Alectoris chukar
Chukars are gray-brown chicken-like birds with short necks, red legs and bills with bold chestnut and black stripes on their flanks.
Yesterday when I saw this running Chukar image on my camera LCD in mid-stride and mid-air I had to chuckle because it looks something like a feathered Nerf football some one tossed across the snow.
These Chukar images were taken last Friday and this bird is the same one in my post titled "Some fun with birds from yesterday", I wanted to share more photos of it.
A wonderful fun-filled day with great companionship and plenty of birds. I can't ask for more.
It is almost hard to believe that in just two months these Chukars will be fighting for territories as they begin the mating season while there is over 9 inches of fresh snow on the ground where I live this morning.
Yesterday I spotted a covey of Chukars on Antelope Island foraging in the snow, this Chukar was pulling guard duty and standing on top of a snow covered rock and for a bit it was calling.
I wanted to share a few images taken two days ago when Antelope Island was covered with a fresh snow fall. The entire island looked glorious and the sunlight caused the snow to sparkle much to my delight.
Fresh snow fell on Antelope Island last night and it made for wonderful settings for the subjects I photographed this morning like this Chukar. I haven't been seeing the Chukars regularly lately so I was very pleased to see them again.
A simple image from a series of images I took last year of a Chukar calling on a rocky outcropping with a snowy mountain in the background.
Yesterday I photographed a mixture of the birds of Antelope Island State Park and had great fun while doing it.
I don't know if the birds think the water of the Great Salt Lake looks refreshing but on a hot day like today I sure do!
I liked that this spring time Chukar perched on a rock where a few of the Redstem Filaree were visible.
Had I not seen that moving, tan blob beyond my viewfinder I could have easily missed being able to create these Chukar images. Sure, I have hundreds (if not thousands) of Chukar images but I am always looking for different poses, light conditions and settings to photograph my subjects in and this worked out very well.
The behavior of the Chukars indicates that the males are already acting territorial and fighting for the right to mate.
Chukars are not native to North America, they were introduced as game birds and in some areas they have thrived, one of those locations is Antelope Island State Park in northern Utah.
Do I prefer the featureless background bokeh over the one where the features are blurred but still recognizable? No, I love them both and appreciate each one individually.
This is the third post in my series about Wild and Wonderful Antelope Island State Park, I've saved the best (and longest) for last. The Birds! Okay, maybe they aren't the best thing about Antelope Island State Park, but I am a bird photographer and they are what I am most passionate about!
I have learned that you have to be prepared to be a bird photographer and additionally that you need to be fast because birds are free moving creatures. There are times that you simply don't or won't have time to change your camera's settings.
Photographs of the Chukars on Antelope Island State Park, Utah throughout the year.
I was tickled to get this Chukar calling in the snow near the parking area of Frary Peak trailhead with the snow-covered mountain in the background.
When I first visited Antelope Island State Park I fell in love with its wild beauty, the windswept grasslands, pungent sagebrush, awesome views of the Great Salt Lake and the wildlife that abounds there.