Molting Immature Cedar Waxwing In Fall
I was tickled to photograph a molting immature Cedar Waxwing yesterday morning high in the Wasatch Mountains. The forest setting was quite messy.
I was tickled to photograph a molting immature Cedar Waxwing yesterday morning high in the Wasatch Mountains. The forest setting was quite messy.
I enjoyed photographing this molting, shaggy immature Common Raven yesterday morning while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Friday morning while enjoying the cooler temps in the Wasatch Mountains I had this raggedy Song Sparrow adult pop out of a wild rose bush next to my Jeep.
Two days ago I photographed a molting Song Sparrow as it perched on an old wooden post high in a mountain canyon in beautiful morning light.
After a week at home because of smoky skies I ventured into the mountains and one of the first birds I photographed was this worn looking Green-tailed Towhee.
Last week before I found the Rock Wren I wrote about I also found a subadult Peregrine Falcon perched on a wooden post in the West Desert.
Two days ago there were plenty of White-crowned Sparrows in the same area where I photographed two Spotted Towhees.
Spotted Towhees are among the most colorful members of the sparrow family and I always enjoy photographing them on those occasions when they are out in the open.
Green-tailed Towhees that hatched this year undergo a molt on or near their natal breeding grounds prior to fall migration.
About two weeks ago I photographed a molting House Wren high in the Wasatch Mountains as it perched near a willow thicket.
This Song Sparrow will replace its damaged feathers quickly and will look like it normally does once again. Until then, I still think it is a beautiful, albeit somewhat ruffled, bird.
Our Clark's and Western Grebes will be leaving here soon and except for a few downy feathers on this one's forehead it looks like it is ready to take on its first migration.
Not only was this Ring-billed Gull in molt it was molting in a remarkably symmetrical pattern which I found interesting. Because the gull was in flight the symmetry was very visible.
One year ago today I went up into the Wasatch Mountains and for about three minutes I photographed a molting American Goldfinch feasting on Musk Thistle seeds.
Some birds that are molting can look a little odd and this molting male Yellow Warbler with a stubby little tails fits that description perfectly.
This Black-capped Chickadee's plumage isn't in prime condition but I feel like my work as a bird photographer includes taking images of them looking great and not so great because it is all part of the cycle of their lives.
While I had the Sandhill Crane and the Ring-billed Gulls in my view finder I heard a call and it only took a second for my brain to figure out that I was hearing a Franklin's Gull which surprised me because it was at the refuge much earlier than I have ever seen one there before.
This immature Double-crested Cormorant appears to be molting and probably needs all the rest it can get because of the molt and because winter is hard on these overwintering cormorants.
I've been trying for over a month to get decent images of fledgling and juvenile Cedar Waxwings and hadn't succeeded but yesterday I was able to take a photograph of an immature waxwing that I actually like.
This time of the year male and female Spotted Towhees have finished raising their broods and their young are learning how to be on their own but they do look a touch ragged as they molt into their adult plumage.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to photograph male, female and immature Lazuli Buntings as they have been gorging on the fruits of Serviceberry trees to fatten up before their migration.
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 I was able to photograph and adult Song Sparrow eating while perched at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early in the morning.
I also keep images of birds that look a bit messy because they are molting even if they aren't up to my standards, like this one-year-old Red-tailed Hawk that was rapidly molting the end of July in 2015.
When the partially leucistic Red-tailed Hawk lifted off from the power pole I was able to capture photos of it in flight and I was stunned by the beauty of the hawk, pictures do not do this bird justice.
This time of the year I see plenty of molting Red-tailed Hawks and they can look pretty tattered, worn and shabby.
April in northern Utah is a good time to see and photograph molting immature White-crowned Sparrows.
Antelope Island Chukars don't just attract out of town visitors to the island, they still call in locals like myself to see, hear and photograph them.
These images from different times of the year show Mountain Bluebird plumage development stages from not long after fledging to adulthood.
My post today is an image of an immature White-crowned Sparrow molting into adult plumage and two images showing a juvenile and an adult for comparison.