Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area

Autumn Male Brewer’s Blackbird shaking after preening

By |October 18th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Brewer's Blackbirds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

A male Brewer's Blackbird had been preening on a fence post when he started to shake his feathers and that action sure showed his iridescent plumage off nicely.

Immature Female Northern Harrier Harassing A Ring-necked Pheasant Hen

By |October 15th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Northern Harriers, Ring-necked Pheasants, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

A few weeks ago I observed and photographed an immature female Northern Harrier repeatedly harassing a Ring-necked Pheasant hen out on the marshes at Farmington Bay.

Male Brewer’s Blackbird Bathing and Splashing Water

By |October 13th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Brewer's Blackbirds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The Brewer's Blackbird seemed to be really throwing himself into his bath as he splashed around, dipping his head into the water then shaking his entire body as his head rose above the water.

Pair of Cattle Egrets at Farmington Bay WMA Plus My Childhood Memories of These Birds

By |October 11th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah, Western Cattle Egrets|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The first time I remember seeing Cattle Egrets I was a child who had just moved to interior Florida, I think I was in the second grade at the time or about 7 to 8 years old and these white birds that followed cattle around seemed so fascinating and exotic to me.

Great Blue Heron With Some White Feathers In Its Dark Crown

By |October 10th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Great Blue Herons, Leucistic, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The unusually colored feathers of this Great Blue Heron that I photographed on September 24th of this year caught my eyes because it has some white feathers in its crown where normally all the feathers are dark black.

American Pipits and Fall Migration

By |October 5th, 2018|Categories: American Pipits, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

American Pipits aren't flashy birds, in fact some people might think they are rather plain or dull colored. I am always happy to have them in my viewfinder and to hear their flight calls in the breeze.

Ring-billed Gulls – I Like Photographing Them Year Round In Northern Utah

By |October 4th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

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.

Gunnison Island Pelicans Are On The Move – Help Out By Reporting Wing Tagged American White Pelicans

By |September 30th, 2018|Categories: American White Pelicans, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Bird photographers, birders, nature watchers and citizen scientists can help out by reporting all banded birds including our Gunnison Island American White Pelicans.

Snowy Egret Landing Sequence Plus Two Bonus Photos

By |September 29th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

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.

Snowy Egrets in Flight On A September Morning

By |September 25th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

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.

Male Great-tailed Grackle in Low Light Plus Battery Issues

By |May 24th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Great-tailed Grackles, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Even though the light yesterday morning wasn't optimal for bird photography I took my Mom to the Farmington Bay WMA area to show her around there, we only made it as far as Glover Pond though.

Snowy Egrets Have Migrated Back To Northern Utah

By |April 14th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Snowy Egrets, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

When I lived in Florida I saw Snowy Egrets year round and that kind of spoiled me but here in Utah they leave for the winter and come back to the marshes and wetlands surrounding the Great Salt Lake for their breeding season.

Reporting Wing Tagged American White Pelicans – Helping Birds by Helping the PELI Project

By |April 13th, 2018|Categories: American White Pelicans, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I know that I will be reporting any wing tagged American White Pelicans I see while they are here in northern Utah and I hope that others will too and help out the Peli Project!

Photos Of Owls In Flight

By |April 3rd, 2018|Categories: American Barn Owls, Antelope Island State Park, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Beaverhead County, Birds, Box Elder County, Burrowing Owls, Centennial Valley, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Montana, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Short-eared Owls, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I spend a lot of time in the field looking for, observing and photographing owls and obtaining photos of them in flight can often be frustrating when I have the opportunity but very fulfilling when I accomplish my goal.

Calling Pied-billed Grebe – It Is Breeding Season For These Grebes

By |March 21st, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Pied-billed Grebes, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Two days ago I noticed one Pied-billed Grebe carrying vegetation in its bill which I presume it was gathering to build its floating nest at a small pond at Farmington Bay WMA and later on I heard the call of a Pied-billed Grebe, located the grebe and photographed it as it called.

Hovering Northern Harrier Plus My Lifer Harris’s Sparrow

By |March 20th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Harris's Sparrow, Northern Harriers, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

In some shrubs next to Glover Pond I saw two sparrows and the one that quickly drew my eye was a lovely first winter Harris's Sparrow, jackpot, a lifer!

White Crowned Sparrows With And Without The Hand Of Humans

By |March 8th, 2018|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah, White-crowned Sparrows|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

I try to take my bird photos with my subjects in natural settings and I spend a lot of time out in nature to do that but I'm realizing I need to include the "hand of mhumans" in my bird photos too because some species fit into the urban environment as easily as they do out in more natural areas.

Winter California and American Herring Gull Portrait Comparisons

By |March 3rd, 2018|Categories: American Herring Gulls, Birds, California Gulls, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

We have the Ring-billed and California Gulls in northern Utah year round but the Herring Gulls are only winter visitors to this area.

American Crows Feeding on Fish at Farmington Bay

By |March 2nd, 2018|Categories: American Crows, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Two days ago there were still numerous American Crows feeding on the carcasses of the carp at Farmington Bay and some of the crows were close enough to allow me to take frame filling images of these pure black birds.

Farmington Bay Ring-billed Gull Immediately After Bathing

By |February 17th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Ring-billed Gulls, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

As much as I like the first photo where the Ring-billed Gull has its wings spread and its feet still in the water I like the second photo even more because of the action and how the bird is suspended over the water.

American Crows at Farmington Bay WMA

By |February 12th, 2018|Categories: American Crows, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Yesterday the American Crows hung around with the Bald Eagles, Herring, California and Ring-billed Gulls to feast on those invasive fish which gave me an opportunity to photograph this one standing on a dead carp.

Immature Red-tailed Hawk Lift Off and Flight at Farmington Bay

By |January 30th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

One good bird can make my day... Yesterday that bird was an immature Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA that lifted off from a metal post and flew over the marsh.

Male American Kestrel On A Sign Post With His Prey

By |January 3rd, 2018|Categories: American Kestrels, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I've found American Kestrels to be "stickier" in cold weather and it wasn't much above 20°F when I photographed him as he consumed the vole bit by bit.

Immature Light Morph Rough-legged Hawk in Flight & Landing

By |December 23rd, 2017|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Eight days ago I spent time photographing an immature, light morph Rough-legged Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah.

Immature Rough-legged Hawk – Lift Off, Landing & Lunch

By |December 16th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Yesterday morning I was able to photograph an immature Rough-legged Hawk lifting off, landing and lunching at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah.

Female and Male American Kestrel Comparison

By |December 10th, 2017|Categories: American Kestrels, Bird ID, Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I've seen people struggle with seeing the differences between male and female American Kestrels and I hope this simple comparison will help.

December for Utah and Florida Great Blue Herons – What a Difference

By |December 9th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Davis County, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park, Great Blue Herons, Pinellas County, Utah|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

The lives of these Great Blue Herons sure are different when you compare December in Utah to December in Florida.

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