I spent yesterday morning enjoying a Broad-tailed Hummingbird bliss in the Wasatch Mountains by finding their favorite perches and photographing them feeding, resting, and defending their territories.
Because of a two part call, FITZ-bew, I had no trouble identifying a flycatcher that I saw, photographed and heard yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains as a Willow Flycatcher.
While I know that for some people this Green-tailed Towhee image might be a "little out there" for their tastes and personal preferences I don't photograph birds for them, I photograph birds for me.
I wanted to share a five image series of a male Yellow-headed Blackbird that I photographed in the marshes of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge this morning that I took the second week of May.
Three days ago I photographed Yellow-rumped Warblers in the Wasatch Mountains, these warblers are a challenge because they move so quickly but they are always fun to have in my viewfinder.
Gray Catbirds have returned to northern Utah for their breeding season and I am thrilled to be hearing their songs and calls again.
The Black Twinberry Honeysuckles weren't even in bloom quite yet yesterday in the Wasatch Mountains when I spotted this male Broad-tailed Hummingbird hovering near some to get nectar.
The other bird I photographed that day in the high Uintas was a gorgeous male Northern Yellow Warbler foraging in an aspen tree very close to where I sat inside a "mobile" blind at the edge of a dirt road.
Male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds show a preference in the perches that they use to rest, to keep an eye on their territories and once they select a favorite perch it can be like striking gold for a bird photographer.
We've had cloudy and sometimes rainy weather for quite some time now in northern Utah with storms rolling in one after the other and it does prevent me from getting out into the field with the birds.
I took a couple hundred images of the Yellow-rumped Warblers as they flitted around in search of prey next to the creek and after reviewing my images I only found a few that I felt were worth keeping.
The nicest surprise of the morning was when a female Belted Kingfisher perched on a branch close to a creek and the road.
May is a time of renewal at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and as the marsh begins to green up the migrant birds return and along with the year round residents their songs and calls can be heard over the wetlands.
In my post about Chipping Sparrows, Wild Turkeys and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds earlier this week I mentioned that I had taken more photos of the turkey hen so this morning I thought I'd share one more photo of her.
The fore and background of this image may be messy or cluttered looking but I love the way this photo shows the female Yellow-headed Blackbird in the habitat I find them in at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
The gems of my photographic journey yesterday morning were Broad-tailed Hummingbirds that were hanging around a Wax Currant bush next to the dirt road where the sounds of their wings alerted me to their presence.
I don't know if the Ring-necked Pheasants eat the midges but I know that many of the other birds at the refuge do so I like to think of midges as bird food on the wing.
On my second trip up into the mountains last week I was focused on a Barn Swallow perched in bushes near a creek when I caught a bit of movement in the bushes below the swallow and spotted this Northern Yellow Warbler.
What is better than photographing a male Red-tailed Hawk? Photographing the hawk with blooming wildflowers, in this case Gray's Biscuitroot.
To my surprise when the Vesper Sparrow lifted off it flew onto the top of another sagebrush that was even closer to me which was nearly perfect for taking portraits of the sparrow and I took full advantage of the opportunity.
When I heard a call to my left I glanced in that direction and saw a female Northern Harrier flying towards the Red-tailed at break neck speed.
Two days ago while near the Weber River up in Summit County I heard a familiar sound and I knew from that sound that a Spotted Sandpiper was nearby.
When I opened this adult Cliff Swallow image on my computer at home the first thought I had was that it looked like the Cliff Swallow was surfing on a phragmites "wave".
I haven't seen or photographed White-faced Ibis perched in the nearly ten years that I have lived here so I was thrilled to have my first opportunity to do so yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
I tried to get up into a canyon in the Stansbury Mountains yesterday but was met with a closed gate so I turned my Jeep around and decided that I would explore a different canyon.
When mom and I found this adult Green-tailed Towhee singing while perched on a blooming Utah Serviceberry of course we had to stop and take its photo!
The best bird I spotted that I could photograph was a male Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face and what I loved about this photo was all the grasses, lichen, wildflowers and the sage high up on the cliff.
It really is a simple Great Blue Heron photo with the marsh, a stationary wading bird, vibrant spring growth and water at the top of the frame but it is also a very calming image for me because for a few seconds time stood as still as the heron.
The first ID features I noticed yesterday with this Vesper Sparrow were the bright, white eyerings and the rufous lesser coverts and I could make my ID from just those two features.
Later in the morning and on the other side of the auto tour route I was able to take images of a hen Cinnamon Teal surrounded by lush, green spring growth while her mate kept an eye on her from a distance.