Dreaming of the Sun II
I thought posting an adult Burrowing Owl in flight taken during the summer of 2011 on Antelope Island might help to brighten my spirits as I dream of the sun again.
I thought posting an adult Burrowing Owl in flight taken during the summer of 2011 on Antelope Island might help to brighten my spirits as I dream of the sun again.
The sun came out for a few hours yesterday afternoon so I went to a pond near where I live and photographed some of the ducks including this very confiding Redhead drake.
The bad weather here has given me cabin fever so last night I looked through my archives and enjoyed some images from brighter, warmer days and came across this juvenile Red-naped Sapsucker image from my first camping trip to Utah's high Uintas in Summit County.
The opposite of cold, gray, windy and rainy is summertime in my mind so I thought that today I would post some thing from a warmer, brighter and calmer day and what could be more summery than a Black-chinned Hummingbird feeding on Rocky Mountain Bee Plant?
I don't see Sun Dogs all that often in the warmer months; though they do occur all year long, but I do see them quite often during the winter and when I can I like to take images of them.
It has been quite some time since I have photographed Pronghorn on Antelope Island State Park because it seems that the Pronghorn have kept mostly to the west and south sides of the island this winter.
There are times when one subject will make my day in the field worthwhile, yesterday it was a lone Coyote hunting for voles on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake.
Today I reached the 1000 posts mark for my blog here at On The Wing Photography. In those 1000 posts I've covered a lot of birds, animals and locations.
Just a simple Red-tailed Hawk in flight image that I took early last week in Cedar Valley on a bright, clear day.
Yesterday I mentioned that I had D.W.B. (Dreary Weather Blues) and after a nice email from a friend last night who reminded me that it is only 7 weeks until the spring equinox I now have the D.O.T.S, better known as Dreaming Of The Sun.
I wanted to post a funny bird image today because I have the D.W.B. so I selected this American Coot that was scratching in a pond near where I live in Salt Lake County, Utah.
I have dreamed about getting a shot like this since I first started photographing Horned Larks, I wanted a shot of a Horned Lark at the precise moment it began to lift off with the wings lifted.
One year ago today the sky was cloudy, the fog was thick and the snow was blowing in northern Utah. I couldn't see the tops of the mountains or across the Great Salt Lake but I did spot this Short-eared Owl perched on a snow-covered bush on the causeway my way to Antelope Island.
Yesterday morning I spotted a lone Common Merganser at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area nearly hidden in some phragmites and when we came around the corner the bird seemed to have disappeared but after a bit it came out from its hiding spot and gave us quite a show.
Gray Flycatchers are generally found in sagebrush and arid busy habitats so it was a real treat to see this one in the marshy habitat of the refuge.
I like gulls. I especially like being able to see them up close when the opportunities arise and will take advantage of my close proximity by taking portraits of these beautiful but often disliked birds.
One great bird can make a day or even an entire trip worthwhile and this particular Red-tailed Hawk photographed in Utah County has made two days wonderful so far.
What do you mean it is only Thursday?
Today I have just a few images of a Red-tailed Hawk I spotted yesterday on a power pole in Utah County near the southern part of the Oquirrh Mountain Range.
I like the setting contained in this image with a frost covered branches of a shrub with reddish bark that the White-crowned Sparrow perched on close to the entrance to Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
But for me the "Snow Birds" I have grown to love here in Utah are Rough-legged Hawks who only visit in the winter and spend the rest of their lives breeding in high subarctic and Arctic regions.
One of the birds I photographed yesterday was this handsome Red-tailed Hawk that I spotted in a tree at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
Farmington Bay Waterfowl Area used to be my "go to" place for photographing Northern Harriers but this winter they are hard to find.
I was going to do a post about a Bald Eagle this morning but at the last minute had a change of mind and decided to work up this male American Kestrel that I photographed resting near the shore of the Great Salt Lake.
The weather forecast for today isn't as bright as it was on the day last January when I photographed this Chukar walking across a field of fresh snow instead the forecast for today is rather dreary.
Even though I have been a bird photographer for some time now I still get a thrill when I am eye level with a bird of prey because it feels as if I am more strongly connected to the raptor when they fly in close at eye level.
In January in Florida the Great Blue Herons are already going into breeding plumage and have begun courtship displays and have started building their nests.
In the winter I shoot a lot in fog, smog and low light conditions here in northern Utah but if you follow my blog you probably already know that and have heard me mention it a time or two (or four or a hundred).
Male Ring-necked Pheasants add a vivid splash of color against a field of white at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, I photographed this male a few days ago as it foraged in the snow.
Seeing the tail end... of 2013 on this last day of December.