Quiet Morning Spent with the Birds of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
I headed up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning and I am very glad I did because of the wonderful birds I saw.
I headed up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday morning and I am very glad I did because of the wonderful birds I saw.
Yesterday was the first day of National Moth Week 2015 and the featured family of moths for this year are from the Sphingidae family which are commonly know as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms.
Antelope Island State Park is full of juvenile Loggerhead Shrikes right now so it looks like the shrikes had a very successful nesting season.
I might need to go wandering up the canyons and Sky Line Drive soon just to see what birds and creatures I can find.
I photographed this adult Bald Eagle as it perched on ice covering the Great Salt Lake in early morning light in January 2012.
Leopards don't change their spots but juvenile Burrowing Owls do change their spots on their chests as they mature.
Antelope Island State Park's Spider Festival is just a few weeks away and the spiders and their webs are already making an appearance.
Burrowing Owls and American Robins are about the same size but they are two very different species of birds.
Yellow Warblers are so bright it is not hard to see them as they flit around gleaning insects from the trees in the Uinta National Forest.
There are loads of young Sage Thrashers on Antelope Island at the moment so it seems their first broods were fairly successful.
Lark Sparrows are the easiest sparrows to identify that inhabit Antelope Island State Park with their bold facial patterns and white edged tails.
When I looked at this Burrowing Owl image on my monitor I had to chuckle because in a strange way it reminded me of myself when I first dove off of a 10 meter platform and how my toes were the last to let go.
I thought I would share some images I have taken of Western Burrowing Owls that I took over several days spent with them in Box Elder County, Utah.
I am always happy to photograph Swainson's Hawks no matter where I find them so I was pleased to find this one perched on a lichen covered rock yesterday in Box Elder County, Utah.
The heat of summer has turned the green grasses brown on Antelope Island State Park so I thought I'd share some of the "brown birds" I photographed there yesterday.
I am going to brave the heat today and head to Antelope Island State Park to see if there are any birds around that aren't hiding in the shade or panting with their bills open.
I spent yesterday morning photographing Burrowing Owls in northern Utah again and while most of it was fun there was something I found that broke my heart.
Mornings this time of the year at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge are cool, delightful and early on the subjects can appear to glow from the soft light like this Snowy Egret.
Last week I posted an image of Burrowing Owl siblings that I found in northern Utah and today I am posting images of that burrow after spending yesterday morning being delighted by them once more.
I can't resist Pronghorn fawns, well maybe I can, but I don't want to and won't! I saw three fawns close together yesterday on Antelope Island State Park and they put me into cuteness overload.
Yesterday while wandering around in northern Utah I spotted an adult and then 5 sibling Burrowing Owls also showed up to perch on an old fence line.
There was a very cooperative Willet on Antelope Island Yesterday that was close to a road and perched in sweet light and I couldn't resist taking portraits of this lovely shorebird.
Any day that I see a Coyote is a great one, seeing a pair of them it is even greater and yesterday I photographed a pair of coyotes I am very familiar with.
Female Yellow-headed Blackbirds are often overlooked by casual viewers and bird photographers because they aren't as flashy as the males.
There are two subspecies of Willets in North America and during the breeding season in Utah the birds we see are the Western subspecies.
Early last week while photographing Western Kingbirds I also had the opportunity to photograph a Willow Flycatcher that was hanging around the same area on Antelope Island State Park.
High up on the Parker Range there was a large stand of Quaking Aspen and just outside of the trees there was a Mule Deer grazing on the green grasses.
It hasn't been a very birdy trip so far but I did photograph a pair of Greater Sage-Grouse yesterday morning that were close enough to take images of.
Just a quick post this morning from Wayne County, Utah of a Wild Turkey hen I saw feeding near a small pond on the way up to Boulder Top yesterday.
I had fun photographing Western Kingbirds again yesterday on Antelope Island State Park and hours later I was still hearing their calls in my mind.