Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.
Last week I photographed a very cooperative adult Red-tailed Hawk that was next to a road in the West Desert of Utah on a smoky morning.
It didn't take long before the Red-tailed Hawk raised its wings to lift off from the juniper with a smoky blue sky in the background.
Last month I had a brief photo session with a young Song Sparrow near a creek in bright morning light high in the Wasatch Mountains.
When I look at this photo of a Willet in the waves of the Gulf of Mexico I can almost hear the sounds, taste the tang of salt in the air and feel the warm water on my skin.
I like having my windows open so I can hear the sounds of birds when I can't be in the field. It helps me to hear them especially when the world is so crazy.
One of the other things that made me upset with Bob the Sandhill Crane being killed is that this could have been prevented.
Today is National Hummingbird Day and I am celebrating by sharing some Rufous Hummingbird photos I took earlier this week on Antelope Island.
Yesterday I went out to Antelope Island for the first time since April and I took hundreds of Rufous Hummingbird photos plus some of the rising sun.
Sage Thrashers are only in Utah for their breeding season and by now all their chicks have fledged and are feeding on their own.
Two days ago I was able to spend a few minutes taking Black-capped Chickadee photos as small flock of them foraged in Common Mulleins.
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.