Sometimes Great Views Are All I Get

West Desert Mountain Views – Samsung cell phone image

Sometimes I go out to look for birds to photograph and all I get are great views of the scenery, sometimes I am okay with that and sometimes it is very frustrating.

Yesterday the first raptor I spotted would have been in great light, it was perched on a gnarly, old juniper fence post instead of an ugly metal post and it may have been easy to approach because it was battling a strong breeze to stay perched.

But… I didn’t get any photos of that hawk because two ranchers pulled up in their pickups and parked in the area and that essentially made going down the dirt track towards the bird a no go. I don’t like no goes and find them very frustrating.

Then when I spotted several Red-tailed Hawks flying in the thermals over a hillside I was on the wrong side of the birds so they were in bad light.

There are just days when things don’t go right in bird photography. Clouds come in from no where or a gentle breeze turns into gale force winds. Other people scare the subject away. The subject won’t turn and face me. I’m not in the right location to have good light on my subject or I am a few seconds late and miss a fantastic series of shots that I can see with my naked eyes. There are just so many things that can and often do go wrong that it is impractical to list them here.

But here in Utah there are always great views to enjoy. Whether I am in the desert, mountains, Red Rock country, canyons, alpine meadows, forests, marshes or grasslands I can always count on having incredible views of the lands around me and I appreciate that immensely.

Sometimes I take photos of the scenery and sometimes I simply store the views away in my memories. The days I don’t take photos of birds aren’t total wastes of time; for instance, because of my basically photo less journey yesterday I now know some Red-tailed Hawks may be frequenting a canyon where I haven’t seen any in a while. Some of the days where I don’t take photos of birds are nice rides into the countryside shared with good company or moments of solitude where I just soak in all the nature I can see. Being outside in nature is never a loss.

Life is good.

Mia

I took one photo yesterday of an empty hawk nest.

This photo is a cell phone snap from last December taken in the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert.