Bison on Antelope Island
With the rising temperatures the Bison on Antelope Island need to find a reliable freshwater source.
With the rising temperatures the Bison on Antelope Island need to find a reliable freshwater source.
Yesterday I photographed a mixture of the birds of Antelope Island State Park and had great fun while doing it.
Recently KSL.com; a Utah news station, had an article about a vole (a small rodent) infestation In Farmington, specifically in the neighborhood of Foxboro Community. While I sympathize with the residents about the damage being done to their yards I am disturbed by the advice many of the people commenting have left on the story.
There were hundreds of thousands of Wilson's Phalaropes near the shoreline of the causeway, whirling around in the water and along the marshy areas not far from the park entrance.
There are many mammals to see at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana, I haven't seen them all yet but I hope to one day. On this last trip I saw Moose, Elk, Skunks, Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, Foxes, White-tailed and Mule Deer, Yellow-bellied Marmots, and Pronghorns.
While out on Antelope Island State Park the other day I spotted a Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) that was almost hidden by tall grasses and stopped to get some images.
During spring and fall migration there can be so many Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) on the Great Salt Lake that they are impossible to count.
Seeing the word "Montana" so often has gotten me anxious, antsy and itching to head north soon to see more of a state that beckons to me because I have fallen in love with it.
I look at this image and I see intelligence in the Coyote's eyes. I see a warm blooded creature who is doing what it needs to do to survive. I see a female who is nursing pups. I see beauty.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) can perch on cattails, reeds, rushes or mounds of vegetation and snatch Midges right out of the air.
Last week I wrote about Long-billed Curlews having a Territorial Encounter but earlier that same morning I had another wonderful photographic encounter thanks to a scruffy looking, rain soaked Coyote waking up at the top of a ridge.
Every day that I spend in the field is always marvelous but it seems especially wonderful during the change of seasons because I feel a heightened sense of anticipation for the first of the year birds, the first spotting of wildflowers blooming or the seasonal changes that wildlife exhibits in behavior or appearance.
Last November I spotted this Coyote wandering in some dried vegetation close to a roadside. Although the lighting wasn't optimal; meaning the sun wasn't directly behind me, I wanted to take some photos of the Coyote because I liked the rim lighting on the right side of the Coyote's neck, muzzle and ears.
Outside my window the winds are howling this morning and there is a thick layer of gray clouds hanging low in the sky. It isn't a good day to be out in the field so I have been going through my image archives and pulled out two images of a Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) doe from last spring to post.
When I lived in Florida I saw Raccoons (Procyon lotor) all over the state. In the wild, the not so wild and in the streets of the cities. But that isn't how it is in Utah.
Today I thought I would post a few images taken this past week from Antelope Island State Park and the west desert in Tooele County. Feathers & Fur.
Farmers don't like Richardson's Ground Squirrels much, they dig holes that could break the legs on livestock and eat grains and the shoots of plants, I can understand those concerns. But I have to say... I love them, they are fun to watch and photograph.
Certain species of birds ride on the backs of Bison and feed on the insects they find in the Bison's fur; European Starlings are among those birds.
I am one of those people who love deserts and the West Desert of Utah is once again beckoning to me. The weather here in Utah is very changeable right now, it can feel like spring one day and the next it still feels like winter but it won't be long before the weather levels out and the west desert will begin to green up.
I'm glad I didn't turn around to head home when I saw the thick sea fog that morning, if I had I may have missed photographing some of these beautiful things.
I've been seeing a pair of Coyotes hunting together regularly on the island, yesterday I was able to get a few images of one of them as it ran along the road.
It tickles me to be able to photograph wild Bison.
Last September I visited Flaming Gorge National Recreation area for the first time. Wow, nature never ceases to delight and amaze me.
Since moving to Utah in the summer of 2009 I have wanted to get some images of an American Bison standing with the Great Salt Lake in the background.
This is part 2 of my three part series on Wild and Wonderful Antelope Island State Park and it covers some of the wildlife that can be found howling, grazing, buzzing and posing for my camera.
For today's Friday Photos I am mixing it up a bit and posting images of Pronghorns, a Black-crowned Night Heron, a Long-tailed Weasel and an American Kestrel. Please enjoy!
Last week I posted some fun images of a Coyote with Falcon leftovers taken along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake with piles of ice in the background. Six days later, on January 1st, I had more fun with a Coyote in almost the same location.
I had a marvelous photographic experience with Coyote with falcon leftovers along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake last week.
Today I had the pleasure of photographing with not just one but two wonderful friends and fellow photographers. To be sure they are much more "fellow" than I am but I don't hold that against them.
At first I was so stunned that I wasn't taking any images of the Loggerhead Turtle, I just stood there admiring this temporarily earthbound sea creature. She was so beautiful to me.