My Burrowing Owl Fascination – It Never Ends
I'm drawn to and fascinated by these western desert Burrowing Owls because they are beautiful, interesting and animated subjects. And they are pretty darn cute!
I'm drawn to and fascinated by these western desert Burrowing Owls because they are beautiful, interesting and animated subjects. And they are pretty darn cute!
Short-eared Owls are nomadic because they follow their main prey which is voles and if the vole population is low the Short-eared Owl density will also be low.
My best bird of the day was a juvenile Rough-legged Hawk standing on a jackrabbit in the snow that I spotted next to the road.
When I photographed this Rough-legged Hawk on a snow and lichen covered rock the light was decent and brought out the colors of the hawk and the orange lichen covering the rocky outcropping it was perched on.
Without science you would not see this Short-eared Owl chick photo. You are here viewing it through a device using an internet connection to connect to a page housed on a server.
Many of the birds here in the Salt Lake Valley find a place to roost in the evening and overnight frost begins to accumulate on their feathers like it did on this Rough-legged Hawk on a parking sign.
I think this Rough-legged Hawk has read one too many hysterical Tweets lately. I know I have.
The Ring-billed Gulls up close to me were bathing frequently so I focused on them for a bit to catch them splashing and dipping their heads and bodies into the water.
As I focused on the Great Blue Heron I could tell it was an immature bird braving its first winter alone in the marshes of Farmington Bay.
This first year Red-tailed Hawk close up in the snow storm was a reminder of how much our birds and wildlife have to struggle to get through the harsh winter.
Two days ago I was surprised by being able to photograph a Common Merganser hunting close to the shoreline of a nearby pond in Salt Lake County.
I had fun photographing the Common Raven and the Common Goldeneyes yesterday and even though the cold temps made my fingers numb, these birds were the highlight of my day.
The bird that started my day was an immature Prairie Falcon at sunrise next to the Great Salt Lake and as the sun started to rise the falcon seemed to glow.
The Great Blue Herons here in Utah are dealing with ice, snow and bitter cold temperatures now but the Great Blue Herons in Florida they have started courting and building their nests.
There are natural perches along the access roads right next to the interstate and if I am lucky I can find Red-tailed Hawks perched there on occasion too.
Is it any wonder I feel like the juvenile White-crowned Sparrow in this photo that is hiding its head? My inbox is getting junked up and my delete key is smoking from deleting the Cyber Monday sales pitches.
I photographed this juvenile Roseate Spoonbill in May of 2008 from inside a lagoon at Fort De Soto's north while the immature spoonbill and a few adults preened and rested on the shoreline.
Last month I captured a series of images of an immature Pied-billed Grebe running across the water with prey in its bill at Farmington Bay WMA.
This time of the year I start looking for Peregrine Falcons to show up near the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake because of the high numbers of ducks that are usually there.
Yesterday at Farmington Bay I was pleased to photograph this juvenile Northern Harrier female in flight as she went past me while I sat in a mobile blind.
I took a series of action photos of this immature Pied-billed Grebe running on the water with its prey as it was being chased by another grebe that was trying to steal the food this young grebe had caught.
To the untrained eye American Bitterns and Black-crowned Night Herons can be confused so I thought I'd visually compare the two species with other keys to aid in their identification.
Last winter I photographed adult and juvenile White-crowned Sparrows in the snow in low light conditions and was pleased with the resulting photos.
Yesterday I found a trio of young Raccoons at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and was able to take a series of images of them from inside my Jeep as they cautiously checked me out.
Even though I am saying a fond farewell to the Swainson's Hawks I'm also looking forward to Rough-legged Hawks gracing my life for another season.
It was wonderful to be close to the juvenile Brown Pelican and to be able to take portraits of it plus I also enjoyed being able to see all the fine details of its plumage, the texture of its bill and look into its dark eyes.
I photographed these two Red-tailed Hawks near old route 91 in Idaho which runs close to Interstate 15, part of the road is still paved and part of it is gravel.
Vultures and condors are scavengers and help to clean up the environment by consuming carrion, road kill and gut piles left from the kills of human and non-human hunters.
Last year on September 8th I located an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk in the Centennial Valley of Montana early in the morning as it flew low to the ground looking for small birds to capture and consume.
I miss these young Short-eared Owls but I hope they are doing well and will return next year to breed and have young of their own.