MAY 22, selected pics: peeping-Tom lizard

upside-down: reflection in a bathroom window

 

MAY 19, selected pics: geese with goslings

a goose family relaxing in the shade
 on a warm mid-May mid-day

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos display recent sightings in Mt Pleasant SC, near the base of the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to Charleston SC.

You can view an illustrated poem about Canada geese, including goslings, HERE. And, there's a photo-collage that you can access HERE. 

These blogposts feature Canada geese who have made their permanent homes in both the US, as here, and in Canada.

The authors of this piece avoid comments on birthright dual citizenship, and leave readers to draw their own conclusion. 

MAY 16, selected pics: ruddy turnstones

ruddy turnstone in flight (background subtracted image)

ruddy turnstone (flying over beach with oyster shells)

Authors' Note:  Ruddy turnstones, sparrow-sized shorebirds, are intrepid and accomplished migrators, with a rigorous annual pole-to-pole itinerary. For a few years now, I have seen them in late May on the same small strip of beach near a harborside boardwalk in the Carolina lowcountry. They seem consumed, when there in groups of a dozen or so, not with global travel issues, but rather with mundane considerations such as which individual can claim rights to a small hole dug in the sand.

You can review an illustrated poem about these shorebirds in general HERE, and one about ruddy turnstones in particular HERE.

MAY 13, selected pics: "green" (native) anole versus "brown" (invasive) anole

 

MAY 10, poem and selected pics: shelduck (visitor)

poetry lyrics:/ Quacked the shelduck, "With no GPS/ We migrate. In high winds, we digress/

From our usual flight-path./ So one dark-stormy-night path,/

We land here, refugees in US/ (They prefer that we leave, that's my guess). 

Authors' Note:  The above photos commemorate the unusual sighting of a shelduck, a handsome European duck species, in Brooklyn, New York, USA, in early May, 2026. This particular bird was noted in the company of native mallard ducks swimming and feeding in a pond at the Prospect Botanical Garden. The bird is distinguished by its red face-plate, longitudinal black body stripes and horizontal brown belly stripe.

Occasionally, Eurasian species like the shelduck are forced off course in their migration southward from Europe to Africa by major storms, and land up along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States; this eventuality was at play here, as particularly bad weather had preceded our visit to New York City at the beginning of May. Attributable to the same storm, You-tube had posted a video of a visit to a Pennsylvania pond where a local duck expert had clinched the unusual sighting.     

MAY 7, selected pics: London-canal bird-babies

Photos from canal locales in London, UK, were kindly provided by Josh.

a family of coots

a mute swan family

Authors' Note:  The above photos display the wildlife in easy view along the waterways of the London canal system, of which Regent Canal is the portion best known by North Americans.

May is the time to see the fledgling birds on both sides of the Atlantic, and readers might enjoy the images of Canada-goose goslings found on our recent post.

MAY 4, selected pics: skinks' springtime return

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos hark back to a photo-collage, and illustrated poem featuring the broad-headed skink.

MAY 1, selected pics: yellow-crowned night heron

 

Authors' Note:  The above photos were taken by Giorgio Coniglio near the Charleston harbour in May 2026. The bird is focused on hunting in the pluff mud 

(sludge at low tide), likely for small fish, small reptiles, and its favorite foods -- crabs and crayfish. 

You can review an illustrated poem about these herons, native only to the Americas, HERE.