Male Red-winged Blackbirds Are Singing
I drove to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning where I heard male Red-winged Blackbirds singing in the marsh.
I drove to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning where I heard male Red-winged Blackbirds singing in the marsh.
I spent a couple of hours yesterday photographing winter birds at Farmington Bay WMA and closer to home in the morning and afternoon.
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.
Finding two uncommon birds this week at the same olive tree really has me buzzed and to finally see a Rusty Blackbird has made me feel like jumping over the moon.
In the right light Brewer's Blackbird males are very colorful because their feathers glow with blue, green, and purple iridescence.
Over the past month I thought about whether I wanted to share images and tell the story of this Western Meadowlark that lost its life because of a barbed wire death trap and finally decided that the story needed to be told.
I look at this seasonal change as a personal challenge to grow, to adapt and to meet my bird photography goals. I'm looking forward to the challenges and changes ahead.
Three days ago one of the birds that the Song Sparrows chased off was an adult female Brown-headed Cowbird that landed on a serviceberry in front of me.
What I like about this photo was the reflection of the Western Meadowlark, the still water, the one raised foot and the curvy edges of the puddle. I feel drawn into the frame.
I took this photo of an adult male Red-winged Blackbird taking off this morning with the distant snow covered Promontory Mountains in the background.
Two days ago there were plenty of male Red-winged Blackbirds singing and putting on displays in the marshy areas of Farmington Bay WMA.
I don't often get to have Great-tailed Grackles in my viewfinder let alone have them close enough to take portraits of them so when the opportunity presents itself, I jump at the chance.
I photographed this young male Red-winged Blackbird singing at the top of a Russian olive tree at Farmington Bay WMA nine days ago.
Yesterday morning I was able to take close up images of a male Brewer's Blackbird in the kind of light that showed all of its beautiful iridescent colors with the silky blue water of a pond in the background.
Autumn is a time when the seeds of many plants that the Red-winged Blackbirds feed upon have ripened and the birds are taking full advantage of the season's bounty and spend a large part of their days foraging.
This photo of a displaying male Brown-headed Cowbird in a goofy upside down pose is not a good photo technically but I absolutely love the behavior it shows.
I wanted to share a five image series of a male Yellow-headed Blackbird that I photographed in the marshes of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge this morning that I took the second week of May.
May is a time of renewal at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and as the marsh begins to green up the migrant birds return and along with the year round residents their songs and calls can be heard over the wetlands.
The fore and background of this image may be messy or cluttered looking but I love the way this photo shows the female Yellow-headed Blackbird in the habitat I find them in at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
The birds I heard and saw on the island with the most frequency were Western Meadowlarks, most of them were too far away or too skittish to photograph but one of them was cooperative and I was grateful for that.
This close up of a Western Meadowlark was taken nearly two years ago on Antelope Island State Park while the bird foraged on the ground.
It has been nearly a year since I posted any photos of Red-winged Blackbirds and since I took photos of a cooperative, sticky male yesterday I thought I should rectify that situation and share two photos here this morning.
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'm glad I had a few seconds to photograph this Great-tailed Grackle up close in the warm afternoon light before it was flushed and flew away.
This female Great-tailed Grackle was the first bird I photographed yesterday and she was so close to me that I opted to take portraits of her in the nice afternoon light at my local pond.
Two days ago I had a male Brewer's Blackbird in my viewfinder near Glover Pond in Davis County, I photographed him as he perched on a fence post with fall colors in the background.
So it wasn't a great morning but it wasn't all that bad either because I was able to focus on a Short-eared Owl, Brewer's Blackbirds and one curious Long-tailed Weasel.
A male Brewer's Blackbird had been preening on a fence post when he started to shake his feathers and that action sure showed his iridescent plumage off nicely.
The Brewer's Blackbird seemed to be really throwing himself into his bath as he splashed around, dipping his head into the water then shaking his entire body as his head rose above the water.
I didn't go up into the Wasatch Mountains yesterday thinking I would find a rare bird but that is precisely what happened after I spotted a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole fly into a serviceberry bush in Morgan County.