Bird of the Day, theme 'Lifeln The Balance'

natureJun 28, 20261193,805

Bird of the Day is a daily community event; today’s main theme is LifeInTheBalance, celebrating birds captured in precarious or unexpected positions, with the alternate theme LightAsAFeather for backlit feathers. Gallery entries show birds clinging or balancing on thin perches, hanging upside down, and caught in dramatic dawn light, often with strong backlighting on translucent wing feathers. Concrete examples include a turkey leaving a tree at sunrise, a boat-tailed grackle calling atop a pine snag, and a puffin not looking where it is going on the Farne Islands. Look for backlit shots like a cuckoo at dawn in the Burren and a juvenile white-tailed kite showing translucent feathers under the LightAsAFeather tag.

Alan H

@alan678.bsky.social

Morning #BirdOfTheDay family. Lovely to see you all, ummm, fix your bed hair though. The words hedge and backwards come to mind. 🙄🥴😂 Main #LifelnTheBalance, Celebrating birds captured in precarious or unexpected positions. Alt is #LightAsAFeather, backlit feathers. #birds #photography #ECK

A European goldfinch clings precariously to a slender diagonal twig above a leafy shrub, its body stretched almost horizontally as it peers intently towards the foliage below. The bird’s vivid crimson face, black-and-white head, and bright golden-yellow wing bar stand out against its warm buff body and soft olive-green background. Fine feather detail is visible, while the smooth, blurred backdrop isolates the goldfinch and emphasises its poised, inquisitive stance, capturing a fleeting moment of concentration before its next movement.

3469h ago

Rob Crank Photography8

Beautiful capture and great themes Alan, once I'm back home I will find some crap shots to keep me off the step 😂.

Mark Simmonds6

Not the sharpest of photos but was happy with this Little Tern at El Pinet Spain. Definitely #lifeinthebalance #birdoftheday

Sabine Shutterbug2

Good morning Alan, the weather is a balancing act already. 😅 Have a fantastic Sunday! 😀🫶

Neil Cameron2

What a lovely shot, Alan! In my case it's more #LifeOutOfBalance, damn it. Pretty sure that I'm muted as well & no idea what happened or why. Anywayssss, life supposedly goes on. Weird at this age... bsky.app/profile/neil...

Suse1

Good morning, Alan! Cracking jokes this early in the morning? ☕️ 😂 Amazing shot 📸 The colours are beautiful! I had no idea the European Goldfinch was so lovely.

Graham Jones1

Exquisite. Brilliant capture Alan. However, I'll have you know that I had a shower and shampooed the old bonce fuzz at 6am, so I am now ready for my photoshoot. Bed hair, schmedhair.😂

HLK

@hlkfotos.com

A yellow-headed rerun on stilts. #BirdOfTheDay #LifelnTheBalance 📷🌿🪶

A photo of a male yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) with a vivid orange-yellow head and breast contrasting against a jet-black body and wings, along with a black mask across its eyes and a black beak. It is perched on two fluffy brown cattail stalks, its feet each gripping a different stalk so that its legs are stretched comically apart. The background is blurred pale blue water and more cattails.

1408h ago

Simon1

Perfect for the topic! Love it!

Justine Jones1

Fantastic shot and perfect for the theme. 🤩💚🌟

Amy Gann

@amygann.bsky.social

As the rising sun bathes the world in a golden glow, turkey leave the tree where they slept and begin their day. An older photo, but fitting for the #birdoftheday theme of #lightasafeather #birds #turkey #sunrise #protectnature #EastCoastKin #photography

Turkey flying down to the ground from the tree where they slept as the sun begins to rise. The world is covered in a golden glow

1406h ago

Marjo Slingerland-Boks1

Morning Amy this is gorgeous 😍

Neil Cameron1

Geebus! More than fitting, Amy! What an image.

Mamady1

Such a beautiful scene. Beautifully captured, Amy 👏🏽😍

Aj d'Wit (Audrey)1

Stunning photo. Almost otherworldly. 😍

Gray

@grays.art

Male Boat-tailed grackle (Quiscalus major) callin high atop a pine snag early morn in Bonita Springs, Florida 6-23-26 Alan & Rob’s #BirdOfTheDay theme #LifelnTheBalance: precarious / unexpected bird positions. Alt #LightAsAFeather: backlit feathers. #birds #blueSkyMonday #ECK #threeWordGenre

A large, iridescent black bird with a long, fan-like tail and a sharp beak open in song, perches atop a jagged, weathered tree stump against a solid bright blue sky.

1329h ago

Neil Cameron

@neilcam57.bsky.social

‪@alan678.bsky.social 's (early) #BirdOfTheDay ALT theme is #LightAsAFeather And here's an Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) with it's outer white tail feathers looking translucent in the light #ECK #birds #birdphotography #birdsofbluesky #Photography #Nikon #PhotographersUnited #wildlife

An Eastern Rosella perches on a wire with its back to the camera and at either side of its tail can be seen translucent white feathers.

1219h ago

Tony Allen-Mills3

It’s not fair @alan678.bsky.social. Why don’t our birds look like that??

