Long-eared Owl and snow at Farmington Bay
This post is about how I took photos of a lifer Long-eared Owl on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA in a snow storm.
This post is about how I took photos of a lifer Long-eared Owl on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA in a snow storm.
When I can be close enough to see into the eyes of a fledgling Great Horned Owl and take a portrait of it I feel honored and enchanted.
Almost three years ago I photographed this adult Great Horned Owl in a blizzard near the entrance to Antelope Island State Park.
I wanted to let all of my viewers know that yesterday the Barn Owl I helped rescue on September 9th in the Centennial Valley was released at the Lower Lake of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
Yesterday morning I saw a sight that made me ill to see and that is a Barn Owl hung up on a barb wire fence on the south side of the Centennial Valley.
I spent about three months in 2008 watching a Great Horned Owl nest on Honeymoon Island State Park in Florida from hatching until this young owl fledged.
The young Burrowing Owls I have been following and photographing are growing up but many of them still stay close to the burrows they hatched in.
I was in far northern Utah yesterday and saw the hawks I expected to see but finding this Great Horned Owl was a bit of a surprise since I wasn't looking for Great Horned Owls.
You might wonder why I think it is tough being a bird photographer when it comes to Burrowing Owls.
It has been a few years since I have seen Short-eared Owls with any regularity and I really miss seeing these beautiful owls.
I think I could photograph juvenile Burrowing Owls for two months straight and not get bored with them.
Leopards don't change their spots but juvenile Burrowing Owls do change their spots on their chests as they mature.
Burrowing Owls and American Robins are about the same size but they are two very different species of birds.
When I looked at this Burrowing Owl image on my monitor I had to chuckle because in a strange way it reminded me of myself when I first dove off of a 10 meter platform and how my toes were the last to let go.
I thought I would share some images I have taken of Western Burrowing Owls that I took over several days spent with them in Box Elder County, Utah.
The heat of summer has turned the green grasses brown on Antelope Island State Park so I thought I'd share some of the "brown birds" I photographed there yesterday.
I spent yesterday morning photographing Burrowing Owls in northern Utah again and while most of it was fun there was something I found that broke my heart.
Last week I posted an image of Burrowing Owl siblings that I found in northern Utah and today I am posting images of that burrow after spending yesterday morning being delighted by them once more.
Yesterday while wandering around in northern Utah I spotted an adult and then 5 sibling Burrowing Owls also showed up to perch on an old fence line.
When I spotted this Mourning Dove perched on an old fence post in the morning light I couldn't resist photographing it.
My only wish for this image is that the butterfly had been as sharply in focus as the Short-eared Owl was but with bird photography you never know what might show up in the frame.
We could have spent more time with this Barred Owl and it may have eventually moved to a better location for us to get photos but because of one person ticking off the owl we didn't get that chance.
I'm not saying that the Burrowing Owl I photographed yesterday was grumpy, just that it looked that way.
Burrowing Owls are arriving - Caution, Extreme Cuteness Ahead! Burrowing Owls are enchanting, entertaining and so cute they are irresistible. Everyone seems to love them.
This morning winter is trying to creep back into northern Utah but I am thinking of warmer weather, Montana and Great Horned Owls.
The first year I after I moved to Utah was great for photographing Burrowing Owls and their young both on Antelope Island State Park and the causeway to it.
I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve with your family, friends and loved ones.
Still waiting for snow here in the Salt Lake Valley so I am posting another snowy image of a Barn Owl taken in December of 2013.
Barn Owls are gorgeous with their dark as ebony eyes, beautiful plumage and graceful flight so I find it difficult to suppress my delight when I see them on the wing.
I often see this phrase "species in decline due to habitat destruction or fragmentation" or something similar and the frequency of seeing that phrase is most likely to become higher.