2018 Year In Review For On The Wing Photography

As usual the past year has been a busy one for me as a bird photographer and a person. I thought I’d share a photo and my thoughts from every month of this year today as my 2018 year in review.

Female Peregrine Falcon at eye level with her prey

In January I was in the field 19 days, mostly I photographed close to home but I also made trips to the West Desert, Farmington Bay WMA, northern Utah and Bear River MBR.

One of the January highlights was spotting and pointing out this beautiful falcon close to home. At first I thought she was a rock and when the “rock” moved to eat her prey I realized it was a Peregrine Falcon. She hung around for a couple of weeks but my best photos of her were taken the first day that I found her.

January was chilly but not as chilly as previous years.

Pair of Tundra Swans running on the water to lift off from a marsh

I was only out in the field 13 days during the month of February but I made them count.

I spent quite a few days photographing Tundra Swans at Bear River MBR where their calls made my ears happy. My eyes danced with delight seeing them in flight, landing, taking off, resting, preening and eating. I feel so blessed to be able to see the swans by the thousands on the refuge. I went up there on my birthday and enjoyed the swans in quiet solitude and photographed them until my heart was content. This photo was taken that day.

It snowed frequently in February and I spent a lot of time photographing birds at my local pond as well as Farmington Bay, Bear River and further north.

Tom Wild Turkey crossing a gravel road in the mountains of the West Desert

It began to warm up in March and before I knew it I was seeing Wild Turkey toms strutting their stuff in front of the hens in the mountains of the West Desert. Life got in the way of me spending as many days in the field as I would have liked because I was only out photographing 11 days in March.

Fence climbing Yellow-bellied Marmot pup

Before April, I had started leaving my polar fleece vest at home because most day time highs and lows were warmer than historical averages. The days were getting longer which meant getting up earlier to be on the road and at the location I wanted to photograph at before dawn.

One of the highlights during the month of April was photographing Yellow-bellied Marmot pups which are as amusing as they are cute. One of them even enchanted me by climbing a fence and hanging there for a few seconds. It looked to me like it was doing cross-fit.

I spent just 12 days in the field.

Male Yellow Warbler hanging upside down from a Hawthorn

May was probably the best month of the year for me because my Mom visited me for a couple weeks so she and I wandered the mountains, canyons, marshes and desert together. My mom is every bit as much a nature lover as I am and I could hear the delight in her voice when we spotted birds and wildlife together. Her spotting skills are nearly as sharp as mine! To be fair, mom wasn’t as used to the habitat as I am which made it easier for me to spot birds.  It was a great visit my mom which seemed to go by too fast.

Mom especially loved the canyons in the Wasatch Mountains where we found and photographed spring birds and fuzzy creatures too. She also enjoyed seeing the Spiral Jetty for the first time and we found plenty of Burrowing and Short-eared Owls on our way to and from the jetty.

Just 11 days in the field in May but each day was a day to be treasured.

Cedar Waxwing near its nest in the Wasatch Mountains

June arrived along with higher than normal temps along with worries about wildfires since we had been so dry out here. The higher temps made me seek the cooler temps in the mountains quite often and while I was up there I was able to observe a pair of Cedar Waxwings building their nest, that I found, in a hawthorn tree on many of my trips up to the canyons. Later I was able to just barely able to see the adults feeding the chicks through the foliage.

There were so many birds in the canyons that I even worried about wearing out the shutter on my Nikon D500.

I also wandered up north to look for owls and hawks. One morning I rushed up towards the Golden Spike area to rescue a Short-eared Owl chick who had been struck by a vehicle, unfortunately the chick’s injuries were so severe that it had to be euthanized.

I wandered around looking for birds 17 days in June and by the end of the month the smoke from wildfires here in the west had become a huge issue. Some days the only way to get out of it was to head up into the mountains.

Perched immature Say’s Phoebe

By July I was busy photographing fledglings and chicks and birds that were starting to nest the second time of the season. I spent most of my time up in the mountain canyons because the smoke in the valley was so awful at times.

