I like gulls, I like the way they look, I like the way they fly, I like the way they try to steal food from each other and other birds, I like the challenges of photographing them and I really like how scrappy they are.
The same morning that I photographed the Sage Thrasher with the berry in mid air I was also able to take a series of images of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet in the sweet golden light just after dawn.
The Sage Thrasher seemed like it was bathed in golden light when suddenly I saw that it had a sumac berry which it tossed it into the air and proceeded to swallow it whole.
I photographed this nonbreeding Chipping Sparrow the last week of September as it perched briefly on a wild rose, I love the pop of color the rose hips provided.
Bird photographers, birders, nature watchers and citizen scientists can help out by reporting all banded birds including our Gunnison Island American White Pelicans.
Four days ago I was able to photograph a Snowy Egret landing sequence that I liked because of the action of the bird, the setting and the lovely lighting I had at the time.
I've shared photographs of Warbling Vireos here before but this is the first time that I am sharing photos of Plumbeous Vireos, these images were taken earlier this month in the Wasatch Mountains.
I've been trying for over a month to get decent images of fledgling and juvenile Cedar Waxwings and hadn't succeeded but yesterday I was able to take a photograph of an immature waxwing that I actually like.
Three days ago I was able to photograph a female or immature Dark-eyed Junco of the Oreganus Group when it flew in and landed not too far away from me and I have to admit that seeing it excited me because I enjoy these birds so much.
It has been a while since I photographed Snowy Egrets so having them in my viewfinder yesterday morning was a real treat especially since they will be migrating soon and I will go the winter without seeing them.
Yesterday I saw a single Vesper Sparrow which came in and perched out in the open on a lovely Wild Rose that was full of rose hips in nice light. What is not to like about that?
Right now Lincoln's Sparrows are moving to lower elevations and migrating south so I see more of them during the fall and early winter than any other time of the year here in Utah.
The birds I photographed on the wild rose bushes were adult and immature Sage Thrashers, an adult White-crowned Sparrow and one beautiful Northern Mockingbird.
I've been spotting more and more Yellow-rumped Warblers over the past 10 to 14 days and I am excited because I have been expecting them to start showing up in my viewfinder.
This Ruby-crowned Kinglet had been actively foraging in a tamarisk when suddenly it flew to this bare stick and perched out in the open for a few seconds.
Typically I would prefer that all of the body of this Black-capped Chickadee was free of the out of focus elements in front of it but visually the abstract jumble of Autumn colored leaves stimulates my eyes and my brain.
I admit that it bothered me deeply that there was nothing that I could do for this Yellow Warbler as it has for the other injured birds I have seen throughout the years that I couldn't help.
Yesterday morning I spent time focused on photographing Ruby-crowned Kinglets in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon in a thicket of hawthorn and chokecherry trees.
I've spent a lifetime appreciating these large geese and when I have lived in locations where Canada Geese weren't present I have missed hearing them calling overhead or seeing them floating by on the water.
I photographed some of the cutest, fuzzy Bee Flies in the world this week nectaring on Rabbitbrush and Curlycup Gumweed in the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert.
This time of the year male and female Spotted Towhees have finished raising their broods and their young are learning how to be on their own but they do look a touch ragged as they molt into their adult plumage.
It isn't often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them yet that is precisely what happened to me two days ago.
I photographed a small flock of Wild Turkeys yesterday in the West Desert of Utah, specifically in a canyon of the Stansbury Mountains. I just never know when turkeys will show up and I am glad they did yesterday because I didn't photograph many other birds.
Two days ago I was able to photograph a Green-tailed Towhee foraging next to a gravel road up in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon, getting these birds out in the open can be a challenge so I was excited that this towhee was in the clear.
Yesterday the "unexpected" bird was a juvenile Osprey in the Wasatch Mountains. I'd say it was unexpected because I'd been photographing songbirds and wasn't expecting to see North America's "Fish Hawk" in the same area.
I see, but don't often photograph House Finches at home, I get most excited about them away from human civilization and in their natural habitats.
Yesterday morning I was delighted to find two House Wrens foraging in a brush pile in the Wasatch Mountains not long after sunrise. This time of the year the wrens aren't singing like they do in the spring so I have to rely more on my eyes and not on a combination of my eyes and ears to locate them.
I saw plenty of Western Branded Skipper butterflies nectaring on blooming rabbitbrush in both the canyons I explored yesterday morning and I can't resist, nor do I want to, photographing wildflowers and butterflies.
I know, I could grumble about not being able to photograph the young Cooper's Hawk taking its prey down just feet away from my Jeep but you know what? Being there to see nature in action was enough for me.
On Sunday I was up in Box Elder County looking for birds but I also felt I had to stop and take some images of Rocky Mountain Bee Plants that were blooming along side the road.