Remembering Higher Water In The Great Salt Lake
I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.
I came across this photo of a Green-winged Teal with Northern Shovelers in the surf of the Great Salt Lake that I took in December of 2011 yesterday. It was a punch in the gut.
Every fall and winter when Lesser and Greater Scaups are seen in northern Utah I hear questions about scaup identification.
I photograph tons of Red-tailed Hawks. I have shared more Red-tailed Hawk articles on my blog and images in my photo galleries than any other birds species.
This morning I am sharing a simple photo of a drake Northern Shoveler landing on a chilly pond that I took in early December of last year.
Despite how rough this year has been this morning on Thanksgiving Day I want to write about thankfulness and gratitude.
A few days ago I saw someone say that they rarely saw photos of Ruddy Ducks in flight and I remembered I had a series of them flying past taken 11 years ago.
When I spotted this adult female Northern Harrier resting on a tumbleweed yesterday morning it took a few moments for me to point her out.
Yesterday morning I spotted this dark morph Red-tailed Hawk high on a cliff and I was able to photograph him as he lifted off with prey in his talons.
This year all I have been able to say is that snow has fallen on the mountains. Down here in the valley the snow has been MIA.
Last month I spotted a wing tagged American White Pelican on October 15th and saw it again on October 29th at Glover Pond and reported my sightings.
Just a simple photo this morning of a male House Finch perched on a greasewood in front of an old red barn at Farmington Bay WMA.
I spotted this Wild Turkey hen walking on a rusty, metal beam of a dilapidated pole barn and I knew that I had to take images of her.
Had I taken these Loggerhead Shrike photos four to five years ago the background wouldn't have been dry lake bed. It would have shown water. Precious, life-giving water.
Yesterday morning the first birds I focused on taking photos of were Wild Turkey toms as they displayed for each other on desert ranchlands in northern Utah.
On Friday I was looking for birds high in the sky and low on the horizon when I turned my head and spotted a fruit fly shaped cloud.
Yesterday I was thrilled to listen to and photograph a singing Townsend's Solitaire as it perched on a juniper surrounded by tiny flying bugs.
Last winter I missed seeing overwintering Double-crested Cormorants at my local ponds and in other locations in northern Utah where I typically see them.
Last week I spent some time with American Goldfinches in their winter plumage in my viewfinder and had fun photographing them.
Last week I had the opportunity to take a nice long series of an orange variant male House Finch while it ate the seeds of a greasewood.
I was looking through my archives yesterday when I came across this immature Black-billed Magpie portrait taken at sunrise on Antelope Island State Park.
When I was out in the sky island mountains of the West Desert of Utah a few days ago I was again met with virtual silence in and around the Douglas Firs that are there.
It was a very memorable first of year sighting of these Rough-legged Hawks. The kind where you sit there wondering if you really saw what you saw.
Yesterday I found my first White-throated Sparrow in Utah, photographed it, and when I pointed it out to a friend this sparrow became a lifer for them.
Last week I photographed three Canada Geese lifting off from Glover Pond at Farmington Bay and it brought memories from November of 2008.
Starting today I will be keeping an eye out for the return of Bald Eagles to the lower elevations of northern Utah.
I've been hearing American Pipits since around the end of September but so far this year I haven't been able to photograph even one of these birds.
I photographed this Eurasian Collared-Dove last week at Farmington Bay and noticed that it didn't have the dark collar usually seen on this species.
Our eyes can play tricks on us and that is what happened with this "headless" Red-tailed Hawk that I photographed last October at Farmington Bay WMA.
I went to Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning where one of the birds I photographed was this resting Western Grebe with reflections of fall colors.
While rifling through my archives I came across some of my Semipalmated Plover photos that I took on the north beach at Fort De Soto County Park in 2008.