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Jay 🪶

@bird_boi_jay

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Appalachian Fae interested in the natural world. Based in East Tennessee
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EST. 2002
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Life list: 588
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Favorite bird: Desertas Petrel

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Buff-breasted Sandpiper ~ Calidris subruficollis (Juvenile)

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted a life bird on here, and this happens to be one of my favorite shorebirds (they are ALL my favorites tehe!) I got to see this crisp bird on Tuesday, along with a myriad of other migrating species and an extremely accommodating Turkey Vulture!

Buffies are more bird than they are shore, sticking to foraging in sod farms, grassy fields and dry mudflats during migration and on their non-breeding grounds. Historically they probably would’ve associated heavily with plains Bison, as they rely on heavy grazing to provide short-grass prairie habitat in their migratory corridor (the Central Flyway) They nest in the high arctic of North America and Siberia in dry Tundra with tussocks, and were nearly driven to extinction by market hunters in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Now they are threatened by the steep decline of insect populations, and habitat loss due to climate change. They make one of the longest migrations of any Scolopacid: 18,000 miles round trip!

I had so much of fun trudging through muddy water with my friend @rob.upchurch.photography and onto the flats to see this bird up close! Thank you for giving me one of my best birding days in a long while! taken in Rankin Bottoms by @bird_boi_jay

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a month ago

Stilt Sandpiper ~ Calidris himantopus

Day 3 of posting every day until I don’t.

It’s like a grayscale Curlew Sandpiper but I still love them 🤍
Guys do I grind for 300 species for TN starting now or nah? Currently at 250 💔 taken in Rankin Bottoms by @bird_boi_jay

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an hour ago

Tennessee Warbler ~ Leiothlypis peregrina

Day 2 of posting every day until I don’t.

He is green for an AMAZING reason!… To blend in (are you, are you, coming to the tree?) Side note: Persian Silk Trees have gotta go, being that they are an invasive species, but they can be dripping with warblers though. Of the 15 Tennessee Warblers, 6 Cape Mays, 2 Magnolias, and 1 Bay-breasted I saw today, all of them foraged primarily in Persian Silk Trees (I love you Chestnut-sided for staying faithful to River Birch) The native plants are getting cucked bro you hate to see it 😢

TEWAs are out in full force this year, with one even showing up in my work, which I assume got out thankfully! Warblers need not be aware of the agony of corporate hell. See the last slide of the bird inspecting a shopping cart! taken in Melton Hill Lake by @bird_boi_jay

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a day ago

Cape May Warbler ~ Setophaga tigrina

Day 1 of posting every day until I don’t! There is something particularly special about getting better photos of one of my favorite birds close to home. I only had to walk to my neighboring complex to get this! I must admit I have severely under-birded my own complex and this one, even though I have a good amount of large host plants that provide for lots of insects, such as oaks, Tulip-Poplars, hickories, and ash. I even live on a ridge which is especially good for migrating birds, and I have vantage points from which to view the Crab Orchard & Great Smoky Mountains. Traffic noise is what discourages me from taking more frequent walks, and traffic itself is what discourages me from driving 30+ minutes to better birding locations but, excuse excuses right?

Setophaga tigrina is a Spruce Bedworm specialist, so its breeding distribution falls almost entirely within the Canadian Taiga Belt, just bleeding into the far Northeastern states and Upper Great Lakes region. Even during migration and on their Caribbean wintering grounds they associate most with conifers, and most readily turn to nectar as a food source out of all Parulids. They are highly variable, being both one of the most colorful and least colorful warbler in the fall.

A Quercus montanus that was pushing 100 ft tall

Shout out to the sun setting/rising through the trees, gotta be one of my favorite genres taken in Knoxville, Tennessee by @bird_boi_jay

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2 days ago

Dunlin ~ Calidris alpina

On World Migratory Bird Day I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to see a timelapse of the pendulum-like movement of migration. I’m so used to witnessing it in snapshots such as this moment from 2 springs prior. I love how the worn down wings are comfortably nestled between fresh plumage on the back and underside. How amazing would it be to see this bird make his migration in its entirety, watching as feathers get worn and replaced one by one? taken in Cape Point by @bird_boi_jay

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5 days ago

Sanderling ~ Calidris alba ~ May 2025

So no [back] toes? Sanderlings lack back toes to help them run quickly on sand: a behavior that sets them apart from other sandpipers. You aren’t likely to see any other species of peep running from ocean waves. taken in Cape Point by @bird_boi_jay

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9 months ago

Black-bellied Plover ~ Pluvialis squatarola ~ May 2025

It’s cold af outside 😭 I love this bird so much but holy crap are they difficult to get within a hundred thousand feet 🦶🏻of 💀 taken in Cape Hatteras National Seashore by @bird_boi_jay

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8 months ago

Red-necked Phalarope (Juvenile) ~ Phalaropus lobatus

While there is still a symphony of cicadas reverberating from the woods, and the afternoon sun ablaze, Arctic Shorebirds are already escaping the encroachment of winter. Red-necked Phalaropes (Pronounced fa-lr-owp) are 1 of 2 oceanic shorebirds, overwintering in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. They are unique in other ways, as they have lobed feet for swimming, and in the summer they have vibrant colors and patterns, especially the females (yes, the females are the colorful ones!) Females will fiercely fight over males to mate with, and then have no role in raising the chicks.

