Two mornings ago I photographed the side lit male Burrowing Owl with wildflowers in the background but with all the rain we have been having it won't be long before the vegetation completely obscures the burrow and the owls.
It was challenging to photograph these Burrowing Owls and wildflowers yesterday in the windy conditions but I am glad I had the opportunity because the wildflowers won't last all that long.
It felt great to photograph a nice mixture of birds yesterday and and to be out enjoying the beautiful scenery of northern Utah. Life is good.
Short-eared Owls are nomadic so the places where I saw and photographed these male Short-eared Owls last year may or may not have owls this breeding season.
The best bird photography opportunity of the day happened when I spotted a Burrowing Owl near its burrow and I took advantage of the nice light to take quite a few images of the owl framed by grasses and blooming Red-stem Filaree.
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!
Galileo will be an education bird at HawkWatch International and he will help show people, young and old, in class rooms and community centers the importance of having owls and other raptors in our environment.
Earlier this year in January I was able to photograph a American Barn Owl in flight flying directly towards me with the snowy Promontory Mountains in the background while at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
Yesterday I spent time photographing a cooperative yet unexpected Barn Owl at Farmington Bay, unexpected simply because Barn Owl are primarily nocturnal and I saw it during the day.
Last month I wrote about how surprised I was to spot a Great Horned Owl in the marsh at Bear River MBR in northern Utah and said I would post more photos later, so here they are.
Yesterday morning I spent fifteen minutes with sibling Burrowing Owl juveniles in northern Utah not long after the sun came up and while there was still golden light.
I haven't posted a Burrowing Owl in a bit so I thought I would share this yawning juvenile Burrowing Owl that I photographed the beginning of July.
I'm so sorry this Short-eared Owl fledgling won't be released like the Barn Owl I helped to rescue in Montana but rescuing it from the barbed wire was still the right thing to do.
Yesterday I was able to take a series of fledgling Short-eared Owl portraits when this young owl perched on a metal post right next to a road in Box Elder County, Utah.
Right after seeing the adult I also saw a fledgling Short-eared Eared Owl about 8 to 10 feet from the adult hung up on barbed wire.
This Short-eared Owl fledgling spent a lot of time looking at the vehicle on the far side of the road parallaxing with its head tilted or bobbing up and down.
I was able to see and photograph a long Short-eared Owl preening session where I could see the owl's ear canal, uropygial gland and some extremely interesting and twisted poses.
I really liked this frame of the female Short-eared Owl stretching on a leaning fence post because of the eye contact, the view of her talons, fanned out tail and extended wing.
How could I resist taking images of a fledgling Short-eared Owl in tumbleweeds? I just couldn't.
This portrait of a Great Horned Owl chick in a hay barn might not have been taken in the most aesthetically pleasing location but I don't think the owlet gives a hoot about the rusty iron beams and corrugated metal walls.
I am thoroughly enjoying photographing Burrowing and Short-eared Owls in May and satisfying my owl obsession.
This year I've seen far more Short-eared Owls in Utah than I have since I moved here in 2009 and I've been enjoying photographing these nomadic and enchanting owls for over a month.
Yesterday it was the northern Utah Short-eared Owls that made me so very glad that I am a bird photographer and that for a little while I am part of their world.
It has been a while since I photographed this Short-eared Owl in Tooele County at the James W. Fitzgerald WMA
It felt wonderful to spend time with this Bear River MBR American Barn Owl yesterday while the sun was shining on the refuge.
It was the first of the winter Burrowing Owls I was to find yesterday while on Antelope Island State Park.
On January 1st I spotted this resting Barn Owl on some hay bales not too far from the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at the hot spring.
This Barn Owl seems to be flying straight into the New Year and that is what I am doing. Spreading my wings and facing what comes at me head on.
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.
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.