By Mia McPherson, on May 2nd, 2012% Last week I photographed a Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) bathing at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area in Davis County, Utah. I was in a mobile blind (vehicle) and the shorebird was quite comfortable in my presence. I used my Nikon D300, resting on my Noodle, f6.3, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, 0.0 EV and my shutter speed ranged from 1/1600 to 1/2000.
The images are posted in sequential order.
 Killdeer bathing The Killdeer was bathing when we first pulled up and it stopped momentarily.
 Killdeer bathing It soon began bathing again, vigorously. I like the flying water droplets and how the water is running off of the birds back.
 Killdeer bathing The Killdeer would press its body into the water and then rise back up.
 Killdeer bathing Then it would spread out its wings a bit.
 Killdeer bathing Sometimes the Killdeer would dip its head into the water, twist it and fling water over its back. While I wish that some of the water wasn’t in front of the eye blocking the catchlight I am happy that the bird had its eye open in this frame. I love the action shown here.
 Killdeer bathing The Killdeer also bobbed its body up and down without immersing its whole body.
 Killdeer bathing I liked this image because I caught the bill open.
 Killdeer bathing I like the great eye contact in this frame.
 Killdeer bathing And the fluffed up feathers in this frame.
 Killdeer bathing Even 1/1600 wasn’t fast enough to stop the motion blur of the feathers but it did freeze most of the water droplets.
 Killdeer bathing Then the Killdeer stood up and called.
 Killdeer bathing Turned its back and gave us an over the shoulder look…
 Killdeer bathing And it began to preen.
 Killdeer bathing I thought this was a funny pose.
 Killdeer bathing And this one too!
 Killdeer after the bath The bird moved away from the water and gave itself a final fluff before it flew away.
Mia
More Killdeer images
By Mia McPherson, on March 30th, 2012%  Female Yellow-headed Blackbird on Curly Dock - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) have begun to show up in large numbers in my area of the country. I’m seeing them perched on Cattails, Phragmites and in flight. The freshwater marshes that surround the Great Salt Lake provide excellent breeding grounds for this species.
Female Yellow-headed Blackbirds are brown and have yellowish throats and facial patches. I photographed the female above perched on Curly Dock at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area on the last trip I made to Utah before permanently moving here.
 Yellow-headed Blackbird male displaying - Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/640, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light Yellow-headed Blackbird males are black with white primary coverts and have yellow heads, chests and throats. They are easily identifiable and unmistakable. I photographed this displaying male above at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge.
The males are a challenge to expose properly in photographs because of the high contrast between the yellows, blacks and whites. I generally expose for the darks and hope I don’t blow out the white primary coverts if they are shown.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds have a very mechanical sounding call, it can be heard here.
Mia
By Mia McPherson, on March 26th, 2012%  Adult Bald Eagle in flight in morning light - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, not baited Normally during the month of February Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area has hundreds of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) within its boundaries but that was not the case in February 2012. Because of the unusually mild winter we had many of the Bald Eagles that typically winter over in the Salt Lake Valley stayed in locations further north where lakes and rivers that typically freeze over had areas that were ice free.
 4 year old Bald Eagle in flight with prey - Nikon D200, f9, 1/400, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 300mm, natura light, not baited I missed seeing dozens of the Farmington Bay Bald Eagles sitting on the ice, flying over the marshes and stands of Phragmites and scooping up carp from the water this year. Last year I may have seen well over a hundred Bald Eagles on a single trip to the WMA and this year four was the highest number I counted on a trip there.
The Bald Eagles that were in the valley have now moved towards to their breeding grounds along with the others that stayed north of here. I wish them a successful breeding season and I look forward to seeing them this coming winter.
Mia
More Bald Eagle images
By Mia McPherson, on March 25th, 2012%  Canada Goose - Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) are common in my area and I often overlook taking images of them because of that. I really shouldn’t though because they are beautiful birds.
I photographed this Canada Goose as it paddled past me on Glover’s Pond at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area in northern Utah two years ago.
Mia
More Canada Geese images
By Mia McPherson, on March 23rd, 2012% I’ve posted adult Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps) before but hadn’t posted any images of their young on my blog yet so I am posting a few images of one of them today. These images were created at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area, just to the north of Salt Lake City, Utah.
 Juvenile Pied-billed Grebe in morning light - Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light This is a hatch year Pied-billed Grebe and it still shows some of the camouflage that the immature birds have to help them hide from predators. This bird is in the “Stripe-head stage” but it is not nearly as striped as younger Pied-billed Grebes are.
 Juvenile Pied-billed Grebe stretching - Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light As I observed and photographed this immature Pied-billed Grebe it preened some, did a few stretches and fluffed up it feathers. The image above shows the lobed foot of the bird.
 Juvenile Pied-billed Grebe - Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light Personally, I think that Pied-billed Grebes (of any age) are fun to photograph because they are so feisty with each other, they often chase each other around when one of them catches a fish in an effort to steal it away.
 Pied-billed Grebe juvenile - Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light Pied-billed Grebes can live to be at least 3 years old, if not longer. They are rarely seen in flight because they migrate at night. They are capable of long distance flights, some Pied-billed Grebes have flown to Europe, the Azores and the Canary Islands. ¹
 Fluffed up juvenile Pied-billed Grebe - Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light It won’t be long before the adult Pied-billed Grebes in this area begin the nesting season and more of these young grebes will be seen floating on the water near the adults, begging for food or chasing after each other.
Mia
More Pied-billed Grebe images
¹ Birds of North America
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Photographing a Tricolored Heron from a tidal lagoon
Focusing on Wildlife Contributor
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