Kyle Horner
@kyletalksnature.bsky.social
I write goofy things about nature.
🦆 Engagement @ Birds Canada.
🦋 Tour Leader @ Quest Nature Tours.
🌿 Blog at the link.
(he/him)
www.seagullblog.com
🦆 Engagement @ Birds Canada.
🦋 Tour Leader @ Quest Nature Tours.
🌿 Blog at the link.
(he/him)
www.seagullblog.com
Until very recently, you could find a Striated Heron in nearly every warm part of the world. They varied a little from place to place, but you'd pretty much recognize them wherever you went. Except, perhaps, in the Galapagos. 🧵🪶
November 10, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Until very recently, you could find a Striated Heron in nearly every warm part of the world. They varied a little from place to place, but you'd pretty much recognize them wherever you went. Except, perhaps, in the Galapagos. 🧵🪶
The finches of the Galapagos are famous as the inspiration for Darwin's ideas on evolution. Just as well, too, because they're not much to look at. If their ancestor had remained on the South American continent, birders wouldn't exactly be flocking to see them. 🧵🪶
November 7, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The finches of the Galapagos are famous as the inspiration for Darwin's ideas on evolution. Just as well, too, because they're not much to look at. If their ancestor had remained on the South American continent, birders wouldn't exactly be flocking to see them. 🧵🪶
If you've ever wondered about the words we use to describe the colours of birds (who hasn't?) I've got all the answers you seek. Today on the blog: The Colours of the Birds of the World. Full-sized image available there. 🪶
seagullblog.com/2025/11/04/t...
seagullblog.com/2025/11/04/t...
November 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
If you've ever wondered about the words we use to describe the colours of birds (who hasn't?) I've got all the answers you seek. Today on the blog: The Colours of the Birds of the World. Full-sized image available there. 🪶
seagullblog.com/2025/11/04/t...
seagullblog.com/2025/11/04/t...
In profile, the Swallow-tailed Gull is sublime. The soft gradients, the long wings, the gently curving beak, the tasteful pops of colour...it's a looker in side-view, no doubt. Head-on though, it's a total weirdo. 🧵🪶
October 31, 2025 at 4:41 PM
In profile, the Swallow-tailed Gull is sublime. The soft gradients, the long wings, the gently curving beak, the tasteful pops of colour...it's a looker in side-view, no doubt. Head-on though, it's a total weirdo. 🧵🪶
If there's one thing everybody knows about Galapagos Giant Tortoises, it's that they're fairly large. Giant, you could even say. But knowing this simple fact in advance doesn't fully prepare you for the fridge-with-legs proportions of these ambling monoliths. 🧵
October 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
If there's one thing everybody knows about Galapagos Giant Tortoises, it's that they're fairly large. Giant, you could even say. But knowing this simple fact in advance doesn't fully prepare you for the fridge-with-legs proportions of these ambling monoliths. 🧵
Somebody once told you that penguins live in Antarctica, but they lied. Or, at the very least, they didn't tell you the whole truth. The diminutive Galapagos Penguin makes its home in the balmy waters of the equatorial Pacific, even occasionally ranging north of that imaginary line. 🧵🪶
October 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Somebody once told you that penguins live in Antarctica, but they lied. Or, at the very least, they didn't tell you the whole truth. The diminutive Galapagos Penguin makes its home in the balmy waters of the equatorial Pacific, even occasionally ranging north of that imaginary line. 🧵🪶
They say you should never meet your heroes, but that's obviously a load, because I met mine and it was awesome. On the small island of Española in the Galapagos breeds the Waved Albatross, a bird that is as gangly and ridiculous as it is graceful and magnificent. 🧵🪶
October 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
They say you should never meet your heroes, but that's obviously a load, because I met mine and it was awesome. On the small island of Española in the Galapagos breeds the Waved Albatross, a bird that is as gangly and ridiculous as it is graceful and magnificent. 🧵🪶
You could accuse birders of many things. Pedantry, for one. Obsessive tendancies, sure. Social awkwardness, probably. But one thing you can definitely not say about birders is that they're not creative when it comes to colours. 🧵🪶
