Fluffy little chicks are adorable, they make people "ohh" and "aww" and those that hit the ground running not long after hatching are especially appealing to some folks. But they need respect and they need space so we don't endanger them.
These are but a few of the birds I photographed this week in various Utah locations and all of them made great subjects!
This Western Meadowlark lifted off from a Sagebrush and I was able to track it and capture this image as soon as it was airborne. I've found it difficult to get images of Western Meadowlarks in flight because they move so quickly.
I wanted to share a sampler of bird images that I have taken over the past week in Davis and Box Elder Counties.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds are filling the marshy areas of Utah with their odd mechanical calls once again as the males court the females for their annual spring fling.
The only native true lark that lives and breeds in North America is the Horned Lark.
Male Boat-tailed Grackles have velvety black feathers that glow in the right light with iridescence purples, blues, teals and greens.
Normally we have Western Meadowlarks year round here in the Salt Lake Valley but because this past winter was harsh it seemed that they moved south for a bit. They are back now and singing their songs of spring.
Fairly soon I'll be seeing many more of the male Red-winged Blackbirds perching at the top of rushes and cattails singing springtime serenades for the females and flashing their brilliantly colored epaulets
One of my favorite locations to photograph birds in northern Utah is Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I've selected some of the birds there that delight and entertain me while I observe and photograph them.
I wanted to share a few images taken two days ago when Antelope Island was covered with a fresh snow fall. The entire island looked glorious and the sunlight caused the snow to sparkle much to my delight.
This Western Meadowlark image was taken last month on Antelope Island State Park. I meant to post it earlier but forgot because I got so busy trying to set up my new computer. Life outside of bird photography does get in the way at times.
This Western Meadowlark was a cooperative subject yesterday morning and allowed a close enough approach to get some frame filling images.
There is a rather large Pumpkin Patch near the road going to the Nature Center at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area where I like to photograph birds. They have a straw maze and all kinds of activities for children too.
One year ago today it was slow on Antelope Island, not many birds were close enough to photograph but on the way home I spotted this female Brewer's Blackbird on some rocks near one of the bridges on the causeway to the island.
Kind a of a crazy title but it is a mantra that I live by when it comes to my bird and nature photography. It simply means that unless I go out shooting I won't know what I am missing.
Male Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) are flashy birds but I believe the females have a subtle beauty too.
This Western Meadowlark was about to take off from the boulder it was on when I photographed it on Wednesday.
While out on Antelope Island State Park on Friday I spotted a male Brewer's Blackbird on top of a bush, the light was just great for viewing and photographing the iridescent teals, blues, greens and purples that can show up on these "black" birds.
During the spring Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) can be easy to locate and then approach because they spend so much time singing from the tops of boulders, bushes, posts and other manmade objects.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) can perch on cattails, reeds, rushes or mounds of vegetation and snatch Midges right out of the air.
Had I not seen that moving, tan blob beyond my viewfinder I could have easily missed being able to create these Chukar images. Sure, I have hundreds (if not thousands) of Chukar images but I am always looking for different poses, light conditions and settings to photograph my subjects in and this worked out very well.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds have begun to show up in large numbers in my area of the country. I'm seeing them perched on cattails, phragmites and in flight.
Brewer's Blackbirds may not be the most well known of the Blackbird family; I am fairly certain that the Red-winged Blackbirds have that claim to fame, but they are beautiful and interesting subjects to photograph.
Red-winged Blackbirds are birds that I associate with spring, the males begin calling perched on top of reeds, cattails, grasses and shrubs and flash their brightly colored coverts to attract a mate.
It was real slow for bird photography out on Antelope Island this morning but I did get a nice lift off shot from this Western Meadowlark.
I couldn't resist posting another Western Meadowlark image that I created today even though I posted one earlier this morning.
Tis the season of changes, for a bit it acts like winter and soon switches to act like spring. . The flute like call of Western Meadowlarks is a sound I associate with spring and lately I have been hearing them quite often.
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!
Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks are birds that I enjoy photographing all year long in Utah and yesterday they gave me some wonderful opportunities.