On one of my trips into the canyons I spotted a Say’s Phoebe adult and then the next time I went up I found and pointed out an immature phoebe in that same location. It pays to keep an eye out for the adults because during the nesting season it could mean finding their chicks too.

I was in the field a mere 13 days during July but each day was filled with many birds!

Male Baltimore Oriole rarity

When August arrived the smoke from the wildfires here in Utah and surrounding Western states was still horrible and the heat in the valley felt oppressive. I spent most of my days in the field up in the mountain canyons.

My best bird of the month was when I found a male Baltimore Oriole feeding in a serviceberry bush up in the canyons, my sighting was the 7th vetted record of this species in Utah.

I had been sitting in my Jeep near that bush for quite some time and I was just about ready to leave when I saw a flash of orange, black and white fly into the tree, scoped it with my lens and gasped. I couldn’t see much of the oriole so I waited and waited some more until it popped out into the open so I could take some documentary images of the striking and rare bird.

Once I reported the oriole many other birders were able to catch glimpses of the feathered visitor from the east. Finding this oriole was only possible because I was alone and because I don’t have a set time when I head for home.

The Baltimore Oriole wouldn’t be my only rare bird for the year, September also gave me a brief glimpse of another.

I was out looking for and photographing birds 19 days during August.

Perky Northern Mockingbird on a rose bush

I spent 21 days in the field during the month of September, the breeding season was finished for many of the birds and fall migration had already started for some species. I was still seeing the young of the year up in the mountains, the marshes and the desert.

I was delighted to photograph several species of birds on rose bushes heavy with rose hips in September including a gorgeous Northern Mockingbird not far from the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake. Back east it was easy for me to take this species for granted because they seemed to be everywhere but out here I don’t find them all that often and when I do I want to take as many images of them as I can.

My second rare bird sighting of the year occurred not to far from where I photographed this mockingbird. I had the warbler in my sight for a split second and I was able to take only one photo of it before the vehicle I was in moved but that photo was enough for me to ID the warbler. I’d seen the warbler species back east but I sent it to my friend Mark Stackhouse and he agreed with my ID so I sent in my report and my Palm Warbler sighting became the 21st vetted record of this species in Utah.

Shaking male Brewer’s Blackbird in Davis County

October arrived, the smoke from our wildfires settled down for the most part and I was in the field for 14 days. It was hard to find some of the birds I expected to be moving through on migration but I could easily find large flocks of blackbirds at Farmington Bay WMA and I kept hoping to find a Rusty Blackbird amongst them but dipped on them. The Brewer’s Blackbirds on the other hand were plentiful and I photographed them at every opportunity.

I had my first view of Bear River after a closure of the auto route for maintenance and a controlled burn to help mitigate invasive phragmites and was shocked by how little vegetation was left in most of the water impoundments. I’m hoping that we have a wet spring to help the regrowth of the native vegetation on the marsh.

Red-breasted Nuthatch feeding in firs

I went to the mountains in the West Desert often during November because on a solo trip up there I had spotted lots of nuthatches and solitaires in the Douglas Firs and I wasn’t disappointed because the Red-breasted Nuthatches were close up as they fed on the seeds deep in the cones of the firs. I love being in the West Desert and the quiet stillness I find there.

I spent 18 days in the field during November.

December California Gull touch down

Bird photography has been a bit slow for me in December party because cloudy weather, partly because I has to finish two non bird photography projects but I have visited the local pond whenever there was light or opportunity. It has been harder to find birds at my other favorite bird photography locations and I know I am not alone because my local friends are having trouble locating birds too.

I keep trying though, it is not in my nature to give up.

I was out in the field 13 days in December. My total days in the field for 2018 is 181 and there is still time for me to get out today.

All in all, as 2018 comes to a close I realize how fortunate I am to see all the birds that I do throughout the year as a bird photographer, to be able to do what I love and to love my feathered subjects too.

Life is good.

Happy New Years Eve!

Mia

See more of my bird photos in their galleries.

Sorry for any typos, this is a long post and it is still early.