Coyote In The Snow
While looking for birds to photograph I spotted a pair of Coyotes hunting and roaming through the snow-covered landscape together.
While looking for birds to photograph I spotted a pair of Coyotes hunting and roaming through the snow-covered landscape together.
This Loggerhead Shrike was one of the few birds I photographed yesterday on Antelope Island before the Prairie Falcon with a Northern Shoveler as prey that I posted yesterday.
Earlier this morning I spotted a Prairie Falcon perched on a rock while on the Antelope Island Causeway, before we could get stopped and into position to photograph the falcon it took off over the water and attacked a Northern Shoveler.
We've gotten a lot of snow in the Salt Lake Valley since Friday, I swept at least a foot of snow off my vehicle yesterday and about 3 to 4 inches on Friday, as I write this the snow is still falling.
While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.
Just a few images from this past week.
The horns of Pronghorns are composed of a permanent slender, laterally flattened blade of bone that is covered by a keratinous sheath.
A simple image from a series of images I took last year of a Chukar calling on a rocky outcropping with a snowy mountain in the background.
Just a simple post today to show the differences in the breeding and nonbreeding plumage of Royal Terns.
Yesterday I had an opportunity to photograph this Bison bull grazing on Antelope Island State Park with the mountains of Promontory Point in the background with just a small bit of the Great Salt Lake showing too.
There is a rather large Pumpkin Patch near the road going to the Nature Center at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area where I like to photograph birds. They have a straw maze and all kinds of activities for children too.
It was an unusual experience to see these Pied-billed Grebes standing upright and walking on the edge of this pond, some might even consider it rare.
One year ago today it was slow on Antelope Island, not many birds were close enough to photograph but on the way home I spotted this female Brewer's Blackbird on some rocks near one of the bridges on the causeway to the island.
I know that falconry birds and rehabbed raptors can be used as excellent tools in educating the public, I've been impressed with them myself. But there is a risk for falconry birds that escape and that still have jesses or anklets attached and that fact worries me.
Do not clean or adjust your glasses, this image really is that blurry!
It seems I have always had a fondness for Great Blue Herons although I don't recall the first time I ever saw one. Great Blues are large wading birds that have a prehistoric look to them and even their calls; more like a croak, sound like something from the long distant past.
I photographed this female Blackpoll Warbler by the parking lot at Fort De Soto's north beach in 2009 during migration.
This image Sandwich Tern was taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach several years ago, it was a breezy, very warm day and there were schools of baitfish running just offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Just a very simple image today of a Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) flying over some sand dunes.
I've had the good fortune to photograph both the eastern and western Willets in breeding plumage, the eastern in Florida and the western in Utah and Montana.
This is an adult White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) that I photographed at Fort De Soto's north beach that was feeding in a tidal lagoon by the mangroves
Most of the Horned Larks I photograph are perched on rocks or boulders, this one is perched on a dried pile of Bison poop. Some might think this is a crappy perch and they would be right!
While my mother was visiting Utah she was able to see how California Gulls chase and feed on Brine Flies, it is fascinating feeding behavior. As my mom watched, I photographed.
I photographed this Bison bull feeding peacefully yesterday out on Antelope Island State Park with the Great Salt Lake in the background.
Just a simple image of a male Black-necked Stilt taken earlier this year at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge. Very graceful birds.
Near the summit of Francis Peak, elevation 9,560 feet, I spotted this Dusky Grouse male on the edge of a gravel road with a steep drop off to the west and I was able to get a few photographs of it before we motioned to a pickup truck coming down from the summit to move forward.
Just a single image of a Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) that strolled past me while I sat in the water photographing it. Every time I look at this image I feel a wonderful sense of peace, the same feeling I had when I took this photo.
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 don't get to see or photograph Oystercatchers here in Utah but I still dream about these shorebirds and can hear their calls when I look at the thousands of images I took of them.
I'm not exactly sure why this Coyote was wet but it had to have been from the water of the Great Salt Lake because the Coyote was along the causeway to Antelope Island, a couple miles from the park entrance and a couple to the island itself.