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This small wooden box may hold the future...
Looking for resolutions? Here are 10 ways to...
What a show: Battle of the Hummingbirds reaches...
A Pileated Woodpecker in holiday mode
Which is the best birdsong ID app? We...
A Prothonotary Warbler comes calling on a visit...
A Summer Tanager shows off its yuletide plumage
How on earth? Great White Pelican shows up...
The free Merlin app puts the magic into...
A glimpse of a rare Vermillion Flycatcher
Flying Lessons
  • Home
    • Our story
    • Birding and the Airstream
  • Photo Galleries
    • Photo Gallery Index
      • Belted Kingfishers Gallery
      • Counting Raptors
      • Birds of Glenwood Gardens
      • The Barred Owl Nextdoor
      • Magnificent Frigatebird
      • Woodpecker’s Nest
      • Red-shouldered Hawk Gallery
      • Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
      • In search of Warblers
      • Purple Gallinule
      • Sandhill Cranes — and their chicks
      • White Ibis Gallery
      • Catching Birds in Flight
      • Roseate Spoonbills in all their glory
      • A Rookery for Storks
      • Shore Birds
      • Dining Out
      • Love is in the Air: Two Barn Swallows’ take on the Birds and the Bees
  • Videos
  • Closeups
    • Birds in Flight
  • Beverly’s Basics
  • All Posts
    • All Posts
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Category:

Postcard

Postcard

A Pileated Woodpecker in holiday mode

by Anders Gyllenhaal December 24, 2020
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Flying Lessons Postcard

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A favorite woodpecker in holiday pose

We saved our best yuletide photo for the height of the holidays. We’ve always wanted to make a Christmas card with this scene of a magnificent Pileated Woodpecker picking bright red berries, as if gathering them for a wreath. We never got around to it, until now. We think it’s the perfect shot for the last in our series of bird photos with holiday connections. We came across this woodpecker near Savannah, Ga. At first, he was well up a tree, too far away for a good photo. Then he suddenly flew toward us and took up his position in a nearby berry bush. With a little luck, we caught him at just the right moment. We’re delighted to share this scene in wishing you the best in this precious time of year. 

December 24, 2020 0 comment
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PhotographyPostcard

A Summer Tanager shows off its yuletide plumage

by Anders Gyllenhaal December 15, 2020
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

The reddest bird of all

The Summer Tanager stands out for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that the male is the only completely red bird in North America. This time of year, that earns him a place in this yuletide gallery devoted to our favorite holiday bird photos. We ran into this tanager and its greenish yellow mate this summer near Nashville, and at first knew they were near only from their distinctive songs and calls. Tanagers spent their time high in the canopy, often hidden away from birders. But we kept looking and, like unwrapping an unexpected present, we finally spotted him one day on a lower branch, as seen in this top photo. We might have been imagining it, but after a few days of hanging around them, they seemed to accept us as part of the landscape and we saw a lot of them. We’ve treasured that encounter, and the photos it gave us, the rest of the year. Here’s a post we wrote on them back in the fall. 

December 15, 2020 0 comment
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Postcard

A glimpse of a rare Vermillion Flycatcher

by Anders Gyllenhaal December 9, 2020
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Flying Lessons Postcard

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A gift of the brightest red

We were traveling just after the holidays a few years ago when we stopped at St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida Panhandle. The 68,000-acre preserve is one of the oldest in the country, created in 1931 for a stopover for migratory birds. But one rare bird that wasn’t supposed to be there showed up just in time to give us a post-holiday gift. We stopped to talk with the volunteers in the office before wandering the wetlands. Just as we were leaving, she said there was one more thing we should know that they generally kept to themselves to spare the bird from too many visitors. “There’s a Vermillion Flycatcher you can find at a secret spot,” she whispered, and then gave us directions, along with instructions to take only a brief look. Sure enough, moments after we arrived at a particular path, our present arrived, wrapped in the brightest red plumage we’d seen on any species. Its dark brown wings and tail set off the deep bright red that covered its front and head. The flycatcher went about its business, chasing down insects, and then stopped for a few moments on a nearby sign and looked us up and down. OK, it seemed to say, that’s enough. Off we went with a precious encounter we won’t ever forget.

Flying Lessons Postcards are short takes on birds of the season. Each week in December, we’re featuring a favorite photo of a bird with a connection to the holidays. 

December 9, 2020 0 comment
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Postcard

Northern Cardinal strikes a holiday pose

by Anders Gyllenhaal December 3, 2020
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Flying Lessons Postcard

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A bird made for the holidays

This Northern Cardinal kicks off our holiday photo series this week, celebrating the season with some of our favorite scenes. Unlike about 40 percent of the species that abandon us for warmer climates this time of year, the cardinal sticks with us through the winter. Its bright red plumage seems made for the holidays, particular when surrounded by greenery. Each week, we’ll post a photo and a few thoughts to share on the special lessons that birds have for us during the holidays. We love how this male cardinal strikes his stately pose in the top photo and then takes flight in this secondary photo, its wings nearly translucent in the light. 

