Adult Peregrine Falcon on a rusty metal perch – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
I was on the road to go to the West Desert yesterday morning but the radar/satellite was wrong once again and there were thick clouds to the west that were hanging over the Oquirrh and Stansbury Mountains. I really wish the “cloud” feature on those weather websites worked better because those clouds did not show up when I viewed one before going out the door. So instead of the West Desert to look for birds it was off to Lee Kay Ponds near the Salt Lake County Landfill to see if there were any birds there.
The landfill isn’t great to look at and during the summer it can be pretty stinky but at times there are good birds there because of Lee Kay Ponds which are across the road. I found a few sparrows on the rutty dirt road coming off of I-80 but that was about it and I was beginning to think I was going to be skunked and go home without a single image worth keeping.
I spotted a bird’s silhouette high on a metal power pole and once I got to the east side of the bird where the sun wasn’t blinding me I could tell it was an adult Peregrine Falcon. Sure the setting wasn’t great but I will take photos of falcons any time I have the chance. The Peregrine Falcon was quite content on its rusty, lofty perch and didn’t do anything but turn its head to see what was going on down below it. So no take off shots and no shots of the falcon in flight but I was happy to have seen and photographed it.
Godzilla Reigns over the Salt Lake County Landfill – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited (LOL)
Further east on the road I could see a shape on top of a wooden power pole but couldn’t make out what it was and by the time I could I was laughing out loud because someone had placed a plastic Godzilla on top of the power pole.
Why?
I don’t know, maybe the landfill workers have a weird sense of humor or perhaps a more likely explanation is that they placed it there to keep birds off of that specific pole. During the winter Bald Eagles have been known to perch there and I am sure that can cause more than one birder or bird photographer to stop across the road which is right near one of the entrance gates to a section of the landfill. Now they could have placed a plastic cone on top of the pole or plastic spikes but they picked Godzilla to reign over that power pole instead. Godzilla is just another one of the odd things I have seen while out looking for birds.
Life is good. Having a sense of humor makes it better.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Peregrine Falcon photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here to see my Miscellaneous Image gallery that I have for the strange things I see in the field.
Map showing Lee Kay Ponds and the Salt Lake County Landfill
So the hawk is looking over his shoulder and thinking, ” Holy Shit! Is that Godzilla?”
Fun shots MIa. Thanks.
Big smiles at both images today. Thank you.
Like you, I’ll stop dead in my tracks for a peregrine, well, any raptor for that matter. But given that just a few years ago, the peregrine teetered on the brink of extinction, it’s a sheer delight to see them now that they’ve come back to us.
As for Godzilla, who knows? All I know is I really wish I’d have taken my idea of plastic raptors to discourage pest birds seriously back when that light bulb illuminated (before others took it more seriously and ran with it). Alas, I didn’t. I knew the target birds were far too smart to fall for that trick when they realized that the plastic scary bird didn’t ever move, and thus, it really wasn’t a scary predator at all, but instead could be used as a convenient perch. And thus, I dismissed the idea. I could have been a zillionaire with that one. But no.
Our local feed store offered a plastic redtail hawk and I was sorely tempted to buy it, just because and despite the fact that Mariah, AKA the Queen redtail hawk here, would be displeased at my idiocy 😉 I can just see her shaking her head, wondering how I (and other two-legged morons) get through the day!
Love picture of peregrine on its rusty rainbow…almost as much as Godzilla on the post..am wondering how close that landfill is tonwater and if there’s any leaching…???
Ha ha ha!!! That’s pretty cool!
…go, go go, Godzilla!