It really is a simple Great Blue Heron photo with the marsh, a stationary wading bird, vibrant spring growth and water at the top of the frame but it is also a very calming image for me because for a few seconds time stood as still as the heron.
The first ID features I noticed yesterday with this Vesper Sparrow were the bright, white eyerings and the rufous lesser coverts and I could make my ID from just those two features.
Later in the morning and on the other side of the auto tour route I was able to take images of a hen Cinnamon Teal surrounded by lush, green spring growth while her mate kept an eye on her from a distance.
There isn't a single day in the field where I take my eyesight and my keen spotting abilities for granted and yesterday those attributes netted me not one but two Merlins while I was at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
This White-faced Ibis had been feeding in the shallow water and had gotten its head soaking wet right before I photographed it and the ibis was in the process of getting ready to shake the water from its head feathers.
It was a pleasure for me to see and photograph a Willet two days ago on Antelope Island State Park and this Willet even started calling which made it even more of a pleasure for me.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to find a male Burrowing Owl whose burrow is in front of a clump of Redstem Filaree that is blooming profusely and for me that was a joy because I had two of my favorite subjects in the same frame.
Native or introduced these purple wildflowers were a joy for me to see and photograph in the West Desert of Utah.
I went wandering to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge yesterday and it was delightful because of the clear skies, the cool weather and the grand views of the mountains.
I am out wandering and I have a very poor cell signal so I will be surprised if this gets published. This is a photo taken before Sunset last night where I am camping.
On my visit to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last week I didn't see large numbers of American White Pelicans but at this time of the year that is understandable because many of them are probably nesting on Gunnison Island right now.
These elegant black and white Western Grebes are beautiful while they feed, preen, rest and stretch but they are even more striking when they dance across the water while performing their courtship ceremony.
I don't see and photograph foxes as often as I would like to so this Red Fox was a surprise to me because I'd never seen one at this location before.
Justice has been served in the case of Richard Parker killing the 150 raptors but that does not bring those valuable raptors back. Parker should be glad that I wasn't his judge.
I wonder if GEICO knows that they can drive a birder/bird photographer bonkers as easy as they did me over the winter.
I thought that I would share screenshots of this morning and tomorrow morning's weather forecasts, it ain't pretty. In fact, it is absolutely rotten considering it is Spring and yet Ole Man Winter just won't let go.
Tree Swallows were the most numerous of the swallows I saw and at the far northwest part of the auto tour route I found bunches of them resting in a stand of phragmites so I decided to get out, set up my tripod and photograph them from across the water.
The birds I heard and saw on the island with the most frequency were Western Meadowlarks, most of them were too far away or too skittish to photograph but one of them was cooperative and I was grateful for that.
While trying to get up into the mountains of the West Desert the other day I heard a call that excited me, it was the call of a single Red-breasted Nuthatch.
I have plenty of photos of Clark's, Western and Pied-billed Grebes but few of Eared Grebes and I am hoping that this breeding season I will be able to have more of these small grebes in my viewfinder.
Sometimes I go out to look for birds to photograph and all I get are great views of the scenery, sometimes I am okay with that and sometimes it is very frustrating.
I've shared photos of this gorgeous dark morph Swainson's Hawk before and I've written about how I believed it was the darkest, dark morph I had ever seen and to date that still holds true.
While looking for Sage Thrashers to photograph on Antelope Island two days ago I swear I heard a Willet call. It was just one distant call but my ears perked up right away.
The road is nothing more than a sandy track that runs through a grassland area where in past years I have seen Long-billed Curlews displaying, fighting, courting and mating and I hoped to see that yesterday.
I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.
I spent my morning yesterday driving on the very muddy auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the birds that I photographed the most were Killdeer, it seemed like I saw them everywhere.
I'm itching to get back out into the field because I want to see my first of the year Turkey Vultures on the wing.
So as of right now I am not sure whether I will be spending time on the island after the biting gnats come out which means if I am going to photograph Sage Thrashers displaying I need to find the thrashers some place else.
It was 21 degrees and even though my hands became numb because of the biting cold I kept taking image after image of these Greater Sage-Grouse performing their ancient mating ritual, I started well before dawn and didn't stop until the last grouse left the lek.
This singing male Horned Lark was close enough to me that I could take portraits of him while he sang two days ago and I believe the reason he was so close was that his urge to find a mate overcame his natural wariness.