Being a bird photographer has its rewards beyond the most obvious which for me is being out in nature or better yet being a part of it. It means with patience and plenty of time in the field I do get it right.
Small populations of Trumpeter Swans were found in mountain valleys in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and those birds are the reason we have Trumpeter Swans today.
While in Montana earlier this month I had several opportunities to photograph juvenile Swainson's Hawks that were close and approachable but I didn't always have great light.
Bird photography isn't easy and for smaller birds like this adult White-crowned Sparrow it can be challenging and require more patience than when photographing larger birds.
I can not help but to feel a sense of wonder or be enchanted by the wild majesty of the Centennial Valley in southwestern Montana.
There are times when the birds I want to photograph are too far away and then there are times when the birds get too close, this Red-tailed Hawk got too close.
I was delighted to find quite a few Sandhill Cranes in the Centennial Valley of Montana last week and this pair was close enough to photograph.
A Vesper Sparrow caught my eye last week as it fluttered and fluffed on an old barb wire fence near the road and I just had to photograph it.
For three days I had great fun photographing two very obliging Swainson's Hawk juveniles at the east end of the Centennial Valley and by obliging I mean they were very approachable.
Just a short Merlin post today from my Montana trip, a teaser for the images I will soon be posting.
This is another image I came across last week and wondered why I hadn't processed it because I don't have many Little Blue Heron portraits in my portfolio.
Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management area is a great place to see Black-necked Stilts during the breeding season and to see their young later on.
I was covered in mud after laying in the mudflat to photograph this Wilson's Plover and I didn't mind a bit.
Snowy Egret at dawn next to the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County, Florida
Afternoon at Red Rock Lakes I took this image of the Lower Lake at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge while I was settled in at the campground, doing something I don’t always do enough of out in the field, just sitting still and taking it all in. There wasn’t any rush. No chasing light. No scanning nonstop for movement. Just a quiet stretch of time where the land and sky did all the work. The breeze moved through the grasses in front of me, soft and steady, carrying the sounds of birds nearby and from across the lake. I could hear them clearly, but they were scattered, not loud or chaotic. It felt balanced. Calm. The kind of moment where nothing needs to happen for it to be enough. Out over the water, the clouds were putting on their own show. Sunlight slipped in and out, lighting up sections of the hills and then letting them fall back into shadow. It changed by the minute, subtle but constant, like the whole scene was breathing. I remember thinking how easy [...]
American Oystercatchers are specialized in that their diet consists of bivalves and they do use that flashy orange bill to pry some of them open.
I am a part of the wild things even though my outsides might be adorned with the trappings of civilization my heartbeat still tells me I am wild.
Shorebirds were my bird photography spark birds and they ignited the fire I have within me to go out into the field as often as possible to photograph all wild birds
I think all raptors have a ferocious appearance but this Ferruginous Hawk definitely looked ferocious to me yesterday right after it lifted off from its perch high on a pole.
Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.
I was ready when I thought this Western Meadowlark was going to take flight but instead the meadowlark took a flying leap towards the ground.
Ring-billed Gulls are fairly common but as with any common bird I believe that they can be uncommonly beautiful.
The reason Utah got uglier is that today Crow hunting killing season begins for the first time in the state so the day is already off on a bad start.
Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left.
I wonder if these two juvenile Red-tailed Hawks will hang around for the winter, I sure hope so.
Photographing hummingbirds in the wild can be daunting and fast paced, so fast paced that there are times I don't often have time to properly ID them in the field.
Yesterday the light wasn't great in the morning but I did get out to take some images an Antelope Island and there were plenty of pollinators out and about.
In March of this year I spent several days photographing Sandhill Cranes in southern Utah where the light and the weather could rapidly change.
I had an opportunity to photograph this juvenile Black-necked Stilt as it rested along the auto tour route at the refuge.
I worked up two older Brown Pelican images to share this morning taken at Fort De Soto in 2009 and 2008.