Bushbark1

Wonderful shot. Don’t often see their backs. 💜

Rob Crank Photography1

Beautiful capture Neil, I think I can find a colourful bird too (I think it begins with P 😂).

Atlantic Birding

@atlanticbirding.bsky.social

🪶 Alan’s chosen #LifeInTheBalance as today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme; birds in precarious positions Alt. is #LightAsAFeather; backlit birds. I have a backlit Cuckoo taken at dawn in the Burren, Co. Clare #birds #birdsofbluesky #birdphotography #ECK #irishbirding #naturephotography #Cuckoo #Stunday

1178h ago

PacBirds

@pacbirds.bsky.social

A juvenile white-tailed kite showing its backlit feathers for the #LightAsAFeather theme of #BirdOfTheDay picked by @alan678.bsky.social #birds #nature #birdphotography #photography #ECK #Stunday

Kite landing with tail and wings spread out, and light shining through the feathers. The kite is landing on a standing tree stem while holding a gray rodent (probably a vole).

1155h ago

Michael R Photography 🌿

@msriffle.bsky.social

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #LifeInTheBalance. The ALT theme is #LightAsAFeather, backlit feathers. This beautiful green heron kinda fits both. It was photographed at our local wildlife refuge. #photography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #ECK #birds #Birdsky #birders #NikonZ8 #conservation

974h ago

Emma1

exquisite shot michael it looks absolutely gorgeous

Aj d'Wit (Audrey)1

Gosh, this is an impressive photo, Michael. The lighting brings out the colours of the bird so well. Great work. 👍🏼

Dave Meredith

@davemeredith.bsky.social

Today's alternative #BirdOfTheDay theme is #LightAsAFeather. A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Having picked one up that was dying from exhaustion after a fight to the death with a rival I know how light they are. #BruceCounty #ECK #photography #birds #TenMinutesFromHome #VintageLens #ManualFocus

A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird in flight on the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario. The bird is facing right against a mottled green background of out of focus cedar trees.

Made with a 9 year old DSLR and a manual focus telephoto from the 1980s.

839h ago

Aj d'Wit (Audrey)1

Great photo of a beautiful bird. 👍🏼

toritori

@toritorihkd.bsky.social

For today’s #BirdOfTheDay main theme, #LifeInTheBalance: Clinging to the trunk as if gravity were optional. 🪶 久しぶりにちゃんとゴジュウカラを撮影できた気がする😅 #nature #photography #wildlife #EurasianNuthatch #ゴジュウカラ #birds #野鳥 #Japan #BirdsSeenIn2026

A Eurasian Nuthatch clings sideways to the trunk of a tree, facing left. The background is softly blurred green foliage.
木の幹に横向きに張り付くように止まったゴジュウカラ。鳥は左を向いており、背景は緑色にぼけている。

854h ago

jane phượng, Ph.D (she/her) Ngunnawal Country

@janephuong.bsky.social

Alan said we must have #LifeInTheBalance to which I totally agree 😆 Thanks Alan for #BirdOfTheDay themes

A sulfur crested cockatoo looking down from the white roof.

715h ago

Leo

@leo-in-merimbula.bsky.social

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. #BirdOfTheDay #birds #WildOz

698h ago

Tony Beales

@tonybeales.bsky.social

This puffin is not looking where it's going... #LifelnTheBalance, Alan's theme for #BirdOfTheDay 📍 Farne Islands #UKwildlife #birds

A puffin on a rock, photographed from below, one foot raised as if to step over the edge. Its head is turned away towards the left of the photo, its beak full of sandeels.

676h ago

雪乃しずく（shizukuxuenai）1

🫣 Oh, looks so happy, but… watch the step❣

Tony Allen-Mills

@taminf.bsky.social

For the #LifeintheBalance theme of today's #BirdoftheDay by @alan678.bsky.social I've got another shot from my "Upside down Blue Tit" portfolio. My garden feeder's full of them in winter. I'm assuming they must migrate from Australia. #photography #birds

687h ago

Rob Crank Photography

@robcrank68.bsky.social

Good morning friends. It's @alan678.bsky.social #BirdOfTheDay themes today which are #LifeInBalance, celebrating birds captured in precarious or unexpected positions. Alt is #LightAsAFeather, backlit feathers. #birds #CanonR5mkii #ECK @rspb.bsky.social #ukbirding #naturephotography #BirdLife

Norman Northern Gannet had been sent out to bring home some more bedding for the nest on the cliffs, but after his dismal attempt at bringing some back on his last trip his partner Nora told him to 'up his game or don't come back'.
Now Norman was debating this and asked for advice because he could take the easy way out and go drinking with the lads, or dig deep and find some soft grass to please Nora.
Now as you can see my words of advice made Norman step up and be a good partner rather than leaving Nora to bring the little one up alone.

Captured at RSPB Bempton Cliffs.

562h ago

Bird of the Day, theme 'Lifeln The Balance'nature

Bird of the Day, theme 'Lifeln The Balance'

Related