Last week before I found the Rock Wren I wrote about I also found a subadult Peregrine Falcon perched on a wooden post in the West Desert.
It isn't everyday that I can take photos of a Peregrine Falcon in Red Rock Country so I'm very glad I spotted this one and was able to get a few images it.
It is still dark here in northern Utah but I can tell there is some fresh snow on the ground so I guess that makes this a white Christmas even if the white stuff melts before the sun comes up over the mountains.
So back to the question of what birds will this New Year bring? The ones I get out and find of course.
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.
I lost those Peregrine Falcon images because I had other things on my mind and prematurely reformatted my memory card.
Finding and photographing the surprise Peregrine Falcon with prey was one of the brightest spots of my day.
There are other differences in plumage between Prairie and Peregrine Falcons that show in my photos but by using just their heads it is possible to make a quick ID in the field.
The Peregrine Falcon was quite content on its rusty, lofty perch and didn't do anything but turn its head to see what was going on down below it.
Eight years ago today I didn't know that it would be the last time I'd photograph the Burrowing Owl family together and that a juvenile Peregrine Falcon would have a part in that.
I spent forty-one minutes observing and photographing this Peregrine Falcon yesterday while it rested, preened and stretched right next to the Great Salt Lake.
My best find of the day was a Peregrine Falcon in the snow perched on a colorful boulder with a snowy background.
I've made it clear on my post about Galileo and in this post about Goose that they are education birds and in my photo galleries I have included this symbol (C) to indicate they are captive birds.
Wow, today is the last day of the year 2016. This is my photographic year in review from Utah, Idaho and Montana!
This time of the year I start looking for Peregrine Falcons to show up near the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake because of the high numbers of ducks that are usually there.
I was able to photograph this Peregrine Falcon in flight in front of a brightly colored sandstone cliff face with the light of the setting sun on it. I was delighted.
The Great Salt Lake this time of the year is full of ducks and that means that there is ample food in the area for this young Peregrine Falcon.
I was delighted to have a minute or two with this immature Peregrine Falcon on a tumbleweed perch in northern Utah. It made my day.
Last month while camping near Capitol Reef National Park I was delighted to find a Peregrine Falcon feeding on prey near some Sandhill Cranes in a field that I had been photographing.
In the four and a half years I have been in Utah I have seen and photographed four escaped falconry birds, one in 2009, two in 2012 and yesterday I photographed another one, an escaped White Gyrfalcon.
Throughout these three experiences in finding escaped falconry birds what I have learned is that falconry is for experts not for people who just think it is cool to have a pet raptor.
Since I began photographing birds in Florida I have gotten used to getting wet to photograph shorebirds, wringing wet at times but my gear has never been as wet as it was the day I took these images from inside the pickup.
I know that falconry birds and rehabbed raptors can be used as excellent tools in educating the public, I've been impressed with them myself. But there is a risk for falconry birds that escape and that still have jesses or anklets attached and that fact worries me.
This is the third post in my series about Wild and Wonderful Antelope Island State Park, I've saved the best (and longest) for last. The Birds! Okay, maybe they aren't the best thing about Antelope Island State Park, but I am a bird photographer and they are what I am most passionate about!
Where is the light when you want it? Yesterday it was hiding behind the clouds and lake fog when I spotted this Peregrine Falcon at a close distance, on prey and sticky.