Black-billed Magpie With Nesting Material
It is Black-billed Magpie nesting season on Antelope Island State Park and throughout their breeding range in western North America.
It is Black-billed Magpie nesting season on Antelope Island State Park and throughout their breeding range in western North America.
Earlier this month I had a brief opportunity to photograph a Common Raven on a gate at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on a bright, beautiful morning.
I will not be sad to see February 2021 in the rear view mirror. It has been the second worst month for bird photography on record for me. Ever.
Last week when I visited Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I photographed several birds on the frozen marsh including a Common Raven on ice.
This Common Raven looked to be alone but there was another raven foraging on the ground across the river that this bird could see.
It does not matter where I am or what I am doing, I am never not looking for birds.
The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.
I liked this image of one of the fledgling Black-billed Magpies I photographed because of the serviceberry perch, the great eye contact I had with the young bird and its pose.
I took eighty-four images of the Bald Eagle pair mating on the frozen reservoir and the entire time the magpie stood on the ice close to them.
I am more than thrilled to once again observe and photograph nesting Black-billed Magpies using the same greasewood where I first photographed them almost ten years ago.
I seem to be on a high key bird photo kick this month so I thought I would add one more of a Black-billed Magpie I photographed in a winter whiteout just a few days shy of four years ago.
I always get excited about what the first bird will be that I see at the beginning of the new year and for two years in a row now my first birds of the year have been American Crows.
I was delighted to photograph the few immature Black-billed Magpies that were close to me and to observe those who were further away foraging and chasing each other around in a field dotted with wildflowers, grasses and sage.
So far this year the only photo I've taken of the nest building magpies that I have liked is this close up of a resting Black-billed Magpie who was taking a break from looking for nesting materials.
At first the Common Raven was near the side of the road but it moved down the rocks and got closer to the lake and where it poked around in the rocks.
At the end of January I had a few opportunities to photograph some American Crows in nice light on snow and ice at Farmington Bay WMA. I jumped at the opportunity of course.
I had a Common Raven that was close enough to get a few images of it in flight and it excited me.
It isn't often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them yet that is precisely what happened to me two days ago.
Okay, that is enough for now, there are more birds that people love to hate but I can only deal with so much of it before I feel the need to get out and photograph all the birds I see, even those that other people despise.
This Black-billed Magpie had been perched on the top of a leafless greasewood when it lifted off from it and flew almost directly towards me with its body and wings turned sideways in flight.
Two days ago there were still numerous American Crows feeding on the carcasses of the carp at Farmington Bay and some of the crows were close enough to allow me to take frame filling images of these pure black birds.
Yesterday the American Crows hung around with the Bald Eagles, Herring, California and Ring-billed Gulls to feast on those invasive fish which gave me an opportunity to photograph this one standing on a dead carp.
This Fish Crow in flight over Egmont Key In Florida image isn't the best, I see many flaws in it, but on my old photo gallery this photo had by far the most views in the entire gallery.
There was a tribe of juvenile Black-billed Magpies on Antelope Island State Park yesterday down near White Rock Bay that were wandering around in the area near the Buffalo Point trailhead
There were several fledglings on the rails but I liked how these two young American Crows were relatively close together and both looking the same direction, up the rails and to the north
The best bird photography opportunity of the day happened when I spotted a Burrowing Owl near its burrow and I took advantage of the nice light to take quite a few images of the owl framed by grasses and blooming Red-stem Filaree.
When I found a Black-billed Magpie on the rocks close to the road below Frary Peak I was happy to photograph it there.
Wow, today is the last day of the year 2016. This is my photographic year in review from Utah, Idaho and Montana!
I had fun photographing the Common Raven and the Common Goldeneyes yesterday and even though the cold temps made my fingers numb, these birds were the highlight of my day.
The long-awaited Scrub-Jay split has officially happened! Western Scrub-Jay can be crossed out in a our fields guides and the two new names California Scrub-Jay and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay can be penciled in.