This was a bird I saw back in August, only the 4th record for my county! I took a very early lunch break at my work to go see it, and went to see it after work as well. taken in Pellissippi State Community College by @bird_boi_jay

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24 days ago

𓅐 Turkey Vulture ~ Cathartes aura

Out of all the birds I’ve seen since moving to the lower 48, Turkey Vultures are one of which I’ve seen the most frequently. Somewhat surprisingly, it’s taken me a long time to get these shots, as they aren’t generally approachable. Also, most of the time I see them, they are kettling high over the freeway or catching cliff-face thermals. In this case however, I believe this chocolate-feathered bird was just too preoccupied eating the catfish to care that I was close!

Remember to say thank you to your local vultures for mitigating the spread of diseases! 𓅐 taken in Rankin Bottoms by @bird_boi_jay

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a month ago

Canada Warbler ~ Cardellina canadensis

STORY TIME! So on the day that I saw this guy I remember taking a lot of photos of this species since my friend Ronan- who has since passed away- and I had many very accommodating CAWAs. However, over the years I have searched multiple SD cards and my hard drive for the majority of the pictures I took that day, and couldn’t find them. I had recollection of this specific photo, but after 3 years of not finding it I began to wonder if I made it up. Well, a few nights ago I found it!!! Apparently it was sitting in an SD card that wouldn’t open on my camera, but would on my computer? Very weird. This will probably be the last older photo I share for a while since I have a MASSIVE backlog of photos from this year to share! N E Wayz thanks for reading the story behind this photo!

This one’s for you Ronan, fly high bro! 🥲 You are dearly missed. taken in Mount Le Conte by @bird_boi_jay

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a month ago

My ✨FAVORITE✨ moth family: Saturniidae, AKA, the Giant Silk Moths! This is an ethereal taxon characterized by diverse shapes/sizes, colors, lots of fluff, a lack of mouthparts, and often striking ocelli (eyespots) It also harbors the largest moth in the world: the Atlas Moth, with her wingspan of 12 inches! Growing up, I dreamed of seeing these seemingly mythical beings, and that’s all I could do considering I lived too far north to encounter any. For a time, my favorite animal was the Sulawesi Moon Moth: an island endemic with the most vivid maroon, crimson, and yellow hues!

Fast forward to 2017-2021- having lived in Arizona- I could’ve seen some of the rarest silk moths in the country, but never properly looked besides occasionally checking cabin porch lights over the years. It is only this year, after having lived in Tennessee for half a decade (!), that I’ve finally witnessed living Saturniids! Even more surprising: 4 out of the 5 species I’ve seen so far have all been on my patio, given the incessant mowing and spraying and non-native planting “landscapers” do here!

I feel extremely fortunate that we have a couple dozen species here in the US, despite the vast majority of the roughly 2,300 species of Saturniids residing in the neotropics. A lot of what makes seeing a Saturniid so special is their extremely fleeting lives. Most live no more than a week, surviving solely on energy reserves from when they were caterpillars, and an urge to continue the next generation. They are powerful fliers, and will fly and exist as adults until their wings become a shattered reflection of what they used to be.

This year I have gained a newfound love for the forest, and I want to continue understanding every connection in every living network of trees.

Polyphemus Moth (Male) 04•19•2026 - 04•21•2026 ~ Host plants include: Primarily Ulmus, Betula, and Salix. (Pictured Quercus and Acer because I apparently don’t have any good photos of their main host plants)

They are very widespread across the eastern US/Canada and can feed on many more trees than those listed.

This was my very first Saturniid I saw, and I have to thank my girlfriend @anyadarling for spotting it! taken in Appalachia by @bird_boi_jay

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3 months ago

ᝰ Timber Rattlesnake ~ Crotalus horridus (In situ) ~ 🗓️04•29•2026

We interrupt your *very irregularly* scheduled bird posting to present to you one of Tennessee’s most beautiful and misunderstood herps: the Canebrake Rattlesnake. After photographing a common Eastern Fence Lizard sunning itself on a rock in the middle of my favorite trail, I noticed the vibrant colors of this snake and took a few seconds to process what I was looking at. I felt the adrenaline rush upon realizing I had found a species I’ve wanted to see for the 5 years I’ve lived here in southern Appalachia. This species is highly variable, which somewhat makes up for our lack of Crotalus diversity, and they range from mostly gray with orange and black patterning, to almost completely black, and then this individual with a gorgeous mix of yellow, orange, and black! The whole time I spent with the snake, mere feet away, it didn’t try to strike once and didn’t even rattle until I safely moved it off the trail with a snake hook. Whenever I visit that trail I’ve been hoping to find it again, and I’m pretty positive about the location of its den, however it’s in quite a peculiar spot where I could either fall off the trail or get tangled up in Brambles. This has been one of the greatest highlights of my year so far!!! As always scroll to see the photos in their entirety.

Great Yellow Wood-sorrel (Oxalis grandis) by @bird_boi_jay

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3 months ago