Targhee National Forest Red-naped Sapsucker Feeding Young
Jackpot and frustrations... I'll explain the jackpot first and get to the frustrations later about the Targhee National Forest Red-naped Sapsucker feeding its young.
Jackpot and frustrations... I'll explain the jackpot first and get to the frustrations later about the Targhee National Forest Red-naped Sapsucker feeding its young.
Maybe next year I'll have better opportunities with these Red-naped Sapsuckers and maybe they will chose to place their new nesting cavity in a location that is easier to photograph.
There have been a few Short-eared Owls that I keep seeing in the same locations over a period of about a month and yesterday I believe that I saw and photographed a male Short-eared Owl hunting for prey for his chicks.
The "Circling" courtship behavior of Royal Terns was one that I found interesting because as the male circled the female she moved too and kept her sides facing him.
I'm happy that the Clark's and Western Grebes have returned for their breeding season at the refuge and I look forward to photographing them while they are here.
I took several hundred images of a female Belted Kingfisher looking for and catching prey while it was bright and sunny yesterday afternoon.
The American Kestrel was perched on an arching wild rose branch with prey in his bill when I photographed him with snow covered ice and the Wasatch Mountains in the background
The Prairie Falcon I photographed had prey and that may be why it was less skittish. I have no idea what the prey is but it is larger than a vole and had fur not feathers.
It was fun photographing this Double-crested Cormorant with its catch yesterday afternoon close to home especially since I knew the weather was going to take a turn.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph the continuing male Belted Kingfisher with the snow-covered marsh in the background, a few times he even had prey.
I had fun photographing a male Belted Kingfisher at Farmington Bay as he caught prey and ate it on a post near a little creek.
Last month I captured a series of images of an immature Pied-billed Grebe running across the water with prey in its bill at Farmington Bay WMA.
I was able take one image of the American Kestrel landing with a grasshopper in his bill that was sharp and that I liked.
I took a series of action photos of this immature Pied-billed Grebe running on the water with its prey as it was being chased by another grebe that was trying to steal the food this young grebe had caught.
American Pipits are migrating through Utah in large numbers right now and yesterday morning at Farmington Bay they seemed to be everywhere!
The Great Egret struggled to swallow the large fish and even though it readjusted the fish in its bill several times it never swallowed the fish before it dropped it into the lagoon and flew off.
I went looking for a mammal species yesterday and dipped on them but hit the jackpot by getting a lifer bird, a Northern Pygmy-Owl and it had prey!
I was photographing a Wilson's Phalarope chick and it was in fact the youngest phalarope chick I had ever seen!
When I took this image the juvenile Loggerhead Shrike was perched on a dead twig when the robber fly flew into the frame, the shrike took off after the fly and caught it in mid air.
Finding Red-naped Sapsuckers feeding chicks at a nesting cavity in the Uintas made my day!
When I photographed this Forster's Tern hovering over prey there were several others in the area doing the same thing which makes it difficult to decide on which bird to photograph.
Last August I was able to spend time observing and photographing this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
These Little Blue Herons on the hunt were both taken at Fort De Soto in two different tidal lagoons.
This adult Sage Thrasher with prey was photographed on public lands in Tooele County in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains last July.
Through the steamy mists of a hot spring I found a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Blue Creek Spring in Box Elder County and I hoped to get a few decent images of it.
When the Bald Eagle lifted off I could see the prey in its talons but it wasn't until I viewed the image on my screen at home that I could tell that the prey was most likely an Eared Grebe because of the lobed feet.
When a few of the grebes caught sight of this Pied-billed Grebe with a large fish they started to chase it over the water.
Earlier this year I photographed this Clark's Grebe and its prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.
I am not sure why this particular Ghost Crab was out of its burrow during the day but I was happy that I had the opportunity to photograph it.
I was able to get a few images of an American Pipit with a spider two days ago while photographing the Peregrine Falcon from the Antelope Island causeway.