Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.
Yesterday I had just a few moments to focus on a young Western Wood-Pewee that showed up in front of a thicket of hawthorns in the mountains.
I was thrilled to have an immature Common Yellowthroat out in the open and in my viewfinder two days ago high in the Wasatch Mountains.
If I hadn't been sitting exactly where I was at the time I was photographing the Belted Kingfisher I would have missed out on seeing this rare Northern Waterthrush.
When I photographed this immature Lazuli Bunting three years ago today these images were eclipsed by me finding a rare Baltimore Oriole in the same area of the Wasatch Mountains.
Do you remember playing I Spy when you were a child? I do.
The reports of snow in the mountains made me think of this Snowy Egret photo I took in August of 2017 with the Promontory Mountains in the background.
It has been a week now since I photographed this Great Blue Heron and have been able to get out into the field because of smoke, wind, fire, and rain.
One year ago today I found a nesting Western Grebe with two eggs at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and I realized yesterday that I had never shared photos of it.
When I lived in Florida it wasn't unusual for me to share sunrise alone with birds at the north beach of Fort De Soto. Thirteen years ago I did just that with a Greater Yellowlegs.
I-80 runs east/west through Parleys Canyon and just after 1 pm a catalytic convertor ejected hot particles along the roadside which started the #ParleysCanyonFire.
Two days ago I photographed a molting Song Sparrow as it perched on an old wooden post high in a mountain canyon in beautiful morning light.
After a week at home because of smoky skies I ventured into the mountains and one of the first birds I photographed was this worn looking Green-tailed Towhee.
This Bank Swallow photo feels like I took it a lifetime ago. It was taken on July 30, 2009 at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge shortly after I moved to Utah.
I was looking through my older images and came across this one of a hatch year Spotted Sandpiper on some rocks at Bear River MBR.
This young Cedar Waxwing may look like it is yawning, calling, or begging for food because of its wide open bill.
My subject was actually a slightly messy Orange-crowned Warbler perched on a branch looking down at the ground.
The first time I raised my lens yesterday morning it was for blooming Prickly Poppies that were along the shoulder of the bumpy gravel road.
Yesterday morning I was delighted to take a nice series of young MacGillivray's Warbler images not long after the sun lit up the willow thicket it was foraging in.
Yesterday morning I was able to spend time taking Willow Flycatcher photos high in the mountains with clear skies overhead as I watched the flycatchers hunting for prey.
While looking through my archives yesterday I came across this image of a Vesper Sparrow I photographed last September near a freshwater seep in Box Elder County.
There are times I take cruddy photos on purpose when I know that my view of the entire bird is obstructed and that I might only have a partial view of the bird.
This morning I wanted to keep my post short and sweet and sharing juvenile Mountain Bluebird images is pretty sweet I think.
Bird activity in the Wasatch Mountains has gotten slow but I was able to find and photograph an adult Gray Catbird with food for its young two days ago.
Yesterday morning the second bird I photographed was a Yellow Warbler on an old branch in a smoky haze high in the Wasatch Mountains.
I haven't seen any Spotted Sandpiper chicks in a location in the Wasatch Mountains where I normally see them at this time of the year but I have these from last summer.
While Franklin's Gulls are in northern Utah for their breeding season brine flies are an important food source for the adults and their young and are a part of their breeding success here in the Great Basin.
In late summer I see Nashville and MacGillivray’s Warblers in the same locations and habitats foraging for the same food, aphids.
What I missed seeing was that the immature Belted Kingfisher had spider webs stuck to its face in a long series of photos that I took of it next to a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.
Some of the bird photos I take make me laugh and this goofy looking Canada Goose lifting off from the marsh at Bear River MBR is one of them.
Any day now I should spot my first of season fledgling Song Sparrow exploring their world and learning how to find food on their own.