Three years ago today though the ground was covered in drifts of snow, the temps were below freezing, there was ice on the ponds & lakes and there was a sharp briskness to the air that can only be found in winter.
I was tickled one morning when I came across this Turnstone in nonbreeding plumage perched on a piece of weathered driftwood just after the sun came over the horizon with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico behind it.
These are a just few images that I have edited taken since August of Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on Antelope Island State Park.
Since winter has thus far decided to stay in more northern latitudes and higher elevations I decided to post an image of a Long-billed Curlew taken in southern, sub-tropical climes a few years ago.
Due to a crash in the vole population at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last summer there weren't many Short-eared Owls around the refuge but the few that were there were real beauties.
One of the nice things about cruddy weather is that I get the chance to edit some of the images that are languishing in my files that I have taken but not gotten around to processing. Here are a few of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photographed in August on Antelope Island State Park.
I hope that no one is getting sick of my Coyotes images. I took this Coyote photo two days ago as it walked on a Great Salt Lake beach.
This Western Meadowlark was a cooperative subject yesterday morning and allowed a close enough approach to get some frame filling images.
I'm pleased with this bison image because it contains so many icons of the western U.S., the bison grazing on prairie grasses, the Great Salt Lake and a mountain range in the background.
Last week I saw quite a few Common Mergansers at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but I wasn't able to get close enough to them to get any quality images but they reminded me of images I had been able to take of Common Mergansers several years ago at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
When I photographed this hunting Tricolored Heron I was laying flat on my belly in the shallows where the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico gently lapped the shore.
So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.
Not long after arriving at Antelope Island yesterday I heard the sound of Coyotes singing, it is a sound that always brings a smile to my lips and delights me.
I photographed this drake Ring-necked Duck in breeding plumage a few years ago on a pond not far from where I live.
So, my best shots of the day were of this resting Mule Deer buck that I almost missed spotting because he blended in so well with the habitat.
This image has always cracked me up, I wonder if the Great Blue Heron even realized its toenails were dragging in the water.
I mentioned that there had been low light, falling snow and that the weather conditions before photographing the Loggerhead Shrike and Prairie Falcon weren't great.
There are Burrowing Owls on Antelope Island; I've photographed them hundreds of times, but yesterday I spotted one in a location I had never seen one before.
I took this photo in Florida in 2008 as the adult Black Skimmer flew by whilst giving me "the eye". Isn't the color of the Gulf of Mexico behind the bird simply delicious?
I am a photographer who is really sick and tired of Image Thieves. I am disgusted with people who do not consider our photographic "work" valuable and that it belongs to us.
While photographing this Snowy Plover in June of 2008 I was able to observe the tiny shorebird snatch an ant from the sugar sand of the north beach of Fort De Soto.
This adult Swainson's had two juveniles nearby that were perched on the conifer tree that their natal nest was in and the sun was getting close to setting. Sometimes I wish I could "speak" raptor so I could know what they are saying.
I was tickled to get these images and the others I created of these two Snow Geese yesterday, especially since they were close.
I remember the morning I took this photo well, it was a warm morning in February at Fort De Soto's north beach, the Great Egret was in the tidal lagoon near the Concession Stand and it had been actively hunting when it came up with this Mullet.
This image of a Northern Harrier and a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in an aerial dogfight over Antelope Island State Park was taken the day before the recent snow storm started that we had here in the Salt Lake Valley over the weekend.
While looking for birds to photograph I spotted a pair of Coyotes hunting and roaming through the snow-covered landscape together.
This Loggerhead Shrike was one of the few birds I photographed yesterday on Antelope Island before the Prairie Falcon with a Northern Shoveler as prey that I posted yesterday.
Earlier this morning I spotted a Prairie Falcon perched on a rock while on the Antelope Island Causeway, before we could get stopped and into position to photograph the falcon it took off over the water and attacked a Northern Shoveler.
We've gotten a lot of snow in the Salt Lake Valley since Friday, I swept at least a foot of snow off my vehicle yesterday and about 3 to 4 inches on Friday, as I write this the snow is still falling.
While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.