
A stained white sign posted to a mossy/lichened tree trunk on the right half of the photo reads: “Quiet Zone”. The background is thick tree/shrub vegetation. A white yard sign with black letters reads “No Tripods” and is stuck in the ground next to a concrete path on one side and shrubby, green vegetation on the other side
May 5, 2025 at 10:08 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
On May 3rd:
3 lifers = 3 Celebration Tacos
🪶🪶🪶🌮🌮🌮
Screenshot of eBird Lifelisr with three species listed from Salt Lake county, Utah, US: Juniper Titmouse, Mountain Bluebird, and Plumbeous Vireo Close up picture of three tacos al pastor on a plate, each with a healthy drizzle of salsa.
May 5, 2025 at 1:37 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Why’s it gotta be so cute though?!? 😭🥹😍

Least Grebe
🪶Lifer
A fluffy looking Least Grebe floats on pond water surrounded but clumps of algae and some aquatic plants sticking up a little above the surface.
May 4, 2025 at 5:38 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Lifer Kites!! Mississippi Kites came in hot with a kettle of 34 migrating together and a resident Swallow-tailed Kite made me work to see it, but did not disappoint while carrying a little snack 🖤🩶🤍

🪶 Houston area from April
3 overlapping Mississippi Kites in flight silhouetted against a white sky backdrop. Swallow-tailed Kite in flight against a white sky backdrop on a cloudy day, carrying what appears to be a small rodent in its talons.
May 4, 2025 at 2:04 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Out spotting moose tracks in UT 🫎
May 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
An incredible encounter with lekking Lesser Prairie-Chickens turned even more incredible with a hybrid, Greater x Lesser! He was trying his best but only a few female Lessers on the lek were not interested in his unique vocalizations!

🪶 Photos from a bird blind with #KansasLekTreks
A male LesserxGreater Prairie-chicken hybrid flutters in the air with wings out and pinnae feathers flat against his head. The surrounding grass background is brown and short and fades to blurry in the backdrop. A male LesserxGreater Prairie-chicken hybrid struts purposefully toward the camera (photographed from a blind). The surrounding grass background is brown and short and fades to blurry in the backdrop. A screenshot of an eBird checklist showing 11 Lesser Prairie-chickens counted and one Greater x Lesser Prairie-Chicken (hybrid) with comments and a “rare” flag indicated on the checklist.
May 3, 2025 at 1:55 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
An incredible spot for birding in Eastern Kansas, the Baker Wetlands did not disappoint! www.bakeru.edu/history-trad...

#wetlandconservation
May 1, 2025 at 10:12 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
We had a whole squad of young American Robins visiting our deck this past summer, and they’re just perfect 😍

#birding #yardbirds
A close up profile shot of a juvenile American Robin, showing its breast spots and new wing feathers with white edging. The bird is looking up so the photo shows the underside of its bill. The background is blurred, bright yellow, pink, orange, and green. A close up profile shot of a juvenile American Robin, showing its breast spots and new wing feathers with white edging. The bird is looking to the left side of the photo so the pronounced gape is visible. The background is blurred, bright yellow, pink, orange, and green.
April 29, 2025 at 3:35 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
The Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, KS had it all! Incredible fossil collection, very knowledgeable and friendly collections managers, and so
many rattlesnakes 👁️👁️

🪨 🦖 🐍 🪨
Fossil called “fish-within-a-fish” that shows the skeleton of a Gillicus arcuatus inside a Xiphactinus molossus. A prairie rattlesnake in its enclosure curled up with rattle clearly in view. A fossilized shark head showing many teeth. A tylosaurus skeleton fossil in a glass case with informational plaques below.
April 13, 2025 at 11:01 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
I’ll be outside ✌🏼
A wide angle shot of a metal picnic table at a campground with various outdoor cooking things on the table like a propane camp stove, thermoses, a small pot, and a potholder. There are trees in the distance.
April 11, 2025 at 2:24 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
A couple of prairie delights I’m looking forward to this summer:

🪶Indigo Buntings and Dickcissel are especially gorgeous in the evening light 💛💙🤎
A very small-in-frame, male indigo bunting perches on a plant stalk on a prairie filled with mostly native plants including hyssop, monarda, and brown-eyed susan. A female Dickcissel in the foreground perches on some blooming brown-eyed susans with a bit of purple blurred flowers also in the foreground. She looks off to the right of frame. In the background bokeh, a male dickcissel perches nearby. A Dickcissel perches on the flopped-over leaves of a green prairie plant, with another part of the plant to its right. The bird looks into the distance off to the right of frame. The background and foreground bokeh are blurred green.
April 8, 2025 at 6:39 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
#LeastBittern over the cattail marsh, Wisconsin 2024

🪶🪶🪶

We’re so lucky to have pieces of wetland ecosystem left to visit 💙
A very small-in-frame least bittern flies over the cattail marsh landscape, just skimming the tips of the cattails which take up about 2/3 of the foreground of the photo. The background 1/3 is distant forest which is darker green and blurred.
April 7, 2025 at 3:29 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
#Illinois State Bird, along with a bunch of other states. Can you blame them though? Look at that crest! 👀😍

🪶Northern Cardinal (Cardinals cardinalis)

#NorthernCardinal #BirdingPhotos
A bright red male cardinal pictured from the chest up is positioned slightly off-center to the left in the photo frame, and looks upward and off to the right. There is a faint reflection of the bird sanctuary in his eye and his crest blows a little in the wind. The background of the photo is white.
April 2, 2025 at 7:07 PM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
#CoopersHawk Appreciation Post!
While fairly common, our local predator never ceases to amaze me from their start as little floof-balls to quickly branching out of the nest, flying, and learning to hunt on their own. It's tough out there for a Coop!

#AddBirder #UrbanBirding #Birds
A juvenile Coopers' Hawk pictured from the mid-body upward, peering directly at the camera through many twigs and branches. A small juvenile Cooper's hawk perches on a horizontal (yet curved) tree branch and stares forward, looking at the camera. The hawk's full body and a part of its tail are shown. The background is green and white bokeh from the tree foliage. A juvenile Cooper's hawk pictured from the chest up is positioned in the right half of the frame, and it faces and stares off to the left. There is foliage in the background blurred, and the photo tones are warm.
April 2, 2025 at 4:32 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Summer blooms and bugs are on the way! Even though I sometimes wish to crawl underground for 13 years like our periodical cicada friends 😛
March 30, 2025 at 2:35 AM
katharinespencer.bsky.social
Occasionally, domestic chickens get dumped in the woods in Chicago. Often, those chickens become a meal for our local coyote population. 🍗

#UrbanNature #FoodChain
March 28, 2025 at 4:38 AM