The birds we observe, learn from and photograph care naught for the constrictions of our human calendars instead they listen to ancient, instinctual rhythms inside themselves.
One of my trips out to Fish Springs NWR happened during this time of the year and while I was there so was a gorgeous adult Bald Eagle that perched in the trees near the picnic area not too far from the refuge headquarters.
I do get depressed some days on the way home from being up in the mountains and our winter inversions are why. Sorry for being a downer today.
I was able to photograph two Ferruginous Hawks yesterday morning in the West Desert in Tooele County. The light was good, I had birds in my viewfinder and I was away from our building inversion so I was one happy woman.
I'm always glad to see and photograph Wild Turkeys and most of the time I see them more than I can photograph them because they are often too far away but some days it does work out that I can have them in my viewfinder and click the shutter release.
I photographed some of the cutest, fuzzy Bee Flies in the world this week nectaring on Rabbitbrush and Curlycup Gumweed in the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert.
It isn't often that I am able to get close enough to a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay that my only option is to take closeup portraits of them yet that is precisely what happened to me two days ago.
I photographed a small flock of Wild Turkeys yesterday in the West Desert of Utah, specifically in a canyon of the Stansbury Mountains. I just never know when turkeys will show up and I am glad they did yesterday because I didn't photograph many other birds.
I saw plenty of Western Branded Skipper butterflies nectaring on blooming rabbitbrush in both the canyons I explored yesterday morning and I can't resist, nor do I want to, photographing wildflowers and butterflies.
Spring is the season of birth and rebirth, the leaves of trees unfurl, the dormant grasses and forbs poke up through the ground, flower buds burst open and flowers in all the colors of the rainbow appear on the landscapes, birds nest and incubate and wild animals give birth to their young.
Breeding season has begun for Wild Turkeys so when I spotted a flock of them yesterday in the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County I was hoping to photograph a tom turkey strutting.
My only keeper images of the morning were a few photos I took of the Stansbury Mountain Range and Deseret Peak and even those weren't that great but I loved seeing the snow-covered mountains.
Last week while photographing birds in Ophir Canyon I was able to take a short series of photos of a Mountain Chickadee perched in a juniper right after I photographed some bushtits.
Bushtits are a nemesis bird for me, I have only had a few opportunities to photograph these tiny, frenetic birds and I have yet to get high quality images of them.
North America has two hawk (buteos) species that have feathered tarsi, or legs, those two species are Ferruginous Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks.
I have wondered lately if I have gotten into a bit of a rut, photographically speaking, of always wanting to have the sun over my shoulder with "perfect" light falling directly on my subject.
These two Mule Deer were photographed in different settings, different lighting situations but about the same time of the morning and I find them both appealing.
Truthfully I had better luck with the moon and mountains than I did birds yesterday except for one handsome Ferruginous Hawk perched along the road near farm lands.
Finding birds was very challenging yesterday in the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains but it wasn't hard to find beauty in the scenery.
Each Prickly Poppy flower is about 3 to 5 inches across with yellow centers of clustered stamens and delicate petals that look like white crepe paper.
Yesterday I was able to photograph the largest buteo in North America, a gorgeous Ferruginous Hawk that was on top of a hill with the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert in the background.
I couldn't resist photographing this tiny Chipping Sparrow singing while perched on a "cedar" fence post with the sky and dark juniper behind it.
Spring is a time when the Horned Larks here in Utah perch on top of rocks, posts, mounds of dirt, junipers and sagebrush to sing their songs.
While up in Mercur Canyon I caught a flash of browns and grays on top of a rock and realized I was seeing the Rock Squirrel I photographed on the same slope last month.
I didn't have much luck at all with birds yesterday in the west desert canyons but I did spot and photograph a Rock Squirrel in Mercur Canyon.
I have to say that when I viewed this image on my monitor of the Ferruginous Hawk taking off from the power pole yesterday that I laughed out loud.
Maybe next time I up in the canyons I will get lucky and spot some of the Wild Turkeys that make their home in the Stansbury Mountains.
I didn't think I'd like this photo of a perched Red-tailed Hawk under gray, blustery skies but I do
When I took this image the juvenile Loggerhead Shrike was perched on a dead twig when the robber fly flew into the frame, the shrike took off after the fly and caught it in mid air.
Looking back over the last 20 years of my life I can see many times where I threw off the bowlines and sailed away from safe harbor.