Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.
I was pleased to see and photograph my first of the year Turkey Vulture perched on a fence post next to a road yesterday in northern Utah.
Spring means birds are getting ready to find mates, breed, nesting and raising their young.
The best bird photography opportunity of the day happened when I spotted a Burrowing Owl near its burrow and I took advantage of the nice light to take quite a few images of the owl framed by grasses and blooming Red-stem Filaree.
Little Blue Herons start off their lives with white plumage, then look piebald with blue and white fathers and finally look more "blue" as adults.
On my last two trips up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I have heard Savannah Sparrows singing "sit sit sit sit suh-EEEEE say" from somewhere in the marshes.
Yesterday morning I was able to spend time photographing a pair of Chukars on Antelope Island State Park in a grassy area that has begun to turn green.
I'm happy that the Clark's and Western Grebes have returned for their breeding season at the refuge and I look forward to photographing them while they are here.
I saw and photographed a mated pair of Sandhill Cranes yesterday morning in the marsh from the auto tour loop and watched them search for food.
Western Meadowlarks are very active right now on the island, searching for insects, scurrying through the grasses and singing their hearts out from their favorite perches.
In bird photography there is such a thing as over processing mistakes and the mistake I see most often is adding way too much saturation.
I took several hundred images of a female Belted Kingfisher looking for and catching prey while it was bright and sunny yesterday afternoon.
The Cooper's Hawk took flight without much warning at all and for a second I lost it while tracking the hawk but regained focus as it flew south past me.
Even though I can't see them with my eyes as I write this I can imagine Sandhill Cranes waiting for the first rays of the sun to reach the marshes where they spent the night.
The most interesting activities I saw yesterday were territorial behaviors and chases between two male Horned Larks in an open area of the park.
Two years ago in July I photographed this young Burrowing Owl on a post in morning light and I relaxed and let a smile form on my lips.
When I found a Black-billed Magpie on the rocks close to the road below Frary Peak I was happy to photograph it there.
Winter is clashing with spring right now in northern Utah and those seasonal changes can make bird photography interesting.
Two days ago this Golden Eagle was perched on a rocky outcrop but because of a blind spot I didn't see it quite soon enough but at least I was able to get a few decent images of it.
The first of March always makes me think of and listen for Long-billed Curlews, our largest shorebird of North America.
I'm drawn to and fascinated by these western desert Burrowing Owls because they are beautiful, interesting and animated subjects. And they are pretty darn cute!
In 2009 I photographed this foraging Marbled Godwit and friends on exposed mudflats of a Fort De Soto County Park lagoon.
I am anxious to get out to the Bear River MBR auto tour loop of the refuge to see what migrants have flown in but right now that isn't possible and there isn't any information on when the road will open again
Short-eared Owls are nomadic because they follow their main prey which is voles and if the vole population is low the Short-eared Owl density will also be low.
I expect to see Greater Yellowlegs soon because they are one of the first shorebirds to migrate through Utah on their way to their breeding grounds.
It was my photos of a Double-crested Cormorant and American Coot in the snow storm that touched me the most even though both birds are small in the frame.
When I came across this Western Grebe family image that I took at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I knew this was an image that made me think of spring.
Some people might call these manky mallards homely, weird or even downright ugly but I prefer thinking of them as oddly beautiful and believe they are worthy of being showcased once in a while.
Common Gallinules and American Coots are both from the Rallidae family and there are some similarities in their appearance, for instance both have a triangular bill with a frontal shield at the top.
I will be listening for the male Marsh Wrens songs at the pond nearby and the marshes at Farmington Bay WMA and Bear River MBR and waiting to see them pop up on top of the cattails, phrags and rushes.
We still have our winter birds and the spring migrants have begun their journey north so my bird photography is likely to pick up and get exciting soon if the clouds will give me a break.