Birds

Birds that I find in the field, photograph and share the stories behind the images.

Portraits Of A Great Blue Heron With Nesting Material

By |January 25th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Pinellas County|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

It felt amazing to have that Great Blue Heron gift us with its presence for those few seconds. You just never know what might happen when you are out looking for birds.

Adult Song Sparrow Foraging In The Snow At Farmington Bay WMA

By |January 23rd, 2019|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Song Sparrows, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

I was happy when the "sit and wait" approach allowed me to see this adult Song Sparrow pop up on top of a snow covered pile of vegetation where it proceeded to forage in front of me at a nice distance.

Male Red-breasted Merganser On A Snowy Day In Northern Utah

By |January 22nd, 2019|Categories: Birds, Red-breasted Mergansers, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

At first I thought the single Red-breasted Merganser was a female until I noticed the white patches of feathers behind its neck on its sides and then I realized that the merganser was a male because females do not typically have those white patches.

Two First Winter Ring-billed Gull Portraits Of The Same Gull

By |January 21st, 2019|Categories: Birds, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

Both of these portraits of a first winter Ring-billed Gull are of the same bird taken one minute apart just as the light changed from okay to much brighter where the gull had changed its location but only slightly.

Reddish Egret In A Lagoon With Clouds Reflecting On The Water

By |January 20th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Reddish Egrets|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

It has been nearly ten years since I took this photo and it remains one of my favorite Reddish Egret photos because of the clouds reflecting on the still waters of a lagoon at Fort De Soto County Park.

Angry Looking Redhead Drake

By |January 18th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Redheads, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This Redhead isn't "angry" at all but it does look angry to my eyes and this morning I'm feeling about as angry as this duck looks. I'll explain but first I have to give a bit more information about how my mornings start.

Ruddy Duck Drake In Nonbreeding Plumage

By |January 17th, 2019|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Ruddy Ducks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Even though this drake Ruddy Duck is small in the frame I liked this image because of the silky blue water, the small wake behind the duck, the direct eye contact and how some of the blue of this drake's bill is visible.

Focusing On A Ring-billed Gull Drinking Water From An Icy Pond

By |January 16th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I removed the "Just A" from the title for this post and added "Focusing On A" instead. Why? Because I was focused on observing and photographing this Ring-billed Gull drinking from an icy pond and I'm happy to say that I was.

Hen and Drake Hooded Mergansers With and Without Prey

By |January 14th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Hooded Mergansers, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The birds I photographed the most yesterday were a pair of Hooded Mergansers that were actively foraging for prey most of the time I had them in my viewfinder.

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Lone Canada Goose Flying In Front Of The Snow Covered Wasatch Mountain Range

By |January 11th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Canada Geese, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

In the case of this photo of a lone Canada Goose flying in front of the snowy Wasatch Mountains I took the photo because I liked how nicely lit the goose was in contrast to the darker, snow and cloud covered mountains.

Adult And Immature Tundra Swans At Bear River MBR

By |January 10th, 2019|Categories: Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Birds, Box Elder County, Tundra Swans, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I am itching to get back out into the field and one of the places I am most excited to get back to is Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah because of the Tundra Swans that I know are there.

Pied-billed Grebe With Crayfish Being Chased Across The Water

By |January 8th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Loons and Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

This image of a Pied-billed Grebe with a crayfish in its bill running across the water is one of those photos where I wish I could show the second grebe just outside of the frame chasing after it.

Spotted Sandpiper On The Gulf Coast – Thinking Back On Warmer Days

By |January 7th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Spotted Sandpipers|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This morning I'm thinking back on warmer days where I took photos of Spotted Sandpipers on the Gulf Coast as they scurried among those oyster beds looking for food and somehow I feel just a little bit warmer looking at this photo and the howling wind doesn't seem quite so loud.

Photographing A Common Goldeneye Drake While Breaking Some Rules

By |January 6th, 2019|Categories: Birds, Common Goldeneyes, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

By sharing these photos today my intention is to show that there are times when photographic rules can be broken because the appeal of images or the lack of appeal is all about the individual tastes of the photographer taking the photos and those of the people that view them.

Back Side Views Of A Bathing Pied-billed Grebe

By |January 3rd, 2019|Categories: Birds, Loons and Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

There were some images of the bathing Pied-billed Grebe I did like because they showed a view of the grebe I don't share all that often, the back side of the grebe. They have cute little bottoms, so why not?

New Year’s Day Neotropic Cormorant Sighting

By |January 2nd, 2019|Categories: Birds, Neotropic Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

What caught my eyes was that one of the cormorants was smaller, sleeker and darker than the other two birds and before I even scoped it through my lens I knew that I had found an out of season Neotropic Cormorant.

2018 Year In Review For On The Wing Photography

By |December 31st, 2018|Categories: Baltimore Orioles, Birds, Brewer's Blackbirds, California Gulls, Cedar Waxwings, Northern Mockingbirds, Peregrine Falcons, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Say's Phoebes, Tundra Swans, Wild Turkeys, Yellow Warblers, Yellow-bellied Marmots|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

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.

Hen Common Goldeneyes In Flight And This Site Is On The Wing Too

By |December 27th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Common Goldeneyes, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Snow and clouds are in the forecast for today and I have decided that today is the day for me to migrate On The Wing Photography over to the new server that I mentioned a while back.

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Christmas Goose

By |December 25th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Cackling Geese, Canada Geese, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I'm happy that I was able to photograph birds on Christmas Eve in decent light and that somehow to me this is more than "just" a goose, it is a Christmas Goose and who am I to look a gift goose in the bill?

Rough-legged Hawk Photographed On Christmas Eve Day 2013

By |December 24th, 2018|Categories: Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

After looking through all of those images I decided to share a photo today of an immature Rough-legged Hawk perched on a waterfowl rest area sign taken at Farmington Bay WMA on Christmas Eve day in 2013.

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