As a bird photographer I'm feeling a sense of urgency now that I didn't feel a few weeks ago because as I watch the migrants in the Wasatch Mountains getting ready for their long journeys I know that my time for photographing them this year is quickly running out.
Like the chokecherries I wrote about yesterday it seems that because of our wetter than normal spring the serviceberries are also doing very well so there should be plentiful fruit for the birds to feast on before they migrate this fall.
On August 24th I had an opportunity to photograph this female Western Tanager out in the open perched on a Utah Serviceberry for a second or two.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to photograph male, female and immature Lazuli Buntings as they have been gorging on the fruits of Serviceberry trees to fatten up before their migration.
Even though the sun was high I couldn't resist photographing a juvenile Lazuli Bunting that flew in and perched on a Utah Serviceberry branch because to my eye the setting was both enchanting and very appealing.
In the past week I have photographed so many birds in a Wasatch Mountain canyon that I thought I would share a group of them in a photo gallery.
That sighting with my Mom made me hope that I would see more Lazuli Buntings in the canyons, yesterday morning that hope was fulfilled when I spotted a first spring male fly into a blooming Chokecherry tree.
I've never seen a Bananaquit in person or in photos that didn't look like it was grumpy, I guess it is their facial features and the downward curve of the bill that makes me think that but I still think they are gorgeous little birds.
I was especially pleased when I found this Bananaquit perched on a colorful Bougainvillea in decent light for a few frames.
The bright yellow and red of this male Western Tanager caught my eye last May while on a dirt road in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho just south of the Montana state line.
I also felt trepidation about the San Rafael Swell area because nothing within this state that is filled with stones is written in stone except the ancient pictographs and petroglyphs.
I was thrilled to spot this male Black-headed Grosbeak foraging in this flowering shrub while I was in Montana last week.
Last week I was Thinking Pink so this week I thought I would focus on the shades of blues found in wildflowers, birds, the sky and seas.
This Western Tanager was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana.
I have enjoyed photographing Lazuli Buntings (Passerina amoena) near the San Rafael River at the San Rafael Swell Recreation Area. These images were taken in the spring when the males were high on perches singing to attract females.
I've been fortunate to travel to many beautiful locations in my life and I have been tickled to photograph birds on some of those places. I photographed this Bananaquit while on the island of Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.
This male Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) sure caught my eye with its beautiful orange, black and white plumage.
Male Lazuli Buntings resemble bluebirds but they are smaller and the blues are a different hue than the Mountain, Eastern and Western Bluebirds.