Female and Juvenile Northern Yellow Warblers – Yellow Gold in the Wasatch Mountains
I have my ears and my eyes to thank for finding the Northern Yellow Warblers and their young foraging near a creek in a canyon.
I have my ears and my eyes to thank for finding the Northern Yellow Warblers and their young foraging near a creek in a canyon.
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
While stopped at a gate at Red Rock lakes NWR a Tree Swallow flew in and landed on a fence post so close that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to focus on it but I had to try.
Some of the birds I see often while at the Lower Lake of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana are Savannah Sparrows and I love to photograph them there.
I didn't have the good fortune to photograph another Cassin's Finch on my trip so I am glad I took the time to take photos of this one looking around his home in the Centennial Valley of Montana.
While I looked around four days ago I saw this Bank Swallow resting on a fence that hangs over the Red Rock River and could not resist photographing it with the blue water below and behind it.
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.
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.
As I watched the Gray Flycatcher it flew towards me, snatched a damselfly from mid air then landed on a dead branch not too far away and proceeded to eat it while I photographed the bird.
Both times I photographed this male Burrowing Owl yesterday morning he looked very sleepy, he may be worn out from helping to raise a passel of chicks.
While this final image shows a beautiful Short-eared Owl, nice sharpness and details when I compare it to the first photo it just isn't as visually appealing to me as the first photo which was taken in softer light.
I was looking through my archives from last year and came across some images I had taken last June in Morgan County, Utah that I hadn't processed yet and I came across these Cedar Waxwing photos.
Two years ago today I was in Beaverhead County, Montana photographing Cassin's Finches foraging on the seeds of dandelions on a morning that had sunshine and plenty of fog.
I photographed this male Belted Kingfisher last month as it perched on a thin branch at a small pond close to the Jordan River in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Someday I will get the images I desire of these dainty Northern Yellow Warblers. Bird photography is challenging and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Last week while I was photographing a handsome Green-tailed Towhee in the Wasatch Mountains a bright Northern Yellow Warbler caught my eyes when it landed on a flowering shrub.
One good bird can make the the day when photographing birds in the field, yesterday that bird was a male Green-tailed Towhee I spotted perched on a shrub in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.
Lark Sparrows are only in Utah during their breeding season so whenever I have the opportunity to photograph them and their bold facial patterns I am thoroughly delighted.
Yesterday morning I photographed this Swainson's Hawk while it perched on a fence post in northern Utah
Two days ago the first bird I put my lens on was a Short-eared Owl perched on a rusty metal post looking over its shoulder in morning light.
Last year I was able to spend time photographing this male Tree Swallow in low light in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho and even though the light wasn't the best I still liked the resulting images.
I love all birds, even birds that some people tend to ignore when it comes to bird photography but I have to admit that I am particularly fond of photographing owls, especially Burrowing Owls.
Normally I prefer natural perches for my subjects but I rather enjoyed photographing these Turkey Vultures and thinking of them as feathered gatekeepers.
There are so many Swainson's Hawks in northern Utah right now, I see them perched, on their nests, hovering over fields and soaring on the thermals after the sun warms up the air.
I was able to point my lens at this male Red-tailed Hawk on a lichen-covered perch for a few frames before he flew away.
There was a very cooperative first spring male Northern Harrier in a location where I photographed Short-eared Owls last year in northern Utah and for two months I could reliably see and photograph it frequently.
I couldn't resist photographing this tiny Chipping Sparrow singing while perched on a "cedar" fence post with the sky and dark juniper behind it.
This beautiful little Lark Sparrow was so busy singing that it was a very cooperative subject and I took quite a few images of it as it sang and changed positions on the gnarly old fence post.
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.