Today I am celebrating my 2500th post here at On The Wing Photography! I've been sharing my photography and the stories behind the images since 2010 here on my site and what a ride it has been.
The sun hadn't yet come up when I spotted this Great Egret in the tidal lagoon with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the background and it looked like the water was on fire.
Wherever you are, whatever holiday you celebrate if you celebrate at all, I wish you joy and peace and hope that you will feel the love of your family and friends today and every day.
As the weather warms up I admit that I'm itching to hit the road to go camping, to get away from the city, the news and to immerse myself in natural surroundings.
I feel worried for the future and I am filled with angst right now and I know I am not alone. However; I do know that even when times are difficult life is good. The sun rises after every sunset.
The bird that started my day was an immature Prairie Falcon at sunrise next to the Great Salt Lake and as the sun started to rise the falcon seemed to glow.
When I lived in Florida one of my great joys was to be at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach before the sun rose over the horizon and to be there even before the first bit of color touched the clouds.
When I go on trips to Montana and Idaho it is primarily about finding and photographing birds but the places I visit are so beautiful that I feel I have to photograph the scenic views too.
American Pipits will soon be migrating through the Salt Lake Valley and I will hear their flight calls along the causeway to Antelope Island and the fields at Farmington Bay WMA.
Waking up and seeing the lake mist at the Lower Lake and an ephemeral pond near it with birds in the air, on the lake and feeding in the pond is amazing.
The first bird I photographed yesterday morning was a wet Chukar on top of a lichen covered boulder about the time the sun rose above the clouds and mountains to the east.
I wanted to post an image with my D810 update instead of having a white page with just text. This photo of a Red Rock Lakes NWR sunrise is one that that I created on the last day of my last trip to Montana last year.
This West Desert Horned Lark in golden light was taken in the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains of Tooele County on a clear morning last month.
My focus is usually birds and animals but as many of you know I also can't resist taking images of the beautiful views I see such as these two views of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last week.
Yesterday I posted a juvenile Wilson's Phalarope and today I am posting an assortment of others birds I photographed the same day at Bear River NWR.
When I am in the wilderness I wake to coyotes singing, cranes trumpeting and the breeze rustling through the grasses or the trees.
I was covered in mud after laying in the mudflat to photograph this Wilson's Plover and I didn't mind a bit.
Snowy Egret at dawn next to the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County, Florida
Happy Summer Solstice.
A few of my non-Utahn friends have asked me what an inversion is after I have mentioned it, this image might help to show what an inversion can look like.
I was tickled one morning when I came across this Turnstone in nonbreeding plumage perched on a piece of weathered driftwood just after the sun came over the horizon with the waters of the Gulf of Mexico behind it.
The smoke-filled skies created interesting conditions during the sunrises I viewed in while in southwestern Montana recently.
I arrived home last night after spending five days photographing in southwestern Montana and although I am exhausted I am also elated because the trip was simply divine.
I don't have much time to post today but I wanted to share a few photos taken this week of the mists at the Lower Lake of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. Red Rock Lakes NWR is an incredibly wild and beautiful location that has stolen a piece of my heart.
Sometimes a picture says more than words so I'll just say Flaming Gorge is awesome at sunrise with storm clouds moving in.
I'm glad I didn't turn around to head home when I saw the thick sea fog that morning, if I had I may have missed photographing some of these beautiful things.
Another one of the reasons I enjoy this photo is that the eye of the Great Blue Heron has a colored catchlight that is from the sun glowing yellow on the eastern horizon.
Nikon's Image Overlay Function. Yes, I was experimenting with a little bit of Summer Lunacy. This is a bit whimsical and it makes me smile.