Oreoscoptes montanus
Sage Thrashers have long legs and tails, yellow eyes, spotted breasts and gray-brown upper parts.
Towards the end of last month I found a Sage Thrasher high in the mountains in riparian habitat which surprised me. A lot.
March 13th is an anniversary of sorts for me. The date is the earliest that I have seen and photographed a Sage Thrasher in northern Utah.
Sage Thrashers are only in Utah for their breeding season and by now all their chicks have fledged and are feeding on their own.
The second bird I photographed yesterday morning on Antelope Island State Park was an adult Sage Thrasher in gorgeous early morning light.
Sage Thrashers return to northern Utah in March and it is now time for me to start listening for their songs and melodies.
Eleven days ago I photographed an adult Sage Thrasher regurgitating the seed of a sumac berry that was so close I could barely fit the thrasher in the frame.
I was busy photographing six species of sparrows when I noticed this adult Sage Thrasher pop up in a sumac bush that was close enough for me to take portraits of it.
I hoped the Sage Thrasher would come closer so that I could photograph it and just about the time the Short-eared Owl lifted off the thrasher popped up on a nearby metal post.
The comparisons I have made between juvenile, immature and adult Sage Thrashers are basic, there are more ways to determine their age but I wanted to keep the comparisons simple.
So as of right now I am not sure whether I will be spending time on the island after the biting gnats come out which means if I am going to photograph Sage Thrashers displaying I need to find the thrashers some place else.
The Sage Thrasher seemed like it was bathed in golden light when suddenly I saw that it had a sumac berry which it tossed it into the air and proceeded to swallow it whole.
The birds I photographed on the wild rose bushes were adult and immature Sage Thrashers, an adult White-crowned Sparrow and one beautiful Northern Mockingbird.
I can barely wait to see my first Sage Thrasher of the year warming up on a rock in front of the Great Salt Lake, scurrying along on the ground, perched on top of sage or rabbitbrush singing or displaying.
Yesterday I had an immature Sage Thrasher get so close to me that I was able to take portraits of it as it perched out in the open.
I came across this image yesterday that I took one day shy of a year ago while looking for another image in my files and thought that I would post it today because I like the wing position.
This Sage Thrasher and Lark Sparrow on rabbitbrush are only two of the birds that benefit from the rabbitbrush on Antelope Island.
I didn't get to see Greater Sage Grouse on my recent trip to southern Utah but I did get a few brief looks at another sagebrush obligate when a single Sage Thrasher popped up into view.
This adult Sage Thrasher with prey was photographed on public lands in Tooele County in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains last July.
The Sage Thrashers on Antelope Island State Park are busy getting ready for migration and the thrashers hatched this year appear to be almost ready to go.
I went wandering in the West Desert of Utah yesterday because the views are always great and because I hoped to find a few birds.
There are loads of young Sage Thrashers on Antelope Island at the moment so it seems their first broods were fairly successful.
Yesterday I had my best opportunities thus far this year to photograph Sage Thrasher courtship behavior and bilateral wing displays on Antelope Island.
Yesterday I had my first opportunity to photograph a Sage Thrasher with nesting materials in its bill on Antelope Island State Park.
Can the disappearance of Sagebrush Seas be stopped? Yes, it could be but we need lawmakers that believe in science and act on it.
I was absolutely delighted to spot a pair of Sage Thrashers on Antelope Island yesterday because I have been anxiously awaiting their arrival since they left last fall.
It was delightful to have light and a six-pack (plus) of birds out on Antelope Island yesterday to test my new Nikon D7100.
Western Kingbird After several days of not being able to photograph birds because of bad weather I was pleasantly surprised to have a medley of birds to photograph on Antelope Island Monday.
While on Antelope Island yesterday I was able to photograph these two Sage Thrashers in two different locations with one perched on Sagebrush and the other on Rabbitbrush.
Sage Thrashers are considered sagebrush obligates meaning that they require sagebrush for some part of their life cycle and for the Sage Thrashers in Utah that means they need it during the breeding cycle.
I spent some time yesterday on Antelope Island State Park photographing and listening to a very cooperative and melodious Sage Thrasher.