Bison And Birds On The Wing
The light and clouds looked iffy this morning but Antelope Island didn't disappoint when it came to bison and birds plus some dramatic light.
The light and clouds looked iffy this morning but Antelope Island didn't disappoint when it came to bison and birds plus some dramatic light.
Northern Harriers are year round residents in Utah and I am encouraged by the numbers of them I have seen lately at Farmington Bay WMA.
Shorebirds are still migrating through the Salt Lake Valley and Farmington Bay WMA and there have been quite a few Greater Yellowlegs in the area.
Last month I was able to photograph this Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay on my way up to Cascade Springs in Wasatch County, Utah as it perched on an oak near the road.
This male Red-winged Blackbird was photographed yesterday at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
There are times when the birds I want to photograph are too far away and then there are times when the birds get too close, this Red-tailed Hawk got too close.
I think all raptors have a ferocious appearance but this Ferruginous Hawk definitely looked ferocious to me yesterday right after it lifted off from its perch high on a pole.
Ring-billed Gulls are fairly common but as with any common bird I believe that they can be uncommonly beautiful.
This Great Blue Heron landed briefly on a willow that was along the road at Farmington Bay but before I could get my exposure set correctly it took flight.
The amazing birds and animals keep me going back to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge but the scenery and wildness of the area does too.
If you ever get to Utah be sure to try to spend a morning or even a full day at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge because there is always something great going on there!
I love the stare of raptors because they always appear so serious, intense and they have a no-nonsense look to their eyes like this Red-tailed Hawk has.
It is raining here in the valley this morning and snow is falling in the high country in the middle of June so I am sitting here dreaming of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
It's Monday and I didn't have any idea what to post this morning so I opted to present this image of two Brown Pelicans flying double-decker style over the Gulf of Mexico.
A simple but fishy post today of an Osprey that flew over my head at Fort De Soto County Park taken 5 years ago in Florida.
I photographed this Osprey at Lettuce Lake Regional Park from the observation tower, the Osprey had tried to catch a fish but came up with just the filamentous algae in its talons.
Last month while camping near Capitol Reef National Park I was delighted to find a Peregrine Falcon feeding on prey near some Sandhill Cranes in a field that I had been photographing.
It is really cruddy here in Utah this morning so I thought I would go back in time to a warmer, sunnier day via the magic of some Black Skimmer images I created five years ago today.
Soon Caspian Terns will be back in Utah flying over rivers, ponds, lakes and other freshwater impoundments searching for prey.
I am keeping it simple this morning with a lone Sandhill Crane in flight over Wayne County that I photographed about two weeks ago while in southern Utah.
American Kestrels are fascinating falcons, they are tiny, colorful and at times quite pugnacious.
These Great Blue Heron photos were taken of the same bird, photographed at same location on the same day just one minute apart.
I am back from wandering, camping and photographing in several counties in southern Utah where I was delighted to find some Sandhill Cranes to photograph in Wayne County, Utah.
Laughing Gulls are commonly seen at Fort De Soto County Park but novices to birding and bird watching might think they are three different kinds of gulls depending on their age and plumage.
The Centennial Valley says "home" to me with the expansive views it offers of not only the valley but the Centennial Mountains and the Lower Lake and beyond. I find peace there.
Just a simple Red-tailed Hawk in flight image that I took early last week in Cedar Valley on a bright, clear day.
This Osprey flying in from the Gulf over the north beach of Fort De Soto came as a surprise to us so I had little time to prepare and get my setting right due to how fast the Osprey was flying.
But for me the "Snow Birds" I have grown to love here in Utah are Rough-legged Hawks who only visit in the winter and spend the rest of their lives breeding in high subarctic and Arctic regions.
One of the birds I photographed yesterday was this handsome Red-tailed Hawk that I spotted in a tree at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
This Red-shouldered Hawk photo was taken in Florida in November of 2008 just after the hawk lifted off from an old snag near a Great Blue Heron I had been photographing.