Ring-billed Gull Portrait And My Sense Of Humor
I'm sharing this day after Christmas Ring-billed Gull portrait this this morning. I know a lot of people don't like gulls. I will never be one of those people.
I'm sharing this day after Christmas Ring-billed Gull portrait this this morning. I know a lot of people don't like gulls. I will never be one of those people.
One of my favorite photos from my trip to Bear River MBR last Monday was of this Great Blue Heron in a natural alcove along the bank of the Bear River.
One of the first birds I photographed this autumn was this fluffed-up Snowy Egret glowing in a natural spotlight in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.
One year ago today, I photographed this Barn Swallow perched on a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service sign from the auto tour loop at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
Last month there were plenty of American White Pelicans at my local pond. Because they were there I had the opportunity to photograph them in light and shadows.
The dark and moody nature of the Common Loon has made this bird species a popular subject of mythology and folklore.
Today is World Water Day. The theme for World Water Day 2023 is: Accelerate Change. Every human being on this planet is roughly 60% water.
When this Snowy Egret emerged from the shadows and into the sunlight yesterday morning, I briefly forgot to breathe. The egret appeared to be glowing.
I spent some time wandering in the West Desert yesterday morning and the only decent bird photos that I took were of this male Mountain Bluebird.
I photograph tons of Red-tailed Hawks. I have shared more Red-tailed Hawk articles on my blog and images in my photo galleries than any other birds species.
I found this Wild Turkey hen last autumn as she walked out of the shadows of the forest and into the bright morning light.
Yesterday morning I took a series of photos of a Snowy Egret at Farmington Bay WMA with the strangest shadows I have ever seen.
The photo I shared today isn't of anything special. It is a West Desert mountain range view. That smokeless blue sky though? I'd give so much to see that again here today.
Earlier this week I photographed a light morph, adult male Rough-legged Hawk in the West Desert of Utah with three different backgrounds.
The bright yellow bird that flew into my field of view was a male American Goldfinch that stood out like a ray of sunshine against the shadows of some tall nearby trees.
Imagine my surprise when through my viewfinder I could see that the female Mountain Bluebird had landed on a Swiss Army knife that was stuck into the bark of one of the trees.
While hoping to photograph Brown Creepers two days ago I spotted a Hermit Thrush at a distance on the ground in the deep shadows of a stand of trees.
What I like about this male Red-breasted Nuthatch photo is the contrast of light and shadows. While I can't see all the fine feather details in the shaded part of the nuthatch what I can see is simply enough.
I was drawn to this photo because of the light on the Sandhill Crane and the grasses it was foraging in plus how that contrasts with the dark shadows on the mountains behind the bird.
The light was best when the geese flew in front of the snow-covered Wasatch Mountains which is when I photographed this flying Canada Goose with its wings above its body.
Three days ago while at my local pond I looked to the east and saw the sun lighting up a snow covered ridge line of the Wasatch Mountains where the ridge behind it was in the shadows and felt that I just had to take a few images.
Yesterday morning for a few moments I had one of those opportunities with a Red-tailed Hawk perched on top of some trees in East Canyon where the mountains in the background where still in the shadows and because of that the bird seemed to glow.
I have wondered lately if I have gotten into a bit of a rut, photographically speaking, of always wanting to have the sun over my shoulder with "perfect" light falling directly on my subject.
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.
My best find of the day was my first of the year Swainson's Hawk about two thirds of the way down the island perched in some trees near a freshwater spring.
I had a great deal of fun photographing the pelicans, herons, egrets and geese in flight in the rapidly changing light yesterday morning at Bear River MBR.
I did get some images of the Song and White-crowned Sparrows on the wild rose and I like how this Song Sparrow had its back to me but gave me a nice head turn over its shoulder.