Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.
I haven't posted a Burrowing Owl in a bit so I thought I would share this yawning juvenile Burrowing Owl that I photographed the beginning of July.
Two days ago while on the auto tour loop at Bear River MBR an American White Pelican caught my eyes because of its unusually dark crown, nape, and neck plumage.
The bird I was looking at wasn't a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron at all, it was an adult American Bittern out in the open!
I liked the crouched position of this Snowy Egret as it was about to strike the prey it was hunting and when it struck it did capture and eat the small fish.
I saw plenty of birds yesterday including juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons at Bear River MBR every where I looked.
Temps were probably in the teens when I photographed this juvenile harrier in January of 2010 at Farmington Bay. Ahhh.
I thought the invisible fence made this roadside Swainson's Hawk in rural Montana an interesting subject to share.
Killdeer chicks are precocial and active soon after hatching and will leave the nest as soon as their down dries.
I know that this hidden Short-eared Owl fledgling image isn't one of my best because of the grasses in front of its face and the shadow of a stem falling on its left eye but I love it.
This Short-eared Owl in flight over a wet meadow was just one of my favorite images taken yesterday in the Centennial Valley.
I was also delighted to photograph this juvenile Mountain Bluebird on the way to Gravelly Range early in the morning.
I photographed this migrating Least Sandpiper in the same pond as the Wilson's Phalarope chick at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge but on different days.
These are a few of the Beaverhead County Red-tailed Hawks that I have photographed while on this trip to Montana and Idaho.
I went looking for a mammal species yesterday and dipped on them but hit the jackpot by getting a lifer bird, a Northern Pygmy-Owl and it had prey!
I was photographing a Wilson's Phalarope chick and it was in fact the youngest phalarope chick I had ever seen!
When I lived in Florida I was able to see and photograph juvenile Royal Terns on the Gulf Coast were they could be seen along the shoreline and they were usually begging the adults for food.
My journey in life has taken me to many places and I'm glad that it brought me to Utah where I am enjoying photographing birds, wildlife and scenery. Seven years ago today.
Another change that has officially occurred was that Sandhill Cranes were moved from the genus Grus to Antigone.
The long-awaited Scrub-Jay split has officially happened! Western Scrub-Jay can be crossed out in a our fields guides and the two new names California Scrub-Jay and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay can be penciled in.
When I took this image the juvenile Loggerhead Shrike was perched on a dead twig when the robber fly flew into the frame, the shrike took off after the fly and caught it in mid air.
On the day I photographed this Wood Duck hen with her duckling the duckweed covered the surface.
I wanted to share an image of an American White Pelican in summer plumage today because summer is upon us and today marks America's Independence Day.
I'm so sorry this Short-eared Owl fledgling won't be released like the Barn Owl I helped to rescue in Montana but rescuing it from the barbed wire was still the right thing to do.
These four birds, an American Oystercatcher, a Greater Sage-Grouse, a Reddish Egret and a Mountain Plover are all facing the risk of extinction without serious conservation measures to reduce declines in populations and habitat destruction.
Last month while looking for owls in northern Utah I found a mated pair of Mourning Doves resting side by side on a barbed wire fence.
Finding Red-naped Sapsuckers feeding chicks at a nesting cavity in the Uintas made my day!
Because I was close I wasn't able to get a single image with all of the ducklings and the hen in the frame so I focused on the Mallard hen and with one duckling resting right behind her.
This Great Blue Heron was in flight over the north beach of Fort De Soto with dark Australian Pines in the background on a foggy morning.
This time of the year I see plenty of molting Red-tailed Hawks and they can look pretty tattered, worn and shabby.
Yesterday I was able to take a series of fledgling Short-eared Owl portraits when this young owl perched on a metal post right next to a road in Box Elder County, Utah.