Katherine Figueroa
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katiefigs.bsky.social
Katherine Figueroa
@katiefigs.bsky.social
280 followers 870 following 140 posts
I ❤️NYC! Love learning new things, nature, animals, making music, teaching. Addicted to WNYC. OBSESSED with birds!
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katiefigs.bsky.social
You know you’ve been spending too much time birding when you look at your cat’s head and think of a Blackpoll Warbler’s back! 😂
#birds
September 25, 2025 at 1:55 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Graphic warning - dead #birds!! But I’m not putting the photos in the comments because I recently read that a good way to get people to take action on window collisions is to show pictures of the fatalities. So here goes… 🧵🧵
A dead adult male Common Yellowthroat A dead Magnolia Warbler A dead female or immature Common Yellowthroat A dead Blackpoll Warbler. Blood is visible on its beak
September 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Seeking #birds photo donations!

I’m looking to start a student birding club at the community college I teach at, and am looking for vibrant images of blue or orange birds that regularly occur in our area (NE USA) for recruiting materials (sample with CC license images, but these are grainy)
Sample poster with images (clockwise starting in the upper left) of a male Belted Kingfisher and Blackburnian Warbler, a Blue Jay, a male Baltimore Oriole, some young people looking through binoculars, and a male American Redstart. Some text explaining the club is on the left side, centered between the kingfisher and the redstart, but is blacked out
September 18, 2025 at 11:56 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
This is such a lovely portrait of one of my favorite birds - Ovenbird! A Veery wouldn’t have the orange “Mohawk” stripe on the head, and its spots would only be on the upper breast, and not be as dark as these streaks (here’s a Veery from Cornell’s All About Birds)
September 18, 2025 at 2:55 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
What a nice habitat you have there! As far as I know, White-throated Sparrows are not sexually dimorphic. (See below from Sibley V2)
Screenshot from Sibley V2 app showing white-striped and tan-striped White-throated Sparrows. Caption says “Adults range from drab (tan-striped) to bright (white-striped) regardless of sex and age.”
February 19, 2025 at 12:37 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Pato jergón grande / Yellow-billed Pintail, Parque Bicentenario, Vitacura (Región Metropolitana, Chile)

They are so elegant! I love the sweet face they have, too ❤️🪶

Son tan elegantes! Y me encanta la carita tan tierna que tienen! #avesdechile
Close-up of a Yellow-billed Pintail in the water, facing left. It’s looking at the camera, with its head tilted at an angle Close-up of a Yellow-billed Pintail in the water, facing right. It’s looking at the water. Large fish can be seen swimming under it
January 6, 2025 at 3:02 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Gaviotín monja / Inca Tern - Concón, Chile.
They are so adorable and also weird-looking! I love their crazy face streamers, red beak, and how they waddle with their tiny red feet when they walk 🪶
January 3, 2025 at 3:50 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
I finally got to see Inca Terns/ Gaviotines Monja in person today! (Concón, Chile) 🪶
Inca Tern sits on the sand, facing left. It is dark grey (almost black, with a red, pointed, slightly long beak, long white moustache feathers that stick out down the side of the face, and a bright yellow mark below the white feather)
January 3, 2025 at 3:50 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
A Cooper’s Hawk would just have a uniformly marked chest and belly (see images from Raptor ID app). They are also more slender and delicately built than RTHA
December 19, 2024 at 6:16 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
They can be tricky! But the belly band is a good field mark for Red-tailed (except in the west - they are darker and I find it hard to see their belly bands): you see a dark head, a light or clear bib on the chest (yellow) and then a darker band (red) around the belly. You can see it here:
December 19, 2024 at 6:14 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Lovely photos! I think this is a Red-tailed Hawk, though. It’s got a bulkier body, longer wings/shorter tail, a belly band, and the bands on the tail are wrong for Coop - they indicate it’s an immature hawk. Compare the tail in your bird vs a Cooper’s:
The OPs immature Red-tailed Hawk. The tail bands are thicker light brown bands with think dark bands. The tail appears shorter compared to the Coop An immature Cooper’s Hawk (from the Raptor ID app). It has thicker white bands with relatively thick dark brown bands on the retrices. The tail also appears much longer
December 19, 2024 at 5:58 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Winter Wrens are so absolutely adorable!!

