Even though the sun was high I couldn't resist photographing a juvenile Lazuli Bunting that flew in and perched on a Utah Serviceberry branch because to my eye the setting was both enchanting and very appealing.
It was a lot of fun photographing adult Gray Catbirds earlier this year and photographing the juveniles learning to be on their own has been equally fun and entertaining.
In the past week I have photographed so many birds in a Wasatch Mountain canyon that I thought I would share a group of them in a photo gallery.
I spent a few minutes yesterday morning focusing on young Chipping Sparrows foraging in a stand of Chokecherry trees, there were several of these juveniles flitting around in front of me in nice light.
This juvenile Mountain Bluebird was hunting for food its own, perching on sagebrush and then diving to the ground after prey.
Juvenile Western Kingbirds may look sweet like this one does perched on a fence but they can be rather pushy when it comes to demanding food from their parents and they are also quite noisy too while they are begging.
I've taken my share of crappy photos during the time I have been focused on photographing birds but this photo of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron crapping in flight may be the crappiest of them all.
Back in March of this year I started watching and photographing a pair of Red-tailed Hawks in the process of building their nest on the face of a high cliff, these two juveniles are the results of the hard work of that pair of hawks.
Last month I had a few opportunities to photograph juvenile Mountain Bluebirds in a Wasatch Mountain canyon while they were being fed by adults and as they learned to hunt on their own.
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 Northern Yellow Warbler in a split second.
I'm a little like this sleepy juvenile Burrowing Owl this morning, I overslept, my coffee still hasn't kicked in, I'm yawning frequently and I am still sleepy.
Luck was on my side when I found the family of Mountain Bluebirds in good light plus they were close enough to take quality photos of them, first the male then the female and the juveniles.
Two years ago today I had a fantastic time photographing Short-eared Owl fledglings on tumbleweeds that were in front a fence in northern Utah.
When I spotted this immature Black-crowned Night Heron on the wing at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in April I hoped it would fly in closer than it did, still I liked the photos I took of it with a clear blue sky in the background.
I was delighted to be able to photograph the female Northern Yellow Warbler as she fed her young and to watch the fledgling as it fluttered its wings and gulped down the food the female brought it.
I did see a Western Kingbird two days ago but the only photos I have of that bird were taken on a barbed wire fence and I have more of those type of images than I know what to do with and nothing about those images were appealing, unique or all that interesting.
I spend a lot of time in the field looking for, observing and photographing owls and obtaining photos of them in flight can often be frustrating when I have the opportunity but very fulfilling when I accomplish my goal.
One good bird can make my day... Yesterday that bird was an immature Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA that lifted off from a metal post and flew over the marsh.
I can't be certain this is the same goose that I saw on December 26th but I found an immature Snow Goose feeding with some Canada Geese in the grass across the pond.
If I hadn't turned my Jeep around when I did in the direction I chose I would never have found three adorable Short-eared Owl chicks not far from the shoulder of the road in beautiful morning light.
I have seen very few juvenile Vesper Sparrows and I have just a handful of images of them so when I spot one in good light I certainly want to do my best to photograph it.
I've been thinking a lot about the lone surviving Red-tailed Hawk from the nest that blew down because of strong winds earlier in June.
I have an alternate title for this post which is "Invasive European Starlings perched on invasive Russian Olives" because both the birds in this post and the trees are not native but introduced.
Yesterday morning while looking for birds to photograph on Antelope Island State Park I had two White-crowned Sparrows fly into a rabbitbrush that was so close to me that all I could do was take portraits of them.
The plumage of male juvenile Red-winged Blackbirds is highly variable during their first year, some of the young blackbirds can look like females and some can look more like adult males.
I've been seeing plenty of White-crowned Sparrows on Antelope Island State Park of late and yesterday they were busy feeding on the wild sunflowers that grow there.
Franklin's Gulls are only here in northern Utah during the breeding season, during the winter they spend their time along the west coast of South America.
There were birds that I photographed including this Yellow-rumped Warbler who perched out in the open with the fall colors of curly docks in the background.
A year ago today I was photographing lots of Red-tailed Hawks in Clark County, Idaho and using my Nikon D500 in the field for the first time.
I had fun photographing the juvenile Great Blue Heron, juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and the adult Snowy Egret yesterday at Bear River MBR. I especially loved the clearer skies.