I photographed the adult Swainson's Hawk above after it had lifted off from a power pole in Beaverhead County and loved that I had thin clouds in the background which is far more pleasing to my eye than plain blue sky.
Yes, I was mobbed by Loggerhead Shrikes and I didn't mind a bit because it afforded me the opportunity to observe and photograph them up close and it was fascinating!
Last week while photographing in a canyon in the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County, Utah I spotted this Turkey Vulture roosting in a dead tree in morning light.
The other day when I photographed the Black-crowned Night Heron at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge I also photographed some Clark's and Western Grebes, I found these two images of this Western Grebe interesting and wanted to post them.
Four years ago today I woke up in Grand Island, Nebraska and drove west to arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah with my possessions in a U-Haul trailer.
Two days ago I posted a portrait of a juvenile Loggerhead Shrike that I had photographed on Antelope Island State Park, today I am posting an image of an adult Loggerhead Shrike taken a day after I photographed the young shrike.
There are Sage Thrashers aplenty on Antelope Island State Park right now and they have been thrashing, dashing and singing their little hearts out the last three trips I have made out to the island.
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron Stalking prey at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah
I've only had one opportunity to photograph Cassin's Finches so far and that was in the small town of Lakeview where the headquarters of Red Rock Lakes national Wildlife Refuge is located.
Royals Terns make amazing dive bombs for their prey which are usually small baitfish running close to the surface and sometimes if you are lucky you get to see them "Tern Over" in mid air.
I can't resist photographing Burrowing Owls, I just can't. They are so much fun to see and observe.
This juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on a metal fence post so I opted to go for a portrait to remove the "hand of man".
This Forster's Tern image was taken several years ago on Fort De Soto County Park's north beach while it was resting on the sand as another tern was flying towards us both.
I photographed this Short-billed Dowitcher and the out of focus Sanderling the day after a storm had pushed mounds of Sargassum seaweed onto the wrack line and the birds were busy looking for food within it.
This fledgling Burrowing Owl was just learning to fly at the time and wasn't always great at landing. When I took this image it had made a soft crash landing into the Rabbitbrush and it was trying to get its balance back.
One of the nice things about cruddy weather is that I get the chance to edit some of the images that are languishing in my files that I have taken but not gotten around to processing. Here are a few of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photographed in August on Antelope Island State Park.
So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.
While photographing this Snowy Plover in June of 2008 I was able to observe the tiny shorebird snatch an ant from the sugar sand of the north beach of Fort De Soto.
This adult Swainson's had two juveniles nearby that were perched on the conifer tree that their natal nest was in and the sun was getting close to setting. Sometimes I wish I could "speak" raptor so I could know what they are saying.
This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was concentrating on some thing on the ground when I photographed it.
I scoured my files and the scariest thing I could come up with for Halloween is this Golden-silk Spider (other than images of me). I don't think it is really scary except that it doesn't have feathers or fur.
I don't always get what I want though; for example, I wanted this male Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) I photographed at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana in good light.
This Western Meadowlark was about to take off from the boulder it was on when I photographed it on Wednesday.
Several people have remarked on how much they like the resting Black Skimmer juvenile image that was in my rotating banner at the top of this blog so I thought I would post it to show the whole bird.
I photographed this American Bison bull a few days ago on Antelope Island State Park as he was drinking from a freshwater puddle formed by rains over the weekend.
I had fun yesterday photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) as it perched on rocks and hunted for prey. This image shows the Red-tailed coming in for a landing.
Despite having "Night Heron" in their name Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are not strictly denizens of the dark, they can and do stalk their prey during the daylight hours too.
Yesterday I saw a female Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) checking out the feeder near my front window.
Fluffy Great Horned Owl fledgling + knotty weathered wood + large yellow eyes = Wonderful!
I simply could not resist posting this gorgeous Coyote pup that I photographed today even though I posted another one recently. I loved the look the pup was giving me, the warm, beautiful morning light and wonderful prairie setting.