Brian Hoffman
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Brian Hoffman
@buzzhoffman.bsky.social
320 followers 650 following 120 posts
College professor and archaeologist
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Today’s #BirdoftheDay theme is challenging for me. I love #B&W #photography but have always struggled taking good shots. This pair of #trumpeterswans on an icy lake seems a safe choice. The reflected swan face is my favorite element. #birds
A pair of swans rest on the edge of an open lead on an otherwise ice and snow covered lake. The scene is all white, black, and grey. The snow and swan feathers are white. The open water and swan feet/beaks are the major black elements. The ice adds shades of grey. One swan is sitting on the ice with its long neck curled so that its head is upside down as it preens its wing feathers. The other swan is standing immediately next to its mate. Its head is curled downward as if to offer an affectionate nudge.
January 1, 2026 at 4:50 PM
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A pair of #HoodedMergansers provide nice #SideProfiles for today’s #BirdoftheDay.

#birds #naturephotograpy #minnesota #birddisplay
A male and female Hooded Merganser are swimming side by side but in opposite directions. The female has just surfaced from a dive and has water droplets sliding off her head and back. The male is displaying with its white and black hood standing upright. The male’s yellow eye and auburn body add a bit of color in an otherwise brown and grey early spring scene.
December 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
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For today’s #AboutTheKids #BirdOfTheDay theme l chose this #HairyWoodpecker feeding a chick in our backyard maple tree. Sadly the tree is dying but at least we can enjoy its evolving bird habitat for a few years.

#birds #wildlifephotography #nature
A close up photo of a male Hairy Woodpecker feeding its chick. The adult is clinging to the rough tree bark with its curved claws and leaning in towards the chick. The chick’s head is protruding from the nest hole. The chick’s beak is grasping the adult’s beak as it receives the food.
December 21, 2025 at 5:08 PM
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A beautiful #PaintedStork for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of #LongLegsAndNeck. I got this flyby shot while up in an observation tower at the #PrekToal bird sanctuary on the edge of Cambodia’s #TonléSap Lake.

#birds #naturephotography #birding #wildlife #cambodia
A stork flying over a dense jungle. The sky is hazy blue. The stork has a white body, long yellow beak, pink face, and metallic blue wings. The stork is photographed in profile with its slightly down curved bill, wide spread wings, and dangling legs.
December 19, 2025 at 2:38 PM
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Great Egret in flight at the #PrekToal bird sanctuary on the edge of Cambodia’s #TonléSap Lake. A fantastic place for birding & ecotourism. For local Khmer, the lake is a critical fishing ground providing 60% of the country’s freshwater fish

#birdoftheday #heronsandegrets #birds #naturephotography
A brilliant white egret with long, trailing legs and stout yellow bill flies across water. Green, leafy water plants are in the background.
December 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
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The Redpoll is one of my favorite #finches. Spotted this beauty in #kingsalmon #alaska this summer. #birdoftheday #birds #nature #wildlife #photography
A Redpoll clinging to an Alder branch with green leaves and brown stem. This small finch has a red throat, breast, and cap.
December 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
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For today’s #BirdoftheDay, I’m going with the alternate theme of #hidden. I never would have seen this #GreatHornedOwl if it wasn’t for the noisy crows harassing it. #Minnesota #birds #naturephotography #owl
A Great Horned Owl is mostly obscured by green leafy branches. All that is visible is the owl’s piercing eyes and one tuft of feathers or horn.
December 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
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For today’s #birdoftheday theme of #movement I chose this #heron photographed as it is shaking a leech before swallowing it down. I was lucky to watch this bird catch several leeches. Each one received a violent shake before it was eaten. #birds #wildlife #nature #photography #Minnesota
A Green Heron is perched on the edge of a pond covered by a thick layer of green duckweed. The heron’s head is rotated completely upside down. A leech is dangling from the tip of the heron’s open beak. The camera caught the blur of movement from the heron shaking its prey.
