2020 Photographic Year In Review

This is my 2020 photographic year in review. I’m selecting some of my favorite photos from 2020 and a few that just make me happy to see them.

It has been a tough year for everyone. I was still able to get out in the field despite the pandemic but it did change how many times I went out and where I went. I did not go camping at all in 2020 so all of my photos are from Utah this year.

Please click on the small images to view them larger.

January

What can I say? We all started the year with high hopes, goals and dreams.

In January I photographed out in the field and close to home 15 times. I was at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Farmington Bay WMA although most of my time was spent closer to home.

My first bird of the year was an American Crow I saw in the parking lot of my local grocery store. Laura Erickson’s system for the first bird of the year says a crow is “a year marked by intelligence and clear communication.” but as we know 2020 hasn’t been marked by intelligence or clear communication. I really don’t want to go into the reasons why I feel that way. Anyone following the news knows 2020 has been a serious crap fest for many reasons.

But January of 2020 did give me several opportunities to take high key images of Ring-billed Gulls, of spectacular winter scenery, and the foggiest Great Blue Heron images I have ever taken.

February

In February I photographed 15 days, one day was an absolute skunk but the rest were nice. I photographed close to home, up in northern Utah, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Farmington Bay WMA, the West Desert, Antelope Island State Park, and up in the Wasatch Mountains.

It was chilly and snowy. I completed another journey around the sun.

One of the highlights of the month was spotting and photographing a leucistic second winter Bald Eagle high in the Wasatch Mountains. One of the other highlights was finally getting “the” image of a Golden Eagle I’ve dreamed of getting that I found and pointed out on the drive from the auto tour loop to the interstate at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  I also spent time photographing raptors and Bald Eagles at Farmington Bay WMA.

The year 2020 wasn’t going bad at all photographically but March… March was going suck.

March – Now known as the month of 2020 that nightmares are made of

In March I was only able to get out into the field 8 days. I had one day of photographing birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, three days at Antelope Island State Park, three days in far northern Utah, and one day up in the Wasatch Mountains. During the first part of the month there were plenty of gray, cloudy days. Too many in fact.

The second part of the month was going to rock my world.

On the 18th of March at 7:09 am I felt the house shake, and heard horrible creaking noises. When I tried to get to the doorway of my apartment the concrete floor beneath my feet felt like a trampoline. About twelve miles away as the crow flies a 5.7 earthquake struck. Throughout the day strong after shocks hit the Salt Lake Valley. It would be weeks (and weeks) before the earth settled down.

Not long after that Utah basically shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I couldn’t get to many of the places I wanted to be because of shut downs and because of the continuing aftershocks which made me leery of being to far from home. The governor of Utah closed state parks to anyone who lived outside the county the parks were located in so Antelope Island State Park was off limits for me during the peak of migration.

But in March the ice in the marshes surrounding the Great Salt Lake started to melt and open up and the birds arrived en masse. Up in the mountains the Bald Eagles were nesting and mating and in other areas Red-tailed Hawks were starting their breeding season.

April

April was warm. The snow melted except for on the highest mountain peaks and I spent time up in the Wasatch and West Desert mountains. Smaller birds started courting and nesting.

In April I photographed out in the field on 11 days. Most of my time was spent in the West Desert and Wasatch Mountains but I was able to fit a few trips into Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and far northern Utah.

I finally photographed Uinta Ground Squirrels eating earthworms in addition to some gorgeous blooming Glacier Lilies, a striking smoke phase Wild Turkey and nesting Mountain Bluebirds.

The earth was still shaking due to aftershocks from the earthquake in March but it did start to settle down. The pandemic raged on and the failure of officials on the state and federal levels was shockingly horrible.

Wildfire season started and the valleys filled up with smoke.

May

I was only able to get out into the field 7 days in the month of May. I’m pretty sure that was due to the Coronavirus and lockdowns but 2020 has been so interminably long that I don’t really recall what the reason was. I spent 6 days photographing high in the Wasatch Mountains and one day in the West Desert.

On May 2nd I celebrated having posted here on my On The Wing Photography website blog for 5 years without missing a day. That is one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven consecutive days. Today that number is 2,070 consecutive days.

Bird song tickled my ears, the seductive scents of wildflowers wafted past my nose and the earth felt revitalized even as the Coronavirus was taking hundreds of lives a day.

Hummingbirds chirped and displayed, baby Uinta Ground Squirrels came above ground to nibble on the green grasses of spring while the chorus of birds delighted my auditory senses.

Despite the virus I tried to remain my usual optimistic self and enjoyed every minute I had in the field away from the dismal news about our country. I mostly succeeded but after driving home to face the news of the day was hard and getting harder.

June

Summer arrived. The days were longer and warmer. Young birds started showing up on my travels but many of them were still courting and nesting.

There were 11 days spent in the field most of which was high in the Wasatch Mountains so I could escape the smoke that still filled the valley from wildfires raging in Utah and all over the West. One morning was spent at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and one day in far northern Utah.

I photographed Gray Catbirds fighting, Short-eared Owls attempting to find food for their young and a great herd of Elk trying to get a drink from an alpine stream.

