Tooele and Juab Counties
Located in the northwestern Utah, the 7.7 million-acre West Desert is uniquely different from any other part of the state. Much of this area is a part of the Great Basin region, a place of isolated sky island mountain ranges separated by desert playas and wide-sweeping sagebrush flats.
The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Wild Turkeys and the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay made the very bumpy and extremely dusty ride into the mountain canyons well worth taking.
This male Mountain Bluebird seemed to glow in the early morning light which was in sharp contrast with the shadows on the mountains in the background.
Red-breasted Nuthatches aren't easy to photograph because they are tiny, they move quickly and their flight patterns are fairly unpredictable. Finding the right habitat, their habitat, can make it fun.
Last week I found a small herd of does and fawns on a gravel road that leads to the foothills and mountain canyons of the Stansbury Mountains that hung around long enough to be photographed.
I didn't get the photos I wanted of the sparrows perched on the rabbitbrush but I like this portrait of the young White-crowned Sparrow in front of it just as well.
Last month when I spotted a Desert Cottontail in the mountains of the West Desert I knew I wanted to take photos of the rabbit especially since it was so close that I could take portraits of it.
I don't know how many times I have said "expect the unexpected" since I began photographing birds while talking to fellow photographers.
There were a few times when the Wild Turkeys stood upright and looked right at me as I photographed them and I took full advantage of the opportunity to take portraits of the large birds.
The Rock Squirrel was grasping a sumac branch and the shrub was so close to me I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to focus on it.
I noticed immediately that the Red-tailed Hawk was on prey because I saw it tearing into something despite the grasses that were partially obstructing my view.
There are times I see funny things while I am out photographing that tickle me so much that I have to laugh out loud and yesterday that was this Least Chipmunk with a fly on its head.
When this Warbling Vireo popped into my view I knew if I wanted to photograph it I had to hurry because these small vireos move fast.
When this Mountain Chickadee came into view it was hanging from a juniper bough with two Douglas Fir seeds in its bill it appeared to be looking around for a place to cache its food.
I don't usually share photos where the main subject is facing away from me but I liked the alert pose of this raptor as it perched in the dead but distant juniper tree.
I was so excited that I was shaking because the creature I had found was a Desert Tarantula which was my first sighting of one in Utah.
A few days ago I photographed my first of the season Broad-tailed Hummingbird and I was elated that the bird was a female.
Imagine my surprise when through my viewfinder I could see that the female Mountain Bluebird had landed on a Swiss Army knife that was stuck into the bark of one of the trees.
In just a matter of days Wax Currants will start to bloom in some of the lower elevations of the mountains that aren't far from where I live and that has me excited.
These are the stories behind how I took these Red-breasted Nuthatch and Juniper Titmouse photos while relaxing and enjoying a lovely day in the West Desert.
I enjoyed my journey to photograph the Glacier Lilies yesterday, it was quiet, peaceful and very relaxing. No news, no negativity, and not thinking about what a mess our world is in helped me to de-stress.
I got out into the field for a little while yesterday morning and because of the observation skills I have developed over many years I was able to find two Wild Turkey hens roosting in Aspen trees.
I took hundreds of photos of the tom Wild Turkey fanning his tail, walking on the dirt road, strutting and displaying for the hens I could not see. And for those moments all seemed right in the world.
I photographed this adult male Horned Lark singing on a snow-topped fence post three days ago after a spring snow fell overnight in the West Desert.
Someone at sometime had tossed a soda can into the junipers and the Wild Turkey hen walked right in front of it during the few seconds she was out in the open.
If I hadn't have been paying attention yesterday I might have missed out on spotting a flock of turkeys in some junipers and photographing a smoke phase Wild Turkey hen.
It won't be long before I hear the buzzing wings, chips and chitters of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds in the mountains of northern Utah and I am very much looking forward to their return.
Yesterday morning I didn't press my DSLR's shutter button a single time while I was out in the field so I came home without a single photo of a bird or animal but I did come home with something else. Knowledge.
Knowing what kind of habitat Ferruginous Hawks prefer during all four seasons here in northern Utah can increase the chances of finding them year round.
When winter snow closes off my access to the mountains that I love to visit to find birds I find that it makes me feel wistful because I will miss the birds and the calmness I find up there.
Because I have spent so much time out in the West Desert lately I have seen and heard quite a few Juniper Titmice moving through the junipers that dot the slopes of the mountains and foothills.