Six-pack of Birds
It was delightful to have light and a six-pack (plus) of birds out on Antelope Island yesterday to test my new Nikon D7100.
It was delightful to have light and a six-pack (plus) of birds out on Antelope Island yesterday to test my new Nikon D7100.
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is one of my favorite places to visit during the summer to observe and photograph nesting birds and take in the beauty of the refuge.
Normally I prefer to have my subjects larger in the frame than this image of a Willet tiptoeing on the surface of the Great Salt Lake as it landed.
Photographing birds; wherever I am, allows me to feel a deep and sometimes profound connection to nature. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I have written before on how Red Knots are a species on the edge because of plummeting populations declines and today they still need our help.
Happy Mother's Day 2014!
Dunlins are small shorebirds that are found in North America which exhibit remarkable differences between their breeding and nonbreeding plumages.
In the past 10 Days I have shared a Western Meadowlark and a Sage Thrasher perched on Sagebrush and today I am posting a Willet perched on Big Sagebrush.
Two days ago I was able to photograph a Willet on Antelope Island calling from some rocks and foraging in the grasses and blooming Redstem Filaree.
Yesterday for the first time this season I saw and heard Willets on Antelope Island State Park.
Seven days shy of a year ago I found two rare Mountain Plovers in the White Rock Bay area of Antelope Island State Park and lately I have been hoping to see them again.
I saw my first of the year Long-billed Curlews two days ago on Antelope Island State Park flying overhead. They weren't close enough to photograph but I know that soon I will have them in my viewfinder again.
In yesterday's post I mentioned that I have seen my first of the year American Avocets and not long after they arrive Black-necked Stilts will also be making their appearance too.
Three days ago I saw my first of the season American Avocets flying over the causeway to Antelope Island State Park and I let out a gleeful "whoop"!
I feel that as a bird photographer I need to care for my subjects every time I am in the field and that is amplified when there are young, defenseless chicks.
Preening in birds is essential for keeping their feathers clean, arranged correctly and for some birds it is a way to distribute oils from the uropygial gland which helps to keep the feathers clean and healthy.
Long-billed Curlews have begun to leave or have left their wintering grounds and should be winging their way to Utah and arriving here any day now.
One of two species of oystercatchers in North America the American Oystercatchers quickly stole my heart after I first saw them because of their colors, long bills, pink legs and their Goth-like black toenails.
Shorebirds like this tiny Snowy Plover on a sugar sand beach were my "spark" birds when it comes to my bird photography and they are what made my passion for bird photography catch fire.
It won't be long before the American White Pelicans are back at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge which is where I photographed the pelican in the image above last spring.
For those of us; including myself, who are tired of gray, cold days I thought this Willet photographed in Florida might delight in the sweet light, sea foam and warm Gulf waters the image contains.
This morning I wanted to share another "happy accident" of this Marbled Godwit blur in flight taken along the Gulf of Mexico in coastal Florida.
Eight months ago I spotted two Mountain Plovers on Antelope Island State Park and I am still blown away by seeing and photographing those beautiful shorebirds who are uncommon in Utah.
I photographed this Semipalmated Plover as it foraged along the Gulf of Mexico in Florida in 2008 while I laid flat on the wet sand getting soaked as the waves pushed onto the shore around the sand bar in the distance.
The first time I went to Antelope Island State Park was on July 28, 2008 and among the wonderful things that I saw and photographed that trip were hundreds of American Avocets along the causeway to the island.
Yesterday I photographed two Greater Yellowlegs at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, there was snow on the ground and all around Farmington Bay the snow was falling heavily.
I love the light and the mudflat setting I photographed this Black-bellied Plover in on a warm April morning in Florida several years ago.
In 2008 I spent several months during the summer watching an American Oystercatcher family from the time the chicks were tiny until one of the chicks became independent.
Shorebirds; like this tiny Piping Plover I photographed on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, are the primary reason I became addicted to bird photography.
Which copyright watermark should I use? The small one that doesn't detract from the Greater Yellowlegs or the larger one that would make it harder for image thieves to use?