Autumn Pine Siskins – 2020 Is An Irruption Year
My Facebook timeline is buzzing with people posting photos of large numbers of Pine Siskins at their bird feeders across the country.
My Facebook timeline is buzzing with people posting photos of large numbers of Pine Siskins at their bird feeders across the country.
The stark contrast of the white plumage of the Snowy Egret against the darkness of shadows on the vegetation and water made the egret appear to glow.
Over the past month I thought about whether I wanted to share images and tell the story of this Western Meadowlark that lost its life because of a barbed wire death trap and finally decided that the story needed to be told.
Seeing and photographing the Bushtits in northern Utah was a gift that I didn't expect yesterday and I am grateful to finally have images of them that I like.
The past couple of weeks on some of my journeys to the West Desert of Utah I have been able to have a few long distance views of Ferruginous Hawks and that has me excited.
One of the seasonal changes I look for in autumn is when I see that the Dark-eyed Juncos have arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
This is a really simple photo with three features, the White-crowned Sparrow, the stump, and a very dark background.
I spent sometime at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning where my best bird of the day was an immature Red-tailed Hawk resting in a tree.
Last week I found a small herd of does and fawns on a gravel road that leads to the foothills and mountain canyons of the Stansbury Mountains that hung around long enough to be photographed.
I know where in the mountains to find Townsend’s Solitaires by seeing them, hearing them and by knowing their preferred habitat.
There were a few times when the Wild Turkeys stood upright and looked right at me as I photographed them and I took full advantage of the opportunity to take portraits of the large birds.
This adult female Northern Flicker and a male were both foraging for hawthorn berries when I spotted them from across a creek high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Yesterday afternoon I spent thirty-one minutes photographing migrating Yellow-rumped Warblers close to home and those warblers kept me on my toes.
When this Warbling Vireo popped into my view I knew if I wanted to photograph it I had to hurry because these small vireos move fast.
I look at this seasonal change as a personal challenge to grow, to adapt and to meet my bird photography goals. I'm looking forward to the challenges and changes ahead.
This morning I wanted to share a potpourri of Ruby-crowned Kinglet photos because I adore seeing and photographing these quick moving, charismatic little birds.
These are a few of my favorite photos that I have taken of American Pipits. Ever. Part of the reason they are my favorites is because of the sweet morning light.
I reached back into my archives and found this photo of a side lit Great Horned Owl in desert habitat that I spotted from one of the dirt access roads that lead to the Mt. Moriah Wilderness of eastern Nevada in 2012.
Small birds like these White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and American Goldfinches need cover that provides safety for them from predators.
It has been a long time since I had a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk in my view finder so when I spotted it hovering over a field I knew I had to stop and get photos of it.
I'm really glad I looked at these ducks in the fog and decided to take photos of them even though I was looking towards the sun instead of away from it like I typically do when photographing birds.
If I get a single image, like this foraging Red-breasted Nuthatch feeding on the seeds of a Douglas Fir tree, I am happy.
As I look at this Trumpeter Swan photo and see my Jeep reflected in its eyes I feel a sense of loss. I know that I won't forget the swan that I couldn't rescue.
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.
Pine Siskins are year round residents in Utah but that doesn't mean I get to see them as often as I would like because they are nomadic by nature.
I photographed some sparrows, goldfinches, juncos, and this lovely male Spotted Towhee that was eating the fruit of a Fragrant Sumac tree.
I didn't get the Brown Creeper photos I have been dreaming of yesterday but I did take lovely images of an immature Ferruginous Hawk in early morning, golden light.
With scores of pipits flying in, flying out and moving around on the rocks it was a challenge to decide which bird to have in my viewfinder.
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.
As common as Dark-eyed Juncos are I have surprisingly few photos of them in my galleries and that is why I get excited when I can add a new photo of them to my portfolio.