I Went Looking for a Snowy Owl and Got American Barn Owls in Flight
I went looking for a Snowy Owl and got Barn Owls in flight instead at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
I went looking for a Snowy Owl and got Barn Owls in flight instead at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
There isn't much open water right now but in a few places where it is open it attracts waterfowl including this bathing Common Merganser male in breeding plumage.
I am always grateful to see Barn Owls in winter and to be able to photograph them in sweet light is a delight.
It isn't every day that I have the opportunity to photograph an American Kestrel attacking a Red-tailed Hawk in the air, in fact this would have been my best opportunity.
This alert Spotted Sandpiper was photographed at Fort De Soto County Park in January of 2009 as it walked down some rip rap towards the water.
I did spot a juvenile Northern Harrier in the fog resting on a clump of vegetation in the snow covered field on the east side of the road and took a few images of it.
I had to share at least one image of this Mountain Cottontail on Antelope Island State Park that showed its little, fluffy white tail, after all that is where they get part of their name.
Ring-billed and California Gulls are the typical gulls I find in Utah so it wasn't much of a surprise to find this California Gull at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
The first bird I raised my lens for yesterday was this Black-billed Magpie in a snowstorm near the visitor center.
Yesterday I was able to photograph juvenile and adult White-crowned Sparrows on the same branch a few minutes apart at a gate at Farmington Bay WMA.
It felt wonderful to spend time with this Bear River MBR American Barn Owl yesterday while the sun was shining on the refuge.
This American Pipit on a tuft of grass was photographed last November at Farmington Bay WMA and was only one of what appeared to be hundreds of pipits feeding on small insects.
Male American Kestrels look for and locate potential nesting cavities within their territories and inspect them prior to the nesting season.
It was the first of the winter Burrowing Owls I was to find yesterday while on Antelope Island State Park.
I was delighted to photograph a female Red-winged Blackbird at White Rock Bay as she perched a dead greasewood branch.
A couple Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays in Ophir Canyon Road in Tooele County were the most cooperative of the jays that I found.
These Little Blue Herons on the hunt were both taken at Fort De Soto in two different tidal lagoons.
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is a winter wonderland right now and although it is very quiet it is still teeming with life.
It isn't unusual to see birds like this frost covered juvenile Northern Harrier at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah early in the morning before the sun rises and warms them up.
I photographed this adult Bald Eagle at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early on New Year's Day when the light of dawn was still golden.
On January 1st I spotted this resting Barn Owl on some hay bales not too far from the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at the hot spring.
Most of the images I took that day on Antelope Island State Park had flocks of European Starlings and an American Bison or two in them.
Just a simple image today of a resting Mountain Cottontail on a snow drift taken on Antelope Island State Park near the park headquarters.
I photographed this frosty Mule Deer buck in snow on Antelope Island State Park in December of 2013 while he was following a few does through a field of snow-covered mullein.
I photographed this Ring-billed Gull in flight at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on New Year's Day on the west side of the auto tour loop.
Through the steamy mists of a hot spring I found a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Blue Creek Spring in Box Elder County and I hoped to get a few decent images of it.
This Barn Owl seems to be flying straight into the New Year and that is what I am doing. Spreading my wings and facing what comes at me head on.
One year ago today I found, pointed out, and photographed a Coyote and Black-billed Magpies scavenging a deer carcass to survive on Antelope Island State Park.
The theme of my photo adventure yesterday seemed to be Barn Owls and spinning ice circles at Bear River MBR.
Rough-legged Hawks are known for kiting or hovering nearly motionless in the air while turning their head side to side to look for prey on the ground below them.