Spring Common Loon Memories – The ABA Bird Of The Year
Today I’m sharing a spring Common Loon photo I took exactly two years ago—on a chilly morning at a pond near where I lived back then in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Today I’m sharing a spring Common Loon photo I took exactly two years ago—on a chilly morning at a pond near where I lived back then in Salt Lake County, Utah.
After an extremely snowy night and morning I was able to get out yesterday afternoon and take some wintry American Coot portraits close to home.
This adult American Coot may look like it is screaming but in reality it is simply calling out because another bird got close to it next to the shoreline of a small pond.
One of the birds that caught my attention at my local pond yesterday during the snow storm was an adult Double-crested Cormorant flying in front of a willow tree with lots of snowflakes in the frame.
Two days ago on my immature Double-crested Cormorant post I mentioned that prior to photographing the cormorant that I had been taking images of a Great Blue Heron, these two photos are of that heron.
This immature Double-crested Cormorant appears to be molting and probably needs all the rest it can get because of the molt and because winter is hard on these overwintering cormorants.
My favorite image of the day was this high key Mallard drake portrait that was taken in the late afternoon which was the only time I could see the sun behind the clouds the whole day.
This portrait of a head on Ring-billed Gull in a snow storm was taken 364 days ago at a local pond near home and I liked it because the gull looks a touch grumpy.
The last birds I photographed in 2017 were American Coots and some of the first birds I took photos of in 2018 were also coots.
Three afternoons ago I captured images of not just one flying crayfish in the air but two of them because of the Pied-billed Grebes capturing and consuming the freshwater crustaceans.
The Pied-billed Grebe was a bit too far away to take frame filling images of it but I was okay with that because I feel that the visual appearance of the silky water is just as important as the bird in these photos.
I photographed this adult Ring-billed Gull last winter at my local pond and loved the snow in the frame, the muted colors of the gull's plumage and the pops of color in the eye and bill of the gull.
It was my photos of a Double-crested Cormorant and American Coot in the snow storm that touched me the most even though both birds are small in the frame.
When the birds settled back down on the pond this American Coot walked up onto the shore with the open water behind it and I couldn't resist taking portraits of it.
With the forecast of possible snow this week I've been thinking about how much fun it can be to photograph Pied-billed Grebes in the wintertime again.
The caruncle or horn is a growth on the bill of American White Pelicans that occurs yearly during the breeding season.
The horn is a growth on the bill of American White Pelicans that occurs during the breeding season and I am fortunate to live in a location where these big, white pelicans breed.
For days it has been raining (sometimes hailing), cloudy and a miserable gray here in the Salt Lake Valley though it seems like two weeks to this bird photographer.