Last Friday as I looked for birds in a few West Desert canyons I was serenaded by the songs and calls of Townsend's Solitaires and while I loved hearing them it was frustrating because they were either too far away or hidden from my view.
For a few moments yesterday morning I was absolutely enchanted by a small flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets in Box Elder County in northern Utah.
I haven't had any California Quail in my viewfinder since last December so a when I had the chance to photograph a male at Farmington Bay WMA nine days ago I was happy.
I have to wonder though how many people walked or drove right past this young Red-tailed Hawk and never noticed that it was even there
I couldn't have asked for a better birdy subject yesterday morning than this relaxed and cooperative immature Cooper's Hawk and I loved the setting it was in too.
This morning is cloudy and gray but seven years ago today it was bright, the air was crisp and the fall colors of the Front Range of the Wasatch Mountains were in their full glory.
Just a simple post today of the colorful insides of a Ring-billed Gull's bill that I photographed yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA as it yawned.
Marsh Wrens are year round residents here in northern Utah and this week I've photographed them in the marshes of both Farmington Bay WMA and Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
I don't see nearly as many Ferruginous Hawks as I would like to so I am always glad when I have one in my viewfinder that I can photograph even if it is taking a dump.
Over the past week I have seen, felt and heard several signs of autumn in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains to as low as the Salt Lake Valley.
The cones of Douglas Firs provide food for birds and mammals and the trees provide shelter and nesting areas too. I've been paying attention to the Douglas Firs we have here for several years because of the birds I know I can find eating the seeds of the trees from their cones.
I adore sparrows and photograph them whenever I can so when this Chipping Sparrow popped up on a wild rose bush and looked in my direction I was ready to take its photo.
Four days ago I was able to take close up photos of a handsome male California Quail in beautiful light while he perched on a fence rail as he looked directly towards me.
One photo that made me laugh as soon as I saw it on my camera's LCD screen, a peek-a-boo Canada Goose peering at me through its wing tips as it came in to land on the pond.
Then the noise suddenly stopped and I saw the silhouette of a European Starling fly out of the tree with the Cooper's Hawk hot on its tail, literally.
One of the birds I took images of that afternoon was an immature Double-crested Cormorant that flew past me in that golden light just barely above the surface of the pond.
Earlier this week I left home well before the sun came up, sat on my rear end for over five hours, traveled over 230 miles and the only decent image I took was of this American Goldfinch perched on a wild rose surrounded by scarlet rose hips.
Over the years that I have spent time photographing at my local pond I have seen a few odd ducks including hen Redheads with white feathers on their faces where they should be a soft brown and they pique my interest every time I view them through my lens.
This female Great-tailed Grackle was the first bird I photographed yesterday and she was so close to me that I opted to take portraits of her in the nice afternoon light at my local pond.
I enjoy these tail-bobbing American Pipits every bit as much today as I did the morning I first saw them near Goose Egg Island at Farmington Bay but since I moved to Utah I can see and photograph them more often.
I seem to have missed out on seeing lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers this year during their fall migration, I saw a few back in late September and early October but haven't seen any for some time.
It isn't too late to see and photograph White-faced Ibis at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah because there are still a few of them hanging around despite the frigid temps during the nights and mornings.
I've been seeing lots of Greater Yellowlegs recently at Farmington Bay WMA here in northern Utah and that might seem unusual because signs of winter have already shown but it really isn't that unusual at all for this species of shorebirds.
I checked eBird this morning and I only see one person reporting American Tree Sparrows so far this autumn in northern Utah so hopefully that means one more cold front pushing through and I will be seeing these long-tailed, rusty capped sparrows with their gray heads, rusty eyelines and bicolored bills.
Two days ago I had a male Brewer's Blackbird in my viewfinder near Glover Pond in Davis County, I photographed him as he perched on a fence post with fall colors in the background.
While I would have enjoyed having this male American Kestrel closer to me as it turned in flight than it was yesterday morning I found that I liked this frame with the tiny falcon turning in flight being small in the frame too.
The more I have looked at this image over the past year the more I liked it for the flight pose, the look at the Red-tailed Hawk's plumage colors against those yellow leaves and somehow the poor lighting conditions became less significant to my eyes.
Last month I was able to take my best photos of Rock Wrens so far since I moved to Utah but even those aren't as close to the bird as I would have liked them to be.
Some days one good bird is all I get and if I hadn't spotted this cooperative Mockingbird on a Fragrant Sumac in northern Utah yesterday I would have been mostly skunked.
A male Brewer's Blackbird had been preening on a fence post when he started to shake his feathers and that action sure showed his iridescent plumage off nicely.