I had a blast photographing the Tundra Swans at the refuge yesterday and for the first time in a while I forgot about practically everything but the birds in front of me and the peace I find at the refuge.
Because I had noticed the Common Goldeneye drake's behavior I was able to photograph him as he assumed the Head-throw posture.
Punxsutawney Phil can have the spotlight today, our Yellow-bellied Marmots will have their time in the sun soon enough.
Three years ago today I found and photographed a Golden Eagle that was soaring along the east side of Antelope Island over the Great Salt Lake.
Among my favorite plovers to photograph when I lived in Florida were Semipalmated Plovers, I only saw them during their nonbreeding season where they spent time along the Gulf coast.
I photographed a couple of American Goldfinches that morning too, as usual I heard the finches well before I spotted them foraging in some vegetation next to the auto tour route.
Scarlet Skimmer dragonflies were one of the dragonfly species I spent time stalking in Florida because I loved the bright red coloration of the males and the golden colors of the females.
Two days ago this California Gull flew in and was so close to me that I felt I had to take portraits of it because the gull looked so handsome against the blue of the water.
I lost those Peregrine Falcon images because I had other things on my mind and prematurely reformatted my memory card.
This Short-billed Dowitcher slowly made its way through the Sargassum on the wrack line as I laid in the damp sand photographing it and the other shorebirds that were searching the seaweed for food.
I like how both these two American Wigeon photos turned out even though they were taken in different lighting conditions, they are both pleasing to my eye.
My best finds of the day yesterday morning were two American Bitterns on the riverbank of the Bear River at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, birds I do not normally see in January here in northern Utah.
So what did I do? I kept firing as the Snowy Egret flew past me keeping my focus on the eye of the bird and that is when I took this photograph of the egret in flight.
When I can get beautiful light on a Swainson's Hawk and deeply shadowed mountains in the background Mother Nature creates the drama.
I locked on to one of the mallard drakes and when he flew past I was able to take some nice photos of him before he landed on the water
It is hard to figure out who is the lucky duck here, the Common Goldeneye for catching the crayfish or me for seeing the duck with the crayfish and photographing it.
I wonder how long this pair of American Wigeons will hang around, I hope it is long enough for me to see more green iridescence on the drake's head and long enough for me to take more images of them.
The first bird I photographed that day was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron wandering in the sea fog near the dunes and shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico.
I've found American Kestrels to be "stickier" in cold weather and it wasn't much above 20°F when I photographed him as he consumed the vole bit by bit.
The last birds I photographed in 2017 were American Coots and some of the first birds I took photos of in 2018 were also coots.
I always feel fortunate when I am able to photograph Chukars in the snow on the island because it helps to make them more visible than they are during other seasons of the year
Photographing the Mallards in flight in golden afternoon light was a terrific way to end my bird photography session for the evening.
I'm over the moon that I was able to photograph these Common Mergansers landing and lifting off from the pond yesterday and I am pleased with the photos I took.
Four years ago I photographed a Barn Owl in a winter white out at Farmington Bay WMA and I have to admit that photographing it was tough.
I opted to leave my teleconverter on while photographing this bathing American Coot
The number of birds in a specific location can increase and decrease substantially from one day to the next and that happened with Common Goldeneyes at my local pond in northern Utah when their numbers increased considerably.
I stopped to answer the call of nature and found a Great Horned Owl and to my delight it was a very cooperative owl at that.
I've seen people struggle with seeing the differences between male and female American Kestrels and I hope this simple comparison will help.
The lives of these Great Blue Herons sure are different when you compare December in Utah to December in Florida.
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.