Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.
While out on Antelope Island State Park on Friday I spotted a male Brewer's Blackbird on top of a bush, the light was just great for viewing and photographing the iridescent teals, blues, greens and purples that can show up on these "black" birds.
It was the first time I have been able to photograph a California Gull with nesting material so I was quite pleased.
While looking through my archives a few days ago I came across two images, one of sand dunes at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida and the other of sand dunes on Antelope Island State Park in Utah. I remember that I took both images because I loved the sky, the vegetation on the dunes and how they both make me feel so connected to these two locations that I am deeply attached to.
Yes, poop happens. If there are birds there is poop. That is the straight poop... I mean scoop!
During spring and fall migration there can be so many Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) on the Great Salt Lake that they are impossible to count.
Getting "Down & Dirty" is a way of being at eye level with your subject which brings the viewer into the bird's world and it can make the image feel more intimate too. Achieving those low angle perspectives can be quite messy and/or uncomfortable depending on the habitat.
Seeing the word "Montana" so often has gotten me anxious, antsy and itching to head north soon to see more of a state that beckons to me because I have fallen in love with it.
A few weeks ago I was able to photograph a Loggerhead Shrike near the marina on Antelope Island State Park, Utah. It was an interesting experience for several reasons.
I look at this image and I see intelligence in the Coyote's eyes. I see a warm blooded creature who is doing what it needs to do to survive. I see a female who is nursing pups. I see beauty.
You don't always need to have long focal lengths to get close up images, this image was taken with a moderately priced Nikkor 70-300mm VR at only 220mm and it is practically full frame.
Willets have returned to Utah, on the causeway to Antelope Island hundreds of them can be seen in the shallow water. They seem to spend some time there fattening up after migration before they get down to the serious business of mating and rearing their young.
Last week I photographed a Killdeer bathing at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in Davis County, Utah.
I liked that this spring time Chukar perched on a rock where a few of the Redstem Filaree were visible.
Just a simple Great Egret (Ardea alba) image that always seems to tickle my funny bone when I view it because of the pose.
This is the closest I have been to a Lark Sparrow to date and this was a very cooperative bird too!
Black-necked Stilts have returned from their wintering grounds to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and other locations in Utah. Black-necked Stilts are black and white shorebirds with long pink to reddish legs, thin black bills and lovely red eyes.
Just a simple image of a Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) today. I photographed this Egret as it stalked along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida.
During the spring Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) can be easy to locate and then approach because they spend so much time singing from the tops of boulders, bushes, posts and other manmade objects.
Some images are simply too funny not to share. Even with those huge feet this American Coot (Fulica americana) couldn't stay in top of the ice at a pond near where I live in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Once again the weather forecasters blew it. Their predictions were wrong. They missed the boat. If weather predictions were a dice game... they crapped out.
There were two Reddish Egrets (Egretta rufescens) on the north beach of Fort De Soto that day and it was a blast to watch them race around catching the small fish.
As much as I like to compose images that are full frame I find that I often allow myself a touch of extra space around my subject so I can recompose in post processing by making different crops.
During the winter months I miss seeing large flocks of American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) soaring in the thermals, in the past few weeks I have been delighted to see them again.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) can perch on cattails, reeds, rushes or mounds of vegetation and snatch Midges right out of the air.
I photographed this female Greater Sage-Grouse while up in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
Last week I wrote about Long-billed Curlews having a Territorial Encounter but earlier that same morning I had another wonderful photographic encounter thanks to a scruffy looking, rain soaked Coyote waking up at the top of a ridge.
It is really odd to see a plane on the road to the campsite when you are way out in the boonies and there isn't an airport in sight for miles.
Short-billed Dowitchers feed on insects, crustaceans and aquatic mollusks. Quite often when I lived in Florida I would see them feeding on Coquinas which are small bivalves or tiny Fiddler Crabs.
Last week while searching for Golden Eagles to photograph in Box Elder County, Utah I spotted two Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) adults; my first of the year sightings, the first one perched on a power pole.