This portrait of a Great Horned Owl chick in a hay barn might not have been taken in the most aesthetically pleasing location but I don't think the owlet gives a hoot about the rusty iron beams and corrugated metal walls.
The harlequin faced Lark Sparrows are unique, easily identified and quite striking for sparrows which are known for being "little brown jobs".
The first bird I photographed yesterday morning was a wet Chukar on top of a lichen covered boulder about the time the sun rose above the clouds and mountains to the east.
I adore the Black-tailed Jackrabbits I see on Antelope Island State Park for their huge caramel colored eyes, long ears and their soft looking fur.
I know this isn't a complete Franklin's Gull and Laughing Gull comparison but I'm not a scientist, just a bird photographer and bird lover.
I thought I would share a few Lark Sparrow facts, a sound recording and of course an image of a Lark Sparrow on the ground.
Yesterday I was able to photograph a Western Meadowlark bathing in a puddle in a gravel road on Antelope Island State Park under mostly sunny skies.
The Long-billed Curlews on Antelope Island are fascinating subjects to photograph and observe or anywhere for that matter.
I photographed Long-billed Curlews, Willets and Chukars along with a few other birds and a Pronghorn buck. It was a beautiful spring day.
Seeing the Kelvin-Helmholtz wave clouds over the Wasatch Mountains as viewed from the south end of Antelope Island State Park made my day
April in northern Utah is a good time to see and photograph molting immature White-crowned Sparrows.
I came across this image yesterday that I took one day shy of a year ago while looking for another image in my files and thought that I would post it today because I like the wing position.
While I was focused on the lark a small bird; presumably a sparrow, zoomed past and I captured an image of a startled Horned Lark who reacted by raising his wings and calling while he moved down the rock a bit.
I was able to take a very nice series of low light American Bison bull portraits despite the lack of clear skies and sunshine on Antelope Island.
Seeing this Bison bull grazing on fresh grass isn't an unusual occurrence for me because I see them so often on Antelope Island but I also realize that there are quite a few people who haven't had the pleasure of seeing them in the wild like I do.
This Sage Thrasher and Lark Sparrow on rabbitbrush are only two of the birds that benefit from the rabbitbrush on Antelope Island.
Antelope Island Chukars don't just attract out of town visitors to the island, they still call in locals like myself to see, hear and photograph them.
This adult Western Kingbird close up was photographed two years ago on Antelope Island State Park as it perched on a sign post close to a nest site.
Both of these Chukars above the Great Salt Lake were photographed on the east side of Antelope Island State Park this month.
Yesterday I found this Western Meadowlark take off photo that I took last year on Antelope Island State Park.
I photographed this immature Black-billed Magpie in flight last September on Antelope Island State Park as it flew over a rabbitbrush that was just about to bloom.
I feel fortunate that I am able to see and photograph both the Western and Eastern Kingbird juveniles here in northern Utah.
These two Loggerhead Shrike juveniles on a log were photographed last August on Antelope Island and were probably from a second brood.
I didn't get to see Greater Sage Grouse on my recent trip to southern Utah but I did get a few brief looks at another sagebrush obligate when a single Sage Thrasher popped up into view.
This pose made me think "The Long-billed Curlew Scores" but he was really just exhibiting a territorial response to another curlew that was nearby
Both of these Loggerhead Shrikes were photographed on Antelope Island State Park, both of them are adults, both were photographed when the sky was clear and both were perched on a dead twig of a greasewood but they were also photographed with different backgrounds, different times of the morning and different light.
I was able to take this male Brewer's Blackbird portrait as it perched next to the road that shows the iridescent colors in his plumage quite nicely.
I know I am looking forward to photographing and watching the Black-billed Magpie nest building ballet that occurs each spring.
I ended up capturing an image of a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow photobombing the adult just a few frames later.
Yesterday I took a few images of a Horned Lark male singing on Antelope Island State Park and it reminded me that I hadn't posted this image of a female Horned Lark that I photographed last year.