December 3, 2020 0 comment
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Sign up for Flying Lessons

Welcome to Flying Lessons, a website devoted to what we’re learning from the birds. You can sign up here for our weekly newsletter, visit our Facebook page here, spend time in our pages devoted to photos, birding advice, videos and special projects. We hope you enjoy your visit — and make this a regular stop.

FLYING LESSONS VIDEOS

White-eyed Vireo Gray Catbird Red-shouldered Hawk Northern Flicker Cedar Waxwing Barred Owl American Goldfinch Northern Waterthrush Summer Tanager Northern Cardinal Carolina Chickadee

In-depth stories

Grasshopper Sparrow

Here are links to some of the deeper stories we’ve written for publications from the Washington Post to The Miami Herald exploring the frontiers of birding and avian research. This story for the Post was about the role of every-day birders in creating the largest citizen science project in the world. This piece for The Herald looked at the surprising strength of the Roseate Spoonbill in the midst of climate change. And this article and video for The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer is about how some adventurous hummingbirds are abandoning their migration and staying the winter in the U.S. Our latest story in the Washington Post is about a rescue mission for the imperiled Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. 

Miami Herald’s Spoonbill package

Some favorite birds

Barred Owl Orlando, Florida
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Ruby-throated Hummingbird West Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Hairy Woodpecker Prime Hook Refuge, Delaware
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Prairie Warbler Cape May, New Jersey
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Red-bellied Woodpecker St. Joe Overstreet Landing, Florida
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Eastern Wood-Peewee Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Eastern Meadowlark Kissimmee, Florida
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Black-throated Blue Warbler Raleigh, North Carolina
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal
Northern Flicker Alexandria, Virginia
Copyright by Anders and Beverly Gyllehhaal

Birds in Flight

Roseate Spoonbill BIRDS IN FLIGHT FELLSMERE, FLORIDA OSPREY BIRDS IN FLIGHT Orlando, Florida American Flamingo BIRDS IN FLIGHT Rio Largartos, Mexico COPYRIGHT BY ANDERS AND BEVERLY GYLLENHAAL EASTERN MEADOWLARK BIRDS IN FLIGHT KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA Red-shouldered Hawk BIRDS IN FLIGHT Orlando, Florida COPYRIGHT BY ANDERS AND BEVERLY GYLLENHAAL PALM WARBLER BIRDS IN FLIGHT ORLANDO, FLORIDA BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER BIRDS IN FLIGHT LORTON, VIRGINIA BROWN PELICAN BIRDS IN FLIGHT ASSATEAGUE, MARYLAND COPYRIGHT BY ANDERS AND BEVERLY GYLLENHAAL WOOD STORK BIRDS IN FLIGHT MELBOURNE, FLORIDA COPYRIGHT BY ANDERS AND BEVERLY GYLLENHAAL

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Can a bird sing with a banjo?

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Quotes for the birds

“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.”

— D.H. Lawrence, writer

Comments, Suggestions & Quips:

On How Birds Teach Humility:

–“NOB. Love it! Great little truths in this post.” – Chara Daum

— “Appreciate your insights, Beverly.” -Ruth Harrell

— “Loving your Flying Lessons blog.” -Susan May, San Francisco

On our offbeat video of a Tufted Titmouse singing along with a banjo:

“That is totally cool,” Tony Mas, Dahlonega, Ga.

“This brought a smile to us. Thanks.” John Deen, St. Paul, MN.

“Really amazing.” Florence Strickland, Sunset Beach, N.C.

On the Mandarin duck’s arrival in Central Park:

— “I think he gets his own Saturday morning now.” -Stephen Colby, Raleigh, N.C.

— “What a beautiful bird. Its colors look painted on. Magnificent.” -Christine DiMattei

On the falling numbers of Wild Turkeys:

“I was just mentioning this to a friend, how I used to see Wild Turkeys every time I hit a dirt road, and now it’s almost rare.” -Jeff Brooks.

“There are a hundred times more turkeys than when I was a kid. Fake BS to shake down donations and public funding.” -Vance Shearer

 

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How to reach us

Flying Lessons
Raleigh, NC.
FlyingLessons1@gmail.com

About us

About us

We’re two journalists who’ve traded in our work in publishing and syndicated writing for following and photographing the birds. We live in Raleigh, NC, but are traveling the country every chance we get -- and are sharing the lessons birds are teaching us and the photos we take along the way.

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Why Flying Lessons

This website is about what we can learn from the birds around us. Some of the lessons are obvious, such as the way birds can be a barometer of environmental changes. Others are subtle, like the way you, as an observer, have to adapt to navigate the world in which birds operate. We ourselves still have much to learn about birding, a late-in-life pursuit that has captivated us in retirement. But we decided to start writing about the lessons and teachings as we’re finding our way, in hopes that our storytelling and photography will help to celebrate a captivating element of nature.

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