Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.
I don't get to see or photograph Oystercatchers here in Utah but I still dream about these shorebirds and can hear their calls when I look at the thousands of images I took of them.
This was a life bird for my mother and I am glad she was able to see it strolling among the rocks on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake while I photographed the curlew last week.
One foggy morning last December I spotted this juvenile Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) perched on a frost-covered rock on the causeway to Antelope Island SP with the Great Salt Lake in the background.
Male Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) are flashy birds but I believe the females have a subtle beauty too.
In May of this year I camped at Antelope Flat in the Flaming Gorge National recreation Area and near the boat ramp there was an Osprey nest.
Black-bellied Plovers in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can look like two different plover species but they aren't.
I don't always get what I want though; for example, I wanted this male Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) I photographed at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana in good light.
This Western Meadowlark was about to take off from the boulder it was on when I photographed it on Wednesday.
I photographed this Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) a few years ago when I still lived in Florida.
Four years ago today Hurricane Ike was out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and the waves that it generated made a strong splash at Fort De Soto County Park.
Several people have remarked on how much they like the resting Black Skimmer juvenile image that was in my rotating banner at the top of this blog so I thought I would post it to show the whole bird.
Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia) are North America's largest tern with a wingspan of 50 inches and weighing in at 1.4 pounds.
These juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) images were taken on two consecutive days last week. I'm always excited to have a bird in my view finder and when I can photograph hawks for two days in a row... I feel raptor rapture.
I had fun yesterday photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) as it perched on rocks and hunted for prey. This image shows the Red-tailed coming in for a landing.
Despite having "Night Heron" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.
A simple image of a beautiful Snowy Plover in a rather goofy looking pose. The plover had been preening and paused for a few frames with its tail lifted up
I photographed this adult Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) in breeding plumage while it bathed in the shallow waters of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach a few years ago.
The scientific name of Eastern Kingbirds is Tyrannus tyrannus, Tyrannus means "tyrant" and they are well named because they will harass any bird that comes near their nests including crows, ravens and much larger birds like hawks.
Yesterday I saw a female Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) checking out the feeder near my front window.
During my travels in Montana earlier this month I saw loads of Savannah Sparrows and although there were many in southwestern Montana I only photographed the ones on the farm in Glacier County.
Not only did I see numerous Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on my recent trip to Montana, I also saw quite a few Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) juveniles too.
While I was away in Montana for eight days starting last week I had a fantastic time photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.
This adult Reddish Egret was going into breeding plumage, it has the pink and black bi-colored bill and the lores are turning bluish purple.
I photographed this American Avocet in nonbreeding plumage as it foraged in Glover's Pond at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in northern Utah a few years ago in the month of November.
Not that long ago Common Gallinules (Gallinula galeata) were called Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus), it will take me some time to get used to the new name.
Fluffy Great Horned Owl fledgling + knotty weathered wood + large yellow eyes = Wonderful!
Some images strike my funny bone, this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photograph sure has. This is but one of many captions that came to my mind after viewing it.
This image could have been better. I have no doubt about that. I did get the exposure right and I like the action. But there are far too many things about this photo that just don't work.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America. They inhabit low elevation, open areas in the western United States and some locations in southwestern Canada and winter in southwestern US and Mexico.
Ruddy Turnstones in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can appear to be two different species to novice birders and bird photographers as can several other bird species.