Recent Birds I’ve Found In The West Desert
Last week I made two trips out to the West Desert and today I am sharing a medley of recent birds that I found while I was out there.
Last week I made two trips out to the West Desert and today I am sharing a medley of recent birds that I found while I was out there.
Yesterday while out in the sky island mountains of the West Desert I spotted a female Black-chinned Hummingbird repeatedly checking out a knothole in a tree.
Yesterday I was able to take the Violet-green Swallow photos that I have been dreaming of since I first moved to Utah in 2009.
The last time I was up in the Wasatch Mountains I heard several "FITZ-bew" calls but didn't see a single Willow Flycatcher out in the open.
This morning I wanted to share a few Red-naped Sapsucker photos I have taken while in gorgeous alpine forests of Idaho and Utah.
A little birdie told me that Tree Swallows returned to the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge about the middle of this month.
Red-breasted Nuthatches aren't easy to photograph because they are tiny, they move quickly and their flight patterns are fairly unpredictable. Finding the right habitat, their habitat, can make it fun.
The Rock Squirrel was grasping a sumac branch and the shrub was so close to me I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to focus on it.
There are times I see funny things while I am out photographing that tickle me so much that I have to laugh out loud and yesterday that was this Least Chipmunk with a fly on its head.
When this Mountain Chickadee came into view it was hanging from a juniper bough with two Douglas Fir seeds in its bill it appeared to be looking around for a place to cache its food.
I picked this photo of the two Least Chipmunks out of the many I had taken that morning because to me it feels like there is a touch of intimacy to it.
About two weeks ago I photographed a molting House Wren high in the Wasatch Mountains as it perched near a willow thicket.
Birds aren't the only creatures feasting on the ripe serviceberries in the Wasatch Mountains right now, Least Chipmunks are also gorging on the juicy berries too.
The Cedar Waxwing didn't appear to be on the shrub to eat the serviceberries because all it did was call and look around. Perhaps its young were also in the area.
Yesterday I saw this female Black-chinned Hummingbird land on a willow branch not far from where I sat in a mobile blind and I was delighted to photograph her.
I have never heard so many American Goldfinches flying overhead for such a long period of time and I was in awe. I still am.
Tree Swallows and other birds should be nesting in the Uinta Mountains by now and I am itching to hop into my Jeep to drive up there to find them.
Every time I've gone up into the Wasatch Mountains lately I have been searching and listening for Cedar Waxwings to observe and photograph.
To photograph House Wrens and other birds I know I need to find them which means focusing my attention on the sights and sounds around me whenever I am out in the field which has worked extremely well for me.
Imagine my surprise when through my viewfinder I could see that the female Mountain Bluebird had landed on a Swiss Army knife that was stuck into the bark of one of the trees.
By excavating their own nests Northern Flickers provide nests for other woodland birds that can't excavate nesting cavities on their own and those nests can be used over and over again. Nature is brilliant.
Yesterday I had a blast photographing a pair of Mountain Bluebirds at a natural nesting cavity at the edge of a forest along with some other woodland birds.
This Least Chipmunk was running along the rails of an old wooden fence and when it stopped for a rest on a fence post I was ready.
I got out into the field for a little while yesterday morning and because of the observation skills I have developed over many years I was able to find two Wild Turkey hens roosting in Aspen trees.
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.
For one and a half wonderful nesting seasons I was thrilled to photograph a pair of mated Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nest and tending to their young.
Someone at sometime had tossed a soda can into the junipers and the Wild Turkey hen walked right in front of it during the few seconds she was out in the open.
If I hadn't have been paying attention yesterday I might have missed out on spotting a flock of turkeys in some junipers and photographing a smoke phase Wild Turkey hen.
I came across this adult Red-shouldered Hawk while walking around at John Chesnut Sr. Park in Florida way back in January of 2009.
These nesting House Wren photos were taken two years ago at the end of May high up in the Uinta Mountains where stands of aspens are used as nesting trees.