September 25, 2025 at 3:43 PM
You could accuse birders of many things. Pedantry, for one. Obsessive tendancies, sure. Social awkwardness, probably. But one thing you can definitely not say about birders is that they're not creative when it comes to colours. 🧵🪶
It's pretty tough to avoid the inevitable pun on Steller's Jay. You see, it works because the English word 'stellar' is very similar to the name 'Steller', and suggests the jay's many positive qualities. It's really very clever. I'm pretty sure I'm the first to think of it. 🪶👇
September 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
It's pretty tough to avoid the inevitable pun on Steller's Jay. You see, it works because the English word 'stellar' is very similar to the name 'Steller', and suggests the jay's many positive qualities. It's really very clever. I'm pretty sure I'm the first to think of it. 🪶👇
The Harlequin Duck is both known and named for the patchwork plumage of the male. He's a dapper fellow no doubt, but the handsome female brings much to the party, as this elegant trio demonstrates. 🧵🪶
August 26, 2025 at 2:32 PM
The Harlequin Duck is both known and named for the patchwork plumage of the male. He's a dapper fellow no doubt, but the handsome female brings much to the party, as this elegant trio demonstrates. 🧵🪶
The Horned Grebe is a petite picture of poise and perfection. Not a feather out of place, she glides and dives with the grace of a ballet dancer. Until, that is, the children arrive. 🧵🪶
August 11, 2025 at 2:12 PM
The Horned Grebe is a petite picture of poise and perfection. Not a feather out of place, she glides and dives with the grace of a ballet dancer. Until, that is, the children arrive. 🧵🪶
Oh to be an otter on a log. Swims to do, mussels to crunch, naps to take, and not a damn care in the whole world. Nice work if you can get it. I'd take a turn. 🧵
August 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Oh to be an otter on a log. Swims to do, mussels to crunch, naps to take, and not a damn care in the whole world. Nice work if you can get it. I'd take a turn. 🧵
The woodpecker rulebook is not complicated. You creep on the tree, you smash the tree, you eat the bugs that live in the tree. Simple enough, but apparently the Northern Flicker HAS SOME TROUBLE WITH READING. 👇🪶
August 6, 2025 at 2:51 PM
The woodpecker rulebook is not complicated. You creep on the tree, you smash the tree, you eat the bugs that live in the tree. Simple enough, but apparently the Northern Flicker HAS SOME TROUBLE WITH READING. 👇🪶
Oh how sexy is the Sinuous Snaketail, smartly clad in subtle sage and soft tangerine. Snaking through sedge and shrub, its sky blue eyes searching for smaller insects to snap up and devour. Sitting for but a moment in the stillness of the morning, soaking in the drenching sun. 🧵
August 1, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Oh how sexy is the Sinuous Snaketail, smartly clad in subtle sage and soft tangerine. Snaking through sedge and shrub, its sky blue eyes searching for smaller insects to snap up and devour. Sitting for but a moment in the stillness of the morning, soaking in the drenching sun. 🧵
Surely there was never a handsomer slug than the Leopard Slug, undoubtedly the handsomest slug ever to glide gracefully about the Earth on a slime wave of its own making. It is truly a vision in brown, grey, and a sort of pinker brown. 👇
July 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Surely there was never a handsomer slug than the Leopard Slug, undoubtedly the handsomest slug ever to glide gracefully about the Earth on a slime wave of its own making. It is truly a vision in brown, grey, and a sort of pinker brown. 👇
Summer is baby bird season, but you can keep your fluffy ducklings and scampering plover chicks. I'll take a baby raven any day. 🧵 🪶
July 22, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Summer is baby bird season, but you can keep your fluffy ducklings and scampering plover chicks. I'll take a baby raven any day. 🧵 🪶
A Bonaparte's Gull in its summer finery is just about gull perfection. Dainty and elegant, with subtle eye makeup and an unexpected pop of colour...what more could you want? Plus it makes funny noises. 🧵🪶
July 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM
A Bonaparte's Gull in its summer finery is just about gull perfection. Dainty and elegant, with subtle eye makeup and an unexpected pop of colour...what more could you want? Plus it makes funny noises. 🧵🪶
New on the blog: NEW BIRD CHECKLIST, WHO DIS?
