rocks

Snowy Coyote, Chukar and Antelope Island State Park

By Mia McPherson, on January 29th, 2013%

Chukar in the air – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited

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. It does give a great view of the whole bird though!

There was about 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground on Antelope Island yesterday, some of the roads weren’t even plowed yet and while there was lovely light to the west it had not reached the island when I photographed the Chukar.

Snow-covered Coyote – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/1600, ISO 640, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light, not baited or called in

Then later I spotted Old Scarface again, a pale Coyote who has scars on its muzzle, and another darker, smaller Coyote. I think this pale Coyote is a male because he looks slightly larger than the other one, but I can’t be sure. The female hung back but this Coyote came up close and appeared to be looking for voles under the thick layer of snow, this image was taken right after the Coyote stuck its muzzle into the snow to sniff out prey. I have photographed this Coyote before but hadn’t noticed that its eyes are a darker amber than most Coyotes I have seen, maybe it was just the flat light.

This Coyote may have an injured foot, it did walk gingerly on the foot but at times I could see it just walking on its other three legs.

I’ll be posting more images of the Coyotes and the Chukars I photographed yesterday soon.

Snow-covered rocks on Antelope Island – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 400, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 42mm, natural light

This image shows the clouds over the island and they were the reason the light was flat, I liked the way the snow covered these rocks and how the drifts seemed a part of them.

More snow is on the way and it might be a few days before I can get back out to photograph. I have plenty of images that need to be edited though. The snow on Antelope Island has been beautiful this winter and hopefully the next time I go out there the sun will shine brightly on it.

Mia

Hatch year Red-tailed Hawk

By Mia McPherson, on December 12th, 2012%

Red-tailed Hawk juvenile – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/2500, ISO 1000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VT with 1.4x TC at 264mm, natural light, not baited, called in or set up

Yesterday we met up with Becka on Antelope Island to show her the location where we spotted yet another escaped falconry bird, a female American Kestrel. I’ll write more about the kestrel later. We left for the island later than normal because the light had been awful when we would usually head that way. The light was still bad when we reached the island but there was some clearing to the west of it so there was at least a possibility that there would be enough to get take some images of birds or animals.

After we showed Becka where we found the escaped American Kestrel we drove around looking for her and other raptors south of the Frary Peak turn off. On our way back north I spotted this immature Red-tailed Hawk high up on the rocks on a perch many birds have used as seen by the copious amounts of white-wash. When we drove up the juvenile Red-tail stayed calm as we passed it on the one lane road to get past it for a good light angle.

I certainly didn’t need ISO 1000 to photograph this young hawk, that was a setting I used earlier when the light was low. The hawk didn’t stay long, I only took 8 images of it before it lifted off facing away from us and then less than a minute later we saw it flying low to the ground below us with prey in its bill where it landed to dine on the vole it had captured.

I recall that when I first started photographing the juvenile Red-tailed Hawks in this area back in August that they missed their prey more times than they would capture it and now they seem to have gone the other way, they are catching the prey more than they are missing it.

A lot of people cheer for their favorite team or sports star, me; I’m cheering these young and amazing raptors on!

Mia

More Red-tailed Hawk images