My monthly post is up at BirdingIsFun.com, fly on over and check it out!
Chukar running in the snow
I spent the day photographing with Ron and a fellow photographer friend of ours from Arizona, Brian Gatlin. Antelope Island State Park was slow, the only images I took were of the Chukar above.
Great Blue Heron preening to remove ice
Farmington Bay WMA; on the other hand, was hopping. This Great Blue Heron; probably the same one I photographed a few days ago, was trying hard to get the ice off that had formed on the straggly part of its chest plumage.
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron
Then there was this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron standing in the open water near the second bridge. It also had ice hanging from its plumage.
Rough-legged Hawk juvenile
There was also cooperative juvenile Rough-legged Hawk perched on a bush near the road.
Barn Owl
And this lovely Barn Owl that probably couldn’t figure out why three glass lenses in the pick up were pointed at it along with one in a vehicle behind us. The bird obviously doesn’t know it has Star Power.
A wonderful fun-filled day with great companionship and plenty of birds. I can’t ask for more.
Young Black-crowned Night Heron on ice – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
I’ve mentioned before that Great Blue Herons stay in the Salt Lake Valley over winter even though the temperatures get very cold and so do some of the Black-crowned Night Herons. I had just mentioned that I hadn’t been seeing the Black-crowned Night Herons when I saw this juvenile flying over the Phragmites near a pond at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area and then it landed on the ice close to some open water.
Alert juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons look quite different from the adults in plumage but they have the same general shape. Aren’t those orange eyes brilliant in morning light? And like the American Coot images I posted yesterday from the same session, they both have big feet.
Immature Black-crowned Night Heron – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
I don’t see the Black-crowned Night Herons as often in the winter as I do other times of the year so this young bird was a lovely treat.
I spent yesterday morning photographing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah. Black-crowned Night Herons seemed to be everywhere on the south side of the auto tour loop, both adults and hatch year birds.
Black-crowned Night Heron – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/3000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC 400mm, natural light
Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) are wading birds that are mainly active at night, dusk and early dawn. They are common and widespread throughout North America and the world and can be found in Utah year round near lakes, ponds, streams and marshes.
I looked them up on my iBird Pro app this morning and learned that the adults of this species do not distinguish between their own chicks and chicks from other nests and they will brood chicks that are not their own.
I photographed this adult Black-crowned Night Heron as it flew over an area of cattails and rushes after it flushed. It looks like there was a long piece of filamentous algae attached to its wing tip.
This is another image that reminds me of the day I photographed it and the great memories of that photo session. Ron and I sat with this Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) for several minutes on the auto tour loop of Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah.
My Nikon D300 is giving me the fits, I’ve had it checked out locally and they can’t replicate the issues I am having of the exposure going wonky intermittently, my shutter speed will go from 1/1000 or higher and then drop to 1/4 to 1/60 resulting in pure snowy white images. Yuck. At any rate right now I am using my backup D200′s until I can get the D300 sent to Nikon.
Black-crowned Night Heron lift off – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light
The day didn’t start off looking great, it looked like it might be cloudy but the light stayed over the refuge while to the south it didn’t look great. There were birds, birds and more birds on the auto tour loop and we were able to catch some wonderful action.
This heron was standing on a little spit of dry land at the edge of a marshy pond, for a bit it just stood there, then it preened a while. Before too long Ron and I could see the bird was going to lift off and fly away. We were ready!
I took a nice series of images as the Black-crowned lifted off and flew past us, I really liked the position of the wings, the look at the intensely red eye and those big, dangling yellow feet in this frame.
After leaving the refuge we stopped at the Maddox Drive In for great Hamburgers and fries.
Birthday Boy Ron appeared to have an awesome day but why wouldn’t we? Great light. Plenty of birds. Super company. I was a happy camper!
Mia
*I pre-scheduled this post because I am away, please feel free to share this with your friends & family!
For today’s Friday Photos I am mixing it up a bit and posting images of Pronghorns, a Black-crowned Night Heron, a Long-tailed Weasel and an American Kestrel. Please enjoy!
Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) of Antelope Flat, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 800, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
I am behind on processing (that really isn’t news) but earlier this week I edited some files from a camping trip I made in September of 2011 to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area located in northeast Utah so I had this file on hand.
I photographed this group of Pronghorns in an area known as Antelope Flat which really seems like a fitting name since I saw so many Pronghorn there. Because I was there during the Pronghorn rut I was able to observe and photograph a Pronghorn buck trying to keep control of his does. I’ll do a post on them soon but for now I wanted to share one image of that buck’s “ladies” taken in the early morning light.
Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)adult – Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, UT Nikon D200, f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 330mm, natural light
I photographed this adult Black-crowned Night Heron in early morning light at the Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in northern Utah as it stood on a mound of dead Bulrushes. I find the very long white occipital plume, cherry red eyes and the colors of this night heron appealing and beautiful. Unlike the Black-crowned Night Herons in Florida that I found easy to approach I have noticed that this species in Utah is far more difficult to get close to so I am always pleased when one poses within range as this one did.
Male American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) - Antelope Island State Park, UT Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1250, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited
I was a bit further away from this male American Kestrel on the Antelope Island causeway than I would have liked to have been when I photographed it but I loved the setting, the pose of the falcon, the soft light and the frosted vegetation. I also enjoy having my subjects “small in the frame” at times and believe they can be compelling and appealing images. Besides; I adore American Kestrels and will photograph them at every opportunity!
Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata) in summer coat – Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, UT Nikon D200, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 200mm, natural light, not baited
There is a story behind this Long-tailed Weasel photo that I will do a post on another time but I wanted to share this one file for now. This Long-tailed Weasel is in its summer coat, in the winter the coat becomes all white with the exception of a black tipped tail. I’m still hoping to get images of them in the winter because they are especially beautiful then. They may be beautiful but Long-tailed Weasels have a reputation for being ferocious and they will even kill and cannibalize their own species. I would not want to mess with these weasels!
