Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.
During the winter I'm able to see some of the ducks that I don't see during the breeding season here in northern Utah on the Jordan River including Common Goldeneyes.
If I hadn't already been stopped to photograph the blackbird I wouldn't have seen this immature Bald Eagle flying towards me in time to take the photos that I took of it on the wing.
It has been nearly a year since I posted any photos of Red-winged Blackbirds and since I took photos of a cooperative, sticky male yesterday I thought I should rectify that situation and share two photos here this morning.
It is winter here but the birds know that spring is around the corner and more gatherings like the ones I saw two days ago will happen again and I hope I am able to slow down and enjoy it.
When the clouds cleared out yesterday morning there were birds to be found and today I am focusing my daily post on the White-faced Ibis that overwinter in the marshes of Farmington Bay WMA that I photographed there yesterday.
An American Coot with a dirty bill wasn't shy at all when it climbed out of the pond close enough for me to take portraits of it.
After miles and miles and miles of travel yesterday my best images were of an adult Great Blue Heron on ice with frost flowers in the frame.
It felt amazing to have that Great Blue Heron gift us with its presence for those few seconds. You just never know what might happen when you are out looking for birds.
I'm glad this Gadwall drake came in close so I could take a few photos of him before I turned my attention back to the pair of Hooded Mergansers.
I was happy when the "sit and wait" approach allowed me to see this adult Song Sparrow pop up on top of a snow covered pile of vegetation where it proceeded to forage in front of me at a nice distance.
At first I thought the single Red-breasted Merganser was a female until I noticed the white patches of feathers behind its neck on its sides and then I realized that the merganser was a male because females do not typically have those white patches.
Both of these portraits of a first winter Ring-billed Gull are of the same bird taken one minute apart just as the light changed from okay to much brighter where the gull had changed its location but only slightly.
It has been nearly ten years since I took this photo and it remains one of my favorite Reddish Egret photos because of the clouds reflecting on the still waters of a lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park.
Primarily I focused on a drake Common Goldeneye that was busy foraging for food and that kept diving under the surface of the water close enough to take frame filling images of him.
This Redhead isn't "angry" at all but it does look angry to my eyes and this morning I'm feeling about as angry as this duck looks. I'll explain but first I have to give a bit more information about how my mornings start.
Even though this drake Ruddy Duck is small in the frame I liked this image because of the silky blue water, the small wake behind the duck, the direct eye contact and how some of the blue of this drake's bill is visible.
I removed the "Just A" from the title for this post and added "Focusing On A" instead. Why? Because I was focused on observing and photographing this Ring-billed Gull drinking from an icy pond and I'm happy to say that I was.
American Wigeons are here in this area of northern Utah year round but I seem to have my best opportunities with them during the winter. I'm delighted that this drake came in so close.
The birds I photographed the most yesterday were a pair of Hooded Mergansers that were actively foraging for prey most of the time I had them in my viewfinder.
Being at eye level with this Rough-legged Hawk carrying prey along the causeway to Antelope Island is an experience I won't soon forget.
In the case of this photo of a lone Canada Goose flying in front of the snowy Wasatch Mountains I took the photo because I liked how nicely lit the goose was in contrast to the darker, snow and cloud covered mountains.
I am itching to get back out into the field and one of the places I am most excited to get back to is Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah because of the Tundra Swans that I know are there.
On January 2nd I noticed a Ring-billed Gull coming in for a landing on an iced over pond that was missing a leg and foot and I wondered how well it would handle the slippery ice while attempting to land on it.
This image of a Pied-billed Grebe with a crayfish in its bill running across the water is one of those photos where I wish I could show the second grebe just outside of the frame chasing after it.
This morning I'm thinking back on warmer days where I took photos of Spotted Sandpipers on the Gulf Coast as they scurried among those oyster beds looking for food and somehow I feel just a little bit warmer looking at this photo and the howling wind doesn't seem quite so loud.
By sharing these photos today my intention is to show that there are times when photographic rules can be broken because the appeal of images or the lack of appeal is all about the individual tastes of the photographer taking the photos and those of the people that view them.
While photographing a California Gull on ice two days ago I was reminded of how well these gulls survive the bitter cold we have here at times during the winter even when the ponds, lakes and rivers freeze over.
There were some images of the bathing Pied-billed Grebe I did like because they showed a view of the grebe I don't share all that often, the back side of the grebe. They have cute little bottoms, so why not?
What caught my eyes was that one of the cormorants was smaller, sleeker and darker than the other two birds and before I even scoped it through my lens I knew that I had found an out of season Neotropic Cormorant.
So back to the question of what birds will this New Year bring? The ones I get out and find of course.