July

Young birds were my primary focus in July. Fledgling and juvenile birds seemed to appear everywhere I went. The young birds were begging for food from the adults or learning how to forage on their own. Despite all of the tragedies that were being reported in the daily news I felt a sense of comfort in seeing the circle of life go on.

I was in the field 12 days during July with most of my time spent high in the Wasatch Mountains to avoid breathing in the smoke filled air in the valley. One morning was spent in far northern Utah and one morning on Antelope Island State Park.

I relished photographing young songbirds, raptors and more during July along with spiders and phalaropes on Antelope Island.

The wildfires continued to rage, the pandemic worsened and the lack of rain made us all uneasy because we needed the moisture to help with the fires.

August

August was hot, crack an egg and cook it on a sidewalk hot. The smoke from the wildfires was still awful, the earth had stopped shaking but the Coronavirus and wildfires were still raging.

I spent 13 days photographing in the Wasatch Mountains and one morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge for a total of 14 days in the field.

I had a real close encounter high in the mountains with a young Red Fox that tickled me pink along with my best opportunities with Nashville Warblers and I followed the growth and development of many young birds.

I started looking forward to cooler days yet knew that my time with migrant birds was slowly slipping away. Migration had already begun for shorebirds and songbirds would soon be on the wing and heading to warmer climates to spend their winters.

September

In September mornings got a little cooler but the days seemed just about as hot as they were in August. Some of the bird song ceased as some migratory species moved on.

On September 1st I found, identified and reported a Veery high in the Wasatch Mountains. The Utah Bird Records Committee accepted my sighting and it is the 14th vetted record of the species in Utah. That was the first highlight of the month.

I spent 18 days in the field in September photographing high in the Wasatch Mountains, the West Desert, Farmington Bay WMA, far northern Utah and some days closer to home.

Smoke was still a problem but it wasn’t as bad as it had been in the previous months. The pandemic? It was decidedly worse and the governor of Utah had grossly failed Utahns because of his lack of leadership. Keeping “safe” prior to election day to get his choice in the governor’s office will stain his legacy forever. Instead of having a backbone he acted like a jellyfish. No offense meant to jellyfish.

Other highlights for September included me finding and photographing my first Utah Tarantula and later in the month spotting an uncommon Green Heron and by finding it I provided a friend with a “lifer” bird.

October

By October most if not all of the migratory birds I had spent the spring and summer photographing high in the Wasatch Mountains had left but I knew there would be great bird activity in the lower mountains of the West Desert.

I was in the field 11 days in October and I photographed in the West Desert, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Farmington Bay WMA and far northern Utah.

Morning and daytime temps were cooler than September but we still had some pretty warm, even recording breaking days. Thankfully most of the wildfire smoke had left the valley.

I hoped to finally get decent images of Golden-crowned Kinglets but they stayed tucked away in the Douglas Fir branches. I photographed Red-breasted Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees to my heart’s content in the mountains of the West Desert. I took my best images of Bushtits so far. They are frenetic little birds that are very challenging to photograph and they have been a nemesis species for me. I also found and photographed a Common Loon in an uncommon place at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

November

Due to cloudy weather (but very little snow) I was only out in the field 8 days in November. I spent most of my time in the field at Farmington Bay WMA but I also went out into the West Desert, to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and far northern Utah.

The pandemic worsened, the presidential election was disputed by the loser, and the governor of Utah still didn’t grow a backbone.

The absolute highlight of the month was a short visit with my son Chris and his wife Sabrina. I can’t even begin to explain how good it felt to have real hugs from people I love after so many months without a hug. I’m a hugger and a lover of hugs. Chris and Sabrina had been wearing masks and social distancing and I had been too. After they left I self isolated.

Chris and Sabrina’s visit was way too short and because of the virus we didn’t get to explore anywhere locally. Bad weather was closing in and they needed to get back to Colorado. I warned both of them about traveling through Utah, Wyoming and Colorado in high winds before they left for Colorado Springs.

Photographing Ferruginous Hawks in the West Desert, a Merlin at Farmington Bay WMA and the Pine Siskin invasion of northern Utah were also highlights of November.

On the last day of November I found, identified, and photographed a Common Grackle at Farmington Bay WMA. They are uncommon here in northern Utah but I had seen and photographed them in Florida.

December – So long 2020, you will not be forgotten. Ever.

Despite the pandemic, the earthquake, societal unrest, lockdowns, toilet paper shortages, and more I tried to make this year a good year. We won’t get back to normal when this is done, it will be a new normal and right now who knows what that will look like.

I made it out into the field 11 times during December. There was one trip to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, one trip up into the Wasatch Mountains to look for eagles and the rest were spent at Farmington Bay WMA or the ponds close to home.

In total I was only in the field 140 days in 2020 which is lower than it has been in a long, long time.

In early December I found an uncommon Rusty Blackbird at Farmington Bay WMA. That was a lifer species for me and one that I have waited to see for a long time. My time spent in the field helped me through the craziness of December.

2020 is almost over and I will be glad to see it in the rear view mirror. I hope that 2021 will be a much better year for us all.

Happy New Year’s Eve.

Life is good.

Mia