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.
The juvenile and out of focus adult Mourning Doves were perched on a lichen encrusted, slightly frosted fence rail near the road in the southern part of the Centennial Valley.
Right now these terns at the refuge are busy feeding their young although some of the juvenile Forster's Terns have already learned how to capture prey on their own.
When the young American White Pelicans are old enough to leave the island they fly to areas like Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge to learn how to catch fish on their own before they migrate in the fall.
It was a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron encounter on the auto tour route at the refuge and the resulting photos that made me smile the most when I viewed the images on my monitor at home
Eight years ago today I didn't know that it would be the last time I'd photograph the Burrowing Owl family together and that a juvenile Peregrine Falcon would have a part in that.
I was delighted to photograph a lovely, little Dark-eyed Junco juvenile perched in a conifer near Washington Lake which is not too far from Trial Lake and the Mirror Lake Highway.
I saw my first juvenile Swainson's Hawk of the year last week and although it didn't give me any opportunities to take better images of it I was happy to see it perched on a power pole.
When I look at this photo of the juvenile Sanderling I see a bird that was so relaxed that it fell asleep while I photographed it because it was comfortable with my presence and I felt honored that it was.
This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk may have looked like it was giving me the eye when I photographed it but it was actually looking for one of its parents to bring it some food.
I have my ears and my eyes to thank for finding the Yellow Warblers and their young foraging near a creek in a canyon.
As a bird photographer who spends enormous amounts of time in the field with my feathered subjects I am able to see avian behaviors that other people don't see who aren't focused on birds.
There was a tribe of juvenile Black-billed Magpies on Antelope Island State Park yesterday down near White Rock Bay that were wandering around in the area near the Buffalo Point trailhead
I was pleased and relieved to see the surviving Red-tailed Hawk juvenile perched on a corral close to the edge of the road and looking well fed and healthy.
Red-tailed Hawks were my most photographed species yesterday morning in the Centennial Valley of southwestern Montana and I had fun with them.
I needed time out with the birds yesterday and this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk helped me to relax, breathe and remember that things have a way of working out.
I spotted two of the other Red-tailed Hawk chicks that I have been following since early spring and was delighted that they have now fledged and have both learned to fly.
The ranges for these two species of kingbirds overlap here in northern Utah but I see more of the Western Kingbirds than I do the Eastern Kingbirds.
The young Mountain Bluebird turned and snatched the cricket from the male quickly before any of its siblings could reach the branches.
I saw the Red-tailed Hawk chicks near where the nest had been though and I spent less than two minutes with them and took a few images before leaving them alone.
People usually think of American Coot chicks as either cute or ugly, I'm in the cute camp when it comes to these chicks.
Yesterday morning I drove up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge to see what birds I could find to photograph and I am glad I did because I had a wonderful juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron close up experience.
Little Blue Herons start off their lives with white plumage, then look piebald with blue and white fathers and finally look more "blue" as adults.
Two years ago in July I photographed this young Burrowing Owl on a post in morning light and I relaxed and let a smile form on my lips.