Tree Swallows Have Migrated Into Northern Utah
Over the weekend, I read on Facebook that Tree Swallows have migrated back into Northern Utah for their breeding season. I am so excited about that news!
Over the weekend, I read on Facebook that Tree Swallows have migrated back into Northern Utah for their breeding season. I am so excited about that news!
Three years ago today, I was up in the Wasatch Mountains, focused on a bright Yellow Warbler snugly nestled in a hawthorn tree on a hillside.
Today is a milestone day for me. I'm celebrating the fact that I have shared 3000 daily posts here at On The Wing Photography in a row.
While up high in the Uinta Mountains yesterday morning I photographed this female Tree Swallow checking out a nesting cavity in a Quaking Aspen.
While I photographed hummingbirds last week high in the Wasatch Mountains I also took images of an adult male woodland Coyote watching me watching him.
This morning I am sharing a few male Northern Flicker images that I took seven years ago at the edge of a mountain forest in the Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
Two days ago while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains this adult male Mountain Bluebird landed close enough for me to take photos of him.
Do you remember playing I Spy when you were a child? I do.
The last bird I photographed high in the Wasatch Mountains three days ago was an adult Turkey Vulture perched in an aspen in a smoky haze.
On a recent trip to the West Desert sky island mountains in Tooele County I found my lens pointed at trees, shrubs, wildflowers and a butterfly.
This morning I wanted to share a few Red-naped Sapsucker photos I have taken while in gorgeous alpine forests of Idaho and Utah.
A little birdie told me that Tree Swallows returned to the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge about the middle of this month.
About two weeks ago I photographed a molting House Wren high in the Wasatch Mountains as it perched near a willow thicket.
I know from experience that when I post Mallard photos and write about them here on my site that they don't seem to get as many views as other birds do.
Tree Swallows and other birds should be nesting in the Uinta Mountains by now and I am itching to hop into my Jeep to drive up there to find them.
To photograph House Wrens and other birds I know I need to find them which means focusing my attention on the sights and sounds around me whenever I am out in the field which has worked extremely well for me.
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.
By excavating their own nests Northern Flickers provide nests for other woodland birds that can't excavate nesting cavities on their own and those nests can be used over and over again. Nature is brilliant.
Yesterday I had a blast photographing a pair of Mountain Bluebirds at a natural nesting cavity at the edge of a forest along with some other woodland birds.
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.
The adult Red-naped Sapsuckers often clung to the entrance to the nesting cavity for a few seconds before they went inside with the food they had gathered to give to their chicks.
For one and a half wonderful nesting seasons I was thrilled to photograph a pair of mated Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nest and tending to their young.
These nesting House Wren photos were taken two years ago at the end of May high up in the Uinta Mountains where stands of aspens are used as nesting trees.
Our current climate crisis could mean Utah might lose our Mountain Bluebirds and it is not just us, it is Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming that will also be affected if action isn't taken now.
The other bird I photographed that day in the high Uintas was a gorgeous male Yellow Warbler foraging in an aspen tree very close to where I sat inside a "mobile" blind at the edge of a dirt road.
I saw a low of 15°F yesterday morning up in the East Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains and I also saw plenty of Red-tailed Hawk adults perched in trees and flying along the way.
While photographing some waxwings a flash of movement caught my eye and I spotted an immature American Robin reaching for a berry in a Utah Serviceberry shrub, I couldn't help myself, I had to photograph this young bird too.
One year ago today I experienced one of the two most frustrating days in my entire time of being a bird photographer while photographing Red-naped Sapsuckers in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho.
I love seeing the Aspen eyes of the forest upon me and I find myself happy to photograph them whenever I can.
I spotted a flash of black, white and red as a bird landed in the aspen tree that was closest to me above where the wrens and swallows are nesting and realized that a male Red-naped Sapsucker had flown in and was foraging for food in the buds of the aspen.