December 6, 2025 at 1:56 PM
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The #BirdofTheDay theme is #Songbirds so I chose this Eastern #Meadowlark singing away while perched on a mullein stalk in eastern #Minnesota. #birds #naturephotography
This Eastern Meadowlark has a wide open beak as it sings. Its striking yellow breast with black patch is towards the camera. The head is turned sideways showing off the prominent beak. The birds feet are grasping a dried mullein stalk. The background is a diffuse green of out of focus grassland and distant woods.
December 4, 2025 at 2:11 PM
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A juvenile American Robin eating cedar tree berries. One of a dozen robins that had descended on this tree in Como Park last September. #BirdOfTheDay #BerriesandBeaks #Minnesota #birds #birdphotography #wildlifephotography
A robin with splotchy feathers as it molts into adult plumage is eating waxy blue cedar berries while perched on a thin tree branch. The robin holds one berry in its beak with more berries still on the branch.
November 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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This Red-eyed Vireo was loudly chirping away in the forest but otherwise remained hidden from me. The only photo I could get was this #headshot through the leaves. Wish the branch was gone but love the eye. #birdoftheday #birds #naturephotograpy #minnesota
Song bird is peering at the camera through the leaves. The bird’s head and red eye are visible in sharp focus. The rest of the scene is blurred.
November 27, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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American White Pelicans waking up #OnTheEdge in a southwestern #Minnesota pond. My contribution to today’s #BirdOfTheDay #birds #naturephotography
A compacted pod of a dozen American White Pelicans on a grey, foggy mourning. They were photographed as they were beginning to stir, some with open beaks as they shook their heads. They have the horn or flat plate on top of their orange beaks that marks breeding season.
November 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
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My contributions to #birdoftheday and #birdonawire are a Brewer’s Blackbird and a Field Sparrow. Both seen at #KeystonewoodsWMA. It was a beautiful early summer day with lots of bugs for the #birds. I likewise had over 70 wood ticks by the end. #worthit.
A male Brewer’s Blackbird with greenish sheen to its body, purple sheen on its head, and bright yellow eyes hangs on a grey wire fence while grasping squirming insects in its beak. A brown and tan Field Sparrow flaps its wings as it balances on a barbed wire fence. In its beak it holds a black bug with long legs.
November 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
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Northern Lights!!!!
Night scene with well-light suburban houses and northern lights shining in the sky above. Multi-colored aurora and tree branches in silhouette.
November 12, 2025 at 3:42 AM
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Got out to #CrexMeadows in western Wisconsin on Sunday to watch the #SandhillCranes flying in at sunset. So impressive. Probably a couple thousand arrivals in a little over an hour. Took over 1000 pictures! #birds #wildlifephotography
A flock of seven Sandhill Cranes with their long, spindly legs extended coming in for a landing. Sky and the birds have a rosy hue from the setting sun. A flock of six Sandhill Cranes with their long, spindly legs extended coming in for a landing amongst a large number of other cranes in a sedge meadow. Meadow and the birds have a rosy hue from the setting sun. A flock of 12 Sandhill Cranes flying against blue sky withe scattered clouds. Three Sandhill Cranes flying in the foreground with more cranes flying in the background as they arrive at their evening roosting spot.
October 23, 2025 at 4:21 PM
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Got a glamorous and not so glamorous photo of this Double-crested Cormorant today. Love those gorgeous blue eyes. Surprised by the flying stream of bird poop in the next photo. #birds #nature #photography
Cormorant in all black feathers with pale orange beak and turquoise blue eyes is clinging to a dead branch while looking back over its shoulder. Cormorant perched on a dead branch while releasing a long stream of milky white poop.
September 14, 2025 at 1:37 AM
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Had a great time at the #MinnesotaStateFair. Ate all my favorite foods including cream puffs, poutine, and corn dogs. Visited the DNR fish pond, the fine arts center, and the always fun animal barns.
Ducks in cages being viewed by visitors at the Minnesota state fair.
