Mountain Chickadees – Listening For Their Songs And Calls
I listen for birds everywhere I go. Their calls and songs help me to locate them so I can photograph and observe them as they go about their lives.
I listen for birds everywhere I go. Their calls and songs help me to locate them so I can photograph and observe them as they go about their lives.
My best opportunities photographing the adult MacGillivray's Warblers with food for their young yesterday happened when the female popped into view with prey in her bill.
The female Yellow Warbler often flew in, landed out in the open and then dove down to deliver the prey she had gathered to her chick that was hidden in the willows.
Three days ago I found an adult Song Sparrow to photograph with its bill full of prey that the sparrow had gathered to feed its young.
The adult Red-naped Sapsuckers often clung to the entrance to the nesting cavity for a few seconds before they went inside with the food they had gathered to give to their chicks.
Two days ago I spotted a Wild Turkey tom crossing a dirt road high up in the Stansbury Mountains and to my delight there were several more males following behind him.
I've been seeing more and more Least Chipmunks while I have been up in the Wasatch Mountains looking for and photographing birds and I always try to stop for them because they are so cute.
I like gulls, I like the way they look, I like the way they fly, I like the way they try to steal food from each other and other birds, I like the challenges of photographing them and I really like how scrappy they are.
One year ago today I experienced one of the two most frustrating days in my entire time of being a bird photographer while photographing Red-naped Sapsuckers in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho.
Imagine moving down a gravel road and seeing just a tiny flash of movement and light-colored plumage in a stand of green vegetation and trying to figure out if it is a bright leaf in the breeze or a fledgling Yellow Warbler in a split second.
I spotted a flash of black, white and red as a bird landed in the aspen tree that was closest to me above where the wrens and swallows are nesting and realized that a male Red-naped Sapsucker had flown in and was foraging for food in the buds of the aspen.
I had a great deal of fun yesterday morning while photographing the American Tree Sparrows that I found in abundance on Antelope Island State Park foraging on the ground and perching on the bushes on the northern end of the island.
I didn't have a great angle of light when I photographed this pair of Reddish Egrets but I didn't want to move and disturb the birds so I stood still as I could.
I don't often see wading birds in flight with large prey in their bills so in April of 2009 I was excited to see a Great Egret landing in a lagoon with a large fish in its bill.
A few days ago I saw an adult Red-tailed Hawk fly towards its nest with prey for its chicks, the prey was a duckling.
Maybe next year I'll have better opportunities with these Red-naped Sapsuckers and maybe they will chose to place their new nesting cavity in a location that is easier to photograph.
Early in January I photographed an American Coot being chased by two Mallards for the food it carried in its bill.
The Prairie Falcon I photographed had prey and that may be why it was less skittish. I have no idea what the prey is but it is larger than a vole and had fur not feathers.
The American Coot seemed to turn its head a few times to see if it was still being chased and when it saw that it was it it kept scooting across the surface of the pond and always kept its bill clamped down on its food.
Finding Red-naped Sapsuckers feeding chicks at a nesting cavity in the Uintas made my day!
Through the steamy mists of a hot spring I found a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Blue Creek Spring in Box Elder County and I hoped to get a few decent images of it.
One year ago today I found, pointed out, and photographed a Coyote and Black-billed Magpies scavenging a deer carcass to survive on Antelope Island State Park.
When a few of the grebes caught sight of this Pied-billed Grebe with a large fish they started to chase it over the water.
The Great Salt Lake this time of the year is full of ducks and that means that there is ample food in the area for this young Peregrine Falcon.
The first bird I photographed on my recent trip to Idaho and Montana was a White-faced Ibis in full breeding plumage.
Yesterday was another interesting day on Antelope Island seeing snow-covered Bison, snowy weather, birds and spotting Coyotes at a Mule Deer carcass.
American Coots are common birds and some folks might find them fairly plain but I like them and enjoy photographing them too.
Last week I photographed this adult Forster's Tern in flight as it foraged for food above Glover Pond near Farmington Bay WMA.
Every time I see this image of this Richardson's Ground Squirrel I have to laugh because of how full its mouth is.
A month ago I photographed a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nesting cavity in Idaho and this past week I spent several days photographing them again.