During the winter when road conditions get bad enough to make me think about my personal safety driving on the interstate and other roads I enjoy being able to photograph urban birds much closer to home.
When I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge a few days ago I saw lots of ducks in the marshes and on the water and I realized that I am looking forward to photographing winter ducks again.
Even when I don't have any birds to view or photograph I am always looking for other subjects and yesterday my "other" subject was a turtle sunning itself on a log at one of my local ponds.
I don't often get to have Great-tailed Grackles in my viewfinder let alone have them close enough to take portraits of them so when the opportunity presents itself, I jump at the chance.
Ah, Mia, it is just a bird. No, it isn't just a bird. Because California Gulls aren't the only birds at risk of disappearing from the skies, shorelines and waters of Utah.
The Great Blue Heron had flown in and landed near the shoreline on the other side of the pond where the bank was covered with snow and the heron rested there for a bit.
Just looking at these photos of American Robins in the deep snow made me feel a few degrees cooler and I thought they might have the same effects on other people dealing with the high temps of summer too.
I thought that I would share screenshots of this morning and tomorrow morning's weather forecasts, it ain't pretty. In fact, it is absolutely rotten considering it is Spring and yet Ole Man Winter just won't let go.
One of the birds that caught my attention at my local pond yesterday during the snow storm was an adult Double-crested Cormorant flying in front of a willow tree with lots of snowflakes in the frame.
On one of the brighter afternoons I spent just 15 minutes at the local pond and came away with lots of photos of winter California Gulls bathing, flying and landing and among those I liked this image the most.
On February 16th I woke to fresh snow on the ground and I knew I wanted to see if the American Robins were still feeding in the crabapple trees close to home.
It isn't all that often that I am able to photograph a calling Ring-billed Gull close enough that I can get a great view of the inside of its bill so when the opportunity presented itself earlier this week I took advantage of the situation.
Two days ago on my immature Double-crested Cormorant post I mentioned that prior to photographing the cormorant that I had been taking images of a Great Blue Heron, these two photos are of that heron.
Two afternoons ago when I left the local pond to head home I saw at least 75-100 foraging American Robins in some crabapple trees and on the ground in the snow.
This immature Double-crested Cormorant appears to be molting and probably needs all the rest it can get because of the molt and because winter is hard on these overwintering cormorants.
So, even though I didn't get great photos yesterday I was glad to get out and photograph an American Barn Owl, Bald Eagle and these California and Ring-billed Gulls.
This pair of Canada Geese were photographed last winter near the Jordan River close to where I live at the tail end of a storm similar to the storm occurring right now.
The slow chase was soon to change and before I knew it both Pied-billed Grebes started running across the water and the grebe with the crayfish started racing across the water with the crayfish dangling from its bill.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.