August 31, 2025 at 7:43 PM
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Warblers are on the move here in Minnesota. A great time to be out #birding. #birds #warblers #migration
A Golden-winged Warbler hangs upside down with a small grub in its beak. An American Redstart on a woody branch. Its white eye ring gray head, yellow breast, and white belly stand in contrast to the defuse green leaves in the background. A Chestnut-sided Warbler forages in a maze of thin woody branches. This bird lacks the chestnut side of breeding season males but has a beautiful greenish-yellow top, yellowish-white wing bars, and a bright white eye ring.
August 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM
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Heard a raptor cry while out birding in the Rice Creek Preserve. Started taking photos to help ID. Unexpectedly I caught this interaction between an osprey & eagle. Too far for a good shot but still exciting to catch. The osprey was likely defending its nearby nest. #bird #nature #talons 🪶
Distant photo of an aggressive interaction between an Osprey and Bald Eagle. The osprey is diving at the eagle with its talons extended. The eagle is flying upside down with its talons extended up towards the approaching osprey and its beak open in a scream. Second photo in a series capturing an aggressive interaction between an Osprey and Bald Eagle. In this shot the osprey has started to pull out of its dive on the eagle. The eagle is still flying upside down but is twisted as it tracks the osprey’s flight.
August 5, 2025 at 1:19 PM
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Hiking through our nearby woods I came across a family of noisy House Wrens. I watched as the young birds chased each other around until an adult showed up with a bug in its beak. I got some nice photos as the birds positioned themselves and the lucky one got to eat. Fun. #birds #nature #wildlife
An adult Northern House Wren, holding a fly in its beak, has the eager attention of two nearby fledglings. All three birds are on different branches with the surrounding leaves brightly backlit by the sun. An adult Northern House Wren is offering a small insect to its fledgling hat is perched on a lower tree branch. The adult is positioned upside down while the fledgling has a wide open beak to receive the meal. Leaves provide a bright green background.
July 31, 2025 at 9:43 PM
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Traveling (and birding) through the Netherlands and Denmark. Lots of little birds this morning including this sweet Lesser Whitethroat near Skagen.
A small bird in a leafy bush. The bird is a Lesser Whitethroat with a gray head, brown wings and tail, cream breast, and of course a white throat. A out of focus spider web in the background adds an extra element.
July 21, 2025 at 7:51 AM
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The recovery of Trumpeter Swan populations in Minnesota is one of the great wild bird successes of my lifetime. Extirpated from the state by the end of the 19th C, conservationists beginning in 1966 worked through decades of challenges to re-establish these amazing birds. So grateful. #birds 🪶
A swan preening its white feathers with its large black bill. The bird is resting on the shore of a wooded lake next to the brown trunk of a downed tree. The brilliant white bird is set against a dark green forest, with the bird and tree trunk reflected in the water.
July 1, 2025 at 12:42 PM
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Also lots of young White-tailed bucks with their antlers starting to emerge. Seen in Reservoir Woods, Roseville, Minnesota.
Close up photo of a young White-tailed buck looking at the photographer. Its antlers are just starting to emerge. A closeup photo of a young White-tailed buck in profile as it walks through a field of green ferns that are so tall that only the deer’s head is unobscured.
May 22, 2025 at 12:25 PM
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It’s a great time of year to be out in the woods. Lots of baby birds including this hen Hooded Merganser with nine ducklings. #birds 🪶
Female Hooded Merganser in a pond with an its surface covered with light green duck weed. The hen is mostly brown with a reddish brown ‘hood’ of spikey feathers. The ducklings are little brown puffs of feathers and tiny beaks.
May 22, 2025 at 12:16 PM
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Excited to see a flock of White-winged crossbills foraging on conifer cones in our neighborhood yesterday. They are part of a winter irruption that brought them down to southern Minnesota. #birds 🪶
A pair of White-winged Crossbills foraging in a conifer. The tree has many large cones. A White-winged crossbill perched on a conifer branch. The bird’s bill has the characteristic cross-over arrangement.
April 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM