I want to thank Neil Paprocki for sharing information about Al Larson and the upcoming film The Bluebird Man, I have learned a lot from the web site and through my interview with Neil and I am all for learning more about the wonderful natural world around me.
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.
Yesterday my post focused on female Mountain Bluebirds and today I am presenting males in honor of Father's Day. I was blessed to have two fathers, one who died when I was very young and later in my second Dad came into my life.
There were Mountain Bluebirds everywhere I looked on my recent trip to Montana where flashes of their brilliant blue plumage were a delight to my eyes.
Yellow-bellied Marmots are the western cousins of Groundhogs but unlike Groundhogs (Woodchucks) they aren't fabled critters that can predict spring and I am okay with that because spring gets here when it gets here.
This male Tree Swallow was perched on a fence post in western Montana last week when I photographed him while the morning light lit him up beautifully.
I photographed this mated pair of Red-tailed Hawks last week in western Montana as they soaked up the warming rays of the morning sun.
It won't be long before I start seeing juvenile Willets that are about the size of the one pictured here.
Buteos are medium to large hawks with broad wings, wide bodies and short tails that soar in wide lazy circles and most often hunt from a high perch from which they drop down to their prey.
I've only had one opportunity to photograph Cassin's Finches so far and that was in the small town of Lakeview where the headquarters of Red Rock Lakes national Wildlife Refuge is located.
Swainson's Hawks are one of the three Buteos that I see with regularity on my visits to the Centennial Valley of Montana, Red-tailed and Ferruginous Hawks are the other two.
I've said before that owls fascinate me; probably more times than I can count, and Short-eared Owls are always a delight.
This time of the year I start dreaming about the Centennial Valley of Montana and of the birds that call the valley home during the summer.
Last summer I was able to see and photograph a juvenile Swainson's Hawk expelling a pellet in Beaverhead County, Montana.
Just a few Red-tailed Hawk images that I have been meaning to process and share.
This Western Tanager was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana.
Today I thought I would post images of the juvenile Buteos that I see most often in Utah and Montana, they are Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Ferruginous and Swainson's Hawks.
2012 was a fantastic year for me as a photographer and I am looking forward to the joys that 2013 will bring. Happy New Year to all.
Due to a crash in the vole population at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge last summer there weren't many Short-eared Owls around the refuge but the few that were there were real beauties.
So, each time we see or hear Sandhill Cranes we are listening to and looking at a real living fossil.
This adult Swainson's had two juveniles nearby that were perched on the conifer tree that their natal nest was in and the sun was getting close to setting. Sometimes I wish I could "speak" raptor so I could know what they are saying.
This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was concentrating on some thing on the ground when I photographed it.
Although my primary focus is on bird and nature photography I also enjoy seeing and photographing the old wooden buildings that I come across in my journeys.
Not only did I see numerous Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on my recent trip to Montana, I also saw quite a few Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) juveniles too.
The smoke-filled skies created interesting conditions during the sunrises I viewed in while in southwestern Montana recently.
Wow! There were two ebony eyes peeking at me through the light golden grasses along with the strikingly marked face of an American Badger!
While I was away in Montana for eight days starting last week I had a fantastic time photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America. They inhabit low elevation, open areas in the western United States and some locations in southwestern Canada and winter in southwestern US and Mexico.
On my mid-July journey to southwestern Montana it seemed like there were juvenile hawks every where I looked, the east and west side of the Centennial Valley and the south and north sides too.
I believe these are Silvery Lupine (Lupinus argenteus), taken on my recent trip to southwestern Montana using my bird setup to do a close up image.