Western Wood-Pewee in the Centennial Valley of Montana
Western Wood-Pewees are drab, medium-sized, flycatchers that breed in the open forests and riparian habitats in western North America.
Western Wood-Pewees are drab, medium-sized, flycatchers that breed in the open forests and riparian habitats in western North America.
Late last month I photographed a Western Kingbird family in Box Elder County where the juveniles kept begging for food from the adult.
So even though I didn't come home with many Burrowing Owls images yesterday these Western Kingbird images more than made up for it!
Early last week while photographing Western Kingbirds I also had the opportunity to photograph a Willow Flycatcher that was hanging around the same area on Antelope Island State Park.
I had fun photographing Western Kingbirds again yesterday on Antelope Island State Park and hours later I was still hearing their calls in my mind.
By the third or fourth visit to the area where the Western Kingbirds were located the sun was shining and the light was great. I felt like singing along with the kingbird to celebrate the clearing sky.
It has been gray for a couple of days and it supposed to be gray until this front passes and while gray days can get me down gray birds lift me back up.
Yesterday was a delight in the West Desert because there were plentiful birds to photograph including this male Spotted Towhee singing on its territory.
I only have time for a quick post this morning and decided to post one of the migrant kingbirds I look forward to seeing every year, an Eastern Kingbird.
This morning I was looking through some images that I had taken in August of 2014 and came across this juvenile Western Kingbird photo that I hadn't touched at all.
In June I published several posts about a pair of Western Kingbirds nesting on Antelope Island State park but unfortunately that nesting attempt failed.
Three days ago I was caught off guard when this Western Kingbird flew in and hovered up close to me, almost too close actually.
Yesterday morning I had Western Kingbirds and Long-billed Curlews in my viewfinder on Antelope Island State Park.
It was delightful to have light and a six-pack (plus) of birds out on Antelope Island yesterday to test my new Nikon D7100.
Today I am posting what I believe to be a Least Flycatcher that was perched in an evergreen along a road in Idaho.
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.
Gray Flycatchers are generally found in sagebrush and arid busy habitats so it was a real treat to see this one in the marshy habitat of the refuge.
Eastern Kingbirds; like their western counterpart, are fearless and will attack birds as large as Bald Eagles to defend their nests.
I don't often have the opportunity to photograph juvenile Western Kingbirds but last week I did at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County.
I saw several Tyrant Flycatchers on my last trip to Montana, Eastern and Western Kingbirds and a couple of Western Wood-Pewees that were hawking from fence posts and barbed wire along a gravel road.
These are but a few of the birds I photographed this week in various Utah locations and all of them made great subjects!
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.
The scientific name of Eastern Kingbirds is Tyrannus tyrannus, Tyrannus means "tyrant" and they are well named because they will harass any bird that comes near their nests including crows, ravens and much larger birds like hawks.
Western Kingbirds appear to have had a wonderful nesting season here in Utah because there are plenty of young birds perching on wires and branches loudly demanding food from the frazzled looking adults.
I always look forward to seeing and photographing Eastern Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) during the warmer months of the year. I was fortunate to see a few yesterday at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.
There are times when I go out to photograph a specific species but come home with images of birds I didn't expect to see.
Seeing the word "Montana" so often has gotten me anxious, antsy and itching to head north soon to see more of a state that beckons to me because I have fallen in love with it.
While I observed them one of the Western Kingbirds was actively hawking insects, swooping towards a bug then perching until it saw the next insect.
Near the camp site one afternoon I could hear tiny peeping sounds in the pines and I went to investigate, the sweet calls were coming from these juvenile Flycatchers.