We sadly didn’t see any on our Christmas Bird Count this year (lower Manhattan area), but here is one that was completely oblivious to passersby at NYPL/Bryant Park (NYC), from October of this year

#addBirder
December 17, 2024 at 5:41 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
I swear this is a Rusty Blackbird! (The Pool at Central Park, NYC, fall ‘24)
December 11, 2024 at 5:37 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
When Blue Jays imitate other birds, it always sounds a bit off because the timbre isn’t right. I’d be really shocked if that’s a Blue Jay - the timbre is spot on for Carolina Wren. Maybe these wrens are pushing northward? It’s happening with some species bc of climate change. eBird sightings map:
December 8, 2024 at 5:27 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
I feel like the light has to be just right to see the purple:
December 6, 2024 at 5:24 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Depending on where you live, they stay year round. I think they just aren’t as noticeable sometimes with their winter plumage
December 6, 2024 at 5:17 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Amazing captures!

According to Birds of the World, fighting!
November 25, 2024 at 4:20 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
I adoooore them!!! I have several pairs that take turns hanging on my fire escape (and their aggression to the other pairs is so funny/cute)
Mourning Dove loafing on a fire escape railing, facing the camera with its head slightly turned to the right. Bare tree branches and a brick apartment building are visible in the background
November 23, 2024 at 11:31 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
I think this must be it: ebird.org/species/bert.... It’s endangered 😭😭😭
November 16, 2024 at 8:01 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Time to put this book to use!
Cover of a book called “All the Birds of the World”. It has a black background, with the title in white. It features a close-up of the head of a Philippine Eagle
November 16, 2024 at 7:56 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Getting caught spying by an Osprey in Cecil County, Maryland!
An Osprey is perched on a large tree branch. The bird is facing left, centered in the image, but is looking back over its left shoulder. There are oak (?) leaves and branches in the background. The bird has a cream belly and throat, a dark mask, head, and wings. It has orange eyes, and a dark, shortish, hooked beak. The feathers on the back of its head are being swept up by the wind making it look like the bird has a flipped crest. The long wings reach past the tail. The wing covert feathers are tipped in thin white edges. The tail is closed and appears to have thick, alternating white/cream and dark brown stripes. It’s standing with both feet flat on the branch. Its legs are a light yellowish/white color, and it has massive black claws. An Osprey perched on a large tree branch. The bird is facing left, centered in the image, but is looking straight at the camera. There are oak (?) leaves and branches in the background. The bird has a cream belly and throat with a dark necklace visible on its chest. It has a dark mask, head, and wings. It has orange eyes, and a dark, shortish, hooked beak. The long wings reach past the tail. The wing covert feathers are tipped in thin white edges. The tail is closed and appears to have thick, alternating white/cream and dark brown stripes. It’s standing with both feet flat on the branch. Its legs are a light yellowish/white color, with the tibiotarsus/fibula (what would be calves/shins on a human, but looks like a thigh on a bird) covered in white feathers, and it has massive black claws.
November 16, 2024 at 7:49 PM
katiefigs.bsky.social
They are beautiful, but I also really like the simple elegance of the Yucatán Jay
Adult Yucatán Jay on a branch, facing left. It’s framed by another branch above him and out-of-focus foliage in the background. Bird has a moderately thick, black beak, black eyes, and orange-ish-yellow long legs. Its thighs are covered in black feathers. The head and body are black, with royal blue wings and tail. The tail is quite long Juvenile Yucatán Jay on a Palm frond, facing right. There are more out-of-focus Palm (or maybe banana?) branches in the background. Bird has a moderately thick, gold-yellow beak, black eyes with a yellow eye ring, and orange-ish-yellow long legs. Its thighs are covered in black feathers. The head and body are black, with royal blue wings and tail. The tail is quite long
November 15, 2024 at 4:11 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
I made a request!
November 14, 2024 at 5:15 AM
katiefigs.bsky.social
Front-facing rails do that to me, too! (Window collision victim I rescued and took to a licensed wildlife rehab center)
November 13, 2024 at 11:03 PM