"You’d imagine, if you stopped to think about it, that somewhere there’s a group of expert bird nerds maintaining a master list of all the birds. You’d be right, save for one small caveat: there are four."
Read on at: seagullblog.com/2025/07/14/n... 🪶
"You’d imagine, if you stopped to think about it, that somewhere there’s a group of expert bird nerds maintaining a master list of all the birds. You’d be right, save for one small caveat: there are four."
Read on at: seagullblog.com/2025/07/14/n... 🪶
July 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
New on the blog: NEW BIRD CHECKLIST, WHO DIS?
"You’d imagine, if you stopped to think about it, that somewhere there’s a group of expert bird nerds maintaining a master list of all the birds. You’d be right, save for one small caveat: there are four."
Read on at: seagullblog.com/2025/07/14/n... 🪶
"You’d imagine, if you stopped to think about it, that somewhere there’s a group of expert bird nerds maintaining a master list of all the birds. You’d be right, save for one small caveat: there are four."
Read on at: seagullblog.com/2025/07/14/n... 🪶
Wasps don't get the credit they deserve for being the most badass of all the insects. This little lady is on a mission with her new friend grasshopper, but only one of them is having a good time. Bet you can't guess which one. 🧵
July 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Wasps don't get the credit they deserve for being the most badass of all the insects. This little lady is on a mission with her new friend grasshopper, but only one of them is having a good time. Bet you can't guess which one. 🧵
Dragonflies are the best-named creatures in the world, and Grappletail is surely among the cream of the crop. Obviously from the moment I learned it existed, I knew our paths had to cross. 🧵
July 8, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Dragonflies are the best-named creatures in the world, and Grappletail is surely among the cream of the crop. Obviously from the moment I learned it existed, I knew our paths had to cross. 🧵
Recently, a tourist with a thick German accent asked me about the large animals she was seeing in the rocks. "They're marmots" I explained, "a kind of big rodent". She thought about that for a moment, then offered "They seem to have gotten very fat". 🧵
June 23, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Recently, a tourist with a thick German accent asked me about the large animals she was seeing in the rocks. "They're marmots" I explained, "a kind of big rodent". She thought about that for a moment, then offered "They seem to have gotten very fat". 🧵
Maybe that same rationale applies to the cuddling couple at the crosswalk. Even so, I'd much rather watch the parrots. Keep it in your pants, humans.
June 17, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Maybe that same rationale applies to the cuddling couple at the crosswalk. Even so, I'd much rather watch the parrots. Keep it in your pants, humans.
Scarlet Macaws live a long time, and if they have their way, they will spend that long life with one partner. Science nerds call this grope-fest 'allopreening', and it's one way the birds talk to each other and reinforce their pair-bond. 👇
June 17, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Scarlet Macaws live a long time, and if they have their way, they will spend that long life with one partner. Science nerds call this grope-fest 'allopreening', and it's one way the birds talk to each other and reinforce their pair-bond. 👇
One big perk of Parrot Displays of Affection is that the participants don't mind if a bunch of nosy birders gawk and take pictures. Or if they do mind, they certainly don't show it. Maybe they like to be watched. I don't judge them for their predilections.👇
June 17, 2025 at 4:07 PM
One big perk of Parrot Displays of Affection is that the participants don't mind if a bunch of nosy birders gawk and take pictures. Or if they do mind, they certainly don't show it. Maybe they like to be watched. I don't judge them for their predilections.👇
I have mixed feelings about PDAs by humans. Like on the one hand, might as well get it if you can, but on the other hand maybe you don't need to aggressively grope each other while you wait for the crosswalk light to change. PDAs by parrots though, I am totally for. 🧵🪶
June 17, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I have mixed feelings about PDAs by humans. Like on the one hand, might as well get it if you can, but on the other hand maybe you don't need to aggressively grope each other while you wait for the crosswalk light to change. PDAs by parrots though, I am totally for. 🧵🪶