Vesper Sparrow Lifting Off
While looking through my archives yesterday I came across this image of a Vesper Sparrow I photographed last September near a freshwater seep in Box Elder County.
While looking through my archives yesterday I came across this image of a Vesper Sparrow I photographed last September near a freshwater seep in Box Elder County.
There are times I take cruddy photos on purpose when I know that my view of the entire bird is obstructed and that I might only have a partial view of the bird.
This morning I wanted to keep my post short and sweet and sharing juvenile Mountain Bluebird images is pretty sweet I think.
Bird activity in the Wasatch Mountains has gotten slow but I was able to find and photograph an adult Gray Catbird with food for its young two days ago.
Yesterday morning the second bird I photographed was a Yellow Warbler on an old branch in a smoky haze high in the Wasatch Mountains.
I haven't seen any Spotted Sandpiper chicks in a location in the Wasatch Mountains where I normally see them at this time of the year but I have these from last summer.
While Franklin's Gulls are in northern Utah for their breeding season brine flies are an important food source for the adults and their young and are a part of their breeding success here in the Great Basin.
In late summer I see Nashville and MacGillivray’s Warblers in the same locations and habitats foraging for the same food, aphids.
What I missed seeing was that the immature Belted Kingfisher had spider webs stuck to its face in a long series of photos that I took of it next to a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.
This is a female Great Spangled Fritillary, a butterfly species that can be abundant in the Wasatch Mountains at this time of the year.
Some of the bird photos I take make me laugh and this goofy looking Canada Goose lifting off from the marsh at Bear River MBR is one of them.
Last week I photographed a fritillary butterfly photobomb a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly as it nectared on a Showy Milkweed high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Any day now I should spot my first of season fledgling Song Sparrow exploring their world and learning how to find food on their own.
The past few weeks I've been hearing and seeing Yellow Warbler fledglings while I have been photographing birds high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Blue Elderberry shrubs are blooming right now high in the Wasatch Mountains. Two days ago I took a few photos of the elderberry blossoms.
I started my morning off yesterday in the Wasatch Mountains photographing an American Mink family that appeared on the bank of a creek.
The last bird I photographed high in the Wasatch Mountains three days ago was an adult Turkey Vulture perched in an aspen in a smoky haze.
When I returned home and could view my images on a large screen I was able to identify this swallowtail butterfly as a male Two-tailed Swallowtail.
I couldn't escape the smoke that is covering Utah even high in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday but I was delighted to photograph a Least Chipmunk and wildflowers through the smoky haze.
Last week before the smoke started to darken the skies in northern Utah I had a few seconds to photograph an adult Cliff Swallow next to a steep mountain road.
The Antelope Island Spider Fest starts on August 2, 2021 and continues through August 7, 2021 this year.
Twelve years ago this morning I woke in Grand Island, Nebraska. I was a little more than 800 miles from my destination of Salt Lake City.
Three days ago I was delighted to have both an immature and an adult male Belted Kingfisher in my viewfinder as I sat next to a creek in the mountains.
Yesterday morning I was high in the Wasatch Mountains photographing bees on a Musk Thistle when a Pine Siskin landed on the flower.
I watched as the mink dashed across the shallow creek with the sandpiper in its jaws, climbed over a log, and out of my sight. That Spotted Sandpiper is no more.
I photographed this adult House Wren last week while I was up in the Wasatch Mountains looking for birds and cooling off in higher elevation temperatures.
Brown-headed Cowbird breeding activity hasn't slowed down yet high in the Wasatch Mountains if this displaying male is any indication of their mating attempts.
At the end of June I had a few moments to focus on an adult male American Goldfinch perched on a chokecherry tree high in the Wasatch Mountains.
I photographed my first of year juvenile American Robin two days ago as it foraged on its own high in a Wasatch Mountain canyon near a creek.
What intrigued me the most was the post-coital posture of the female Spotted Sandpiper where she kept one wing raised for a long period of time.