Since my first visit to the Centennial Valley of Montana on June 18, 2010 I have wanted to photograph a bird; preferably a raptor, on the reddish orange lichen covered rocks found throughout the valley. On this last trip that finally happened!
Eastern Kingbirds; like their western counterpart, are fearless and will attack birds as large as Bald Eagles to defend their nests.
Like this handsome Ferruginous Hawk that I photographed in the centennial Valley of Montana... On The Wing Photography has landed!
Ferruginous Hawks west of the Continental Divide prefer rabbits as prey so what you see here might be the last thing a Cottontail or Jackrabbit might see.
Red-tailed Hawks have the most variable plumages of North American hawks but Swainson's Hawks are also pretty variable, there are light morphs, intermediate morphs and dark morphs.
The Yellow Warbler in my image was singing along a creek lined with willows and although the bird is small in the frame I find this image appealing because of the simple lines, the bird's pose and the wonderful eye contact the bird gave me as it briefly looked towards me.
In early June while in western Montana there was a pair of Wilson's Phalaropes on a small, privately owned pond near a gravel road foraging for prey that I couldn't resist photographing.
Yesterday my post focused on female Mountain Bluebirds and today I am presenting males in honor of Father's Day. I was blessed to have two fathers, one who died when I was very young and later in my second Dad came into my life.
There were Mountain Bluebirds everywhere I looked on my recent trip to Montana where flashes of their brilliant blue plumage were a delight to my eyes.
I've said before that owls fascinate me; probably more times than I can count, and Short-eared Owls are always a delight.
This male Tree Swallow in flight image was taken two years ago at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana and for some reason I had not processed it until now.
So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.
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.
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.
Not only did I see numerous Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on my recent trip to Montana, I also saw quite a few Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) juveniles too.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America. They inhabit low elevation, open areas in the western United States and some locations in southwestern Canada and winter in southwestern US and Mexico.
On my mid-July journey to southwestern Montana it seemed like there were juvenile hawks every where I looked, the east and west side of the Centennial Valley and the south and north sides too.
These images were taken at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana. There were two Willets; an adult and a juvenile, on the shoreline of the lower lake that delighted me.
I like gulls, I know that gulls are not always a popular subject for many bird photographers and that they will often pass them by but to me they are as delightful, beautiful and fascinating as any other bird.
These images of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in Beaverhead County were taken on Sunday morning, June 22nd while leaving southwestern Montana to head back to Utah.
As many of my regular viewers know I love Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. Just by being there I can feel my blood pressure drop, a sense of peace flows through my body and my mind (and camera) focuses on the wonders and intricacies of nature.
How blue can blue be? I think Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoide) males are a wonderful example of just how blue a bird can be.
Last year while I was camping and photographing at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge I saw a feeding frenzy that involved Franklin's and California Gulls in the flooded grasses and Sagebrush flats near the Lower Lake.
These Savannah Sparrows were nearly as much fun to observe as they were to photograph. They are very active birds and it was a challenge to keep up with them
Seeing this newborn Pronghorn is one of those experiences that I will never forget. I already think that Pronghorn young are the cutest furry baby mammals on the planet.
A foggy morning at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge brought me 13 minutes of joy after spotting a shape on the gravel road, it was a female Short-eared Owl and she flew up and landed on a post not too far from the road.
I got excited while I was on the refuge when I spotted a female Short-eared Owl that flew up from the gravel road and landed on a fence post in a heavy, swirling fog.