Spots before my eyes – Spotted Sandpipers that is
So I finally have images of the breeding plumage of this small shorebird that show the spots that gave this bird the name Spotted Sandpiper!
Why Do They Call Them Laughing Gulls?
Laughing Gulls are quite noisy when they are in a flock but I never minded listening to them, in fact they often made me laugh.
Ghosts of the Prairie – Mountain Plovers
On April 10th I spotted two Mountain Plovers on Antelope Island State Park after reporting it to the UBIRD birding list many birders and bird photographers sped to the island to see these birds which are a rarity in this area.
Laughing Gulls in breeding and nonbreeding plumage
Both of these Laughing Gull images were taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach in Florida, the image above shows a Laughing gull in nonbreeding plumage that was taken in September of 2008.
Tricolored Heron in Breeding Plumage
I was digging through my image files yesterday and came across a series of Tricolored Heron images that I had never edited from a May morning in 2009 when I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto's north beach.
Bathing Beauty… er… California Gull
Okay, I admit it. I think gulls are beautiful and this California Gull sure looked that way bathing! Look at those bright white feathers, the dark sparkling eyes rimmed in red, the darker contrasting gray feathers, the color and shape of the bill. What's not to like about that?
Semipalmated Plover Image and a Critique
Besides, to have gotten any lower than the Semipalmated Plover I would have had to have crawled down the burrow of one of those crabs
Brown Pelicans on the Gulf of Mexico
The forecast is calling for snow today and there is already a heavy cloud cover so looked back through my files and found some Brown Pelican images taken on a warm February morning in Florida to post today.
Great Blue Herons In Florida And Utah
Great Blue Herons are year round residents in both Florida and Utah although conditions during the winter months can be starkly different for these large wading birds in the two locations and climates.
Western Tanager male at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
This Western Tanager was photographed last summer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana.
Different Plumage Phases Of Red-breasted Merganser Drakes
Awhile back someone told me that Mergansers don't change their plumage seasonally, which is of course incorrect as all three species of mergansers that live in North America do.
Reddish Egret Morphs
These two Reddish Egrets; a dark and a white morph, were photographed on the same day at Fort De Soto's north beach in May of 2009 and both of them were showing signs of being in breeding plumage.
Ring-necked Duck Drake
I photographed this drake Ring-necked Duck in breeding plumage a few years ago on a pond not far from where I live.
Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage with prey
While in breeding plumage Tricolored Herons have redder legs, darker red eyes, blue lores and blue on the bill plus a longer, white occipital plume than they do during the nonbreeding season.
Royal Terns In Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage
Just a simple post today to show the differences in the breeding and nonbreeding plumage of Royal Terns.
Rare Sight to See – Walking And Standing Pied-billed Grebes
It was an unusual experience to see these Pied-billed Grebes standing upright and walking on the edge of this pond, some might even consider it rare.
Eastern and Western Willets in breeding plumage
I've had the good fortune to photograph both the eastern and western Willets in breeding plumage, the eastern in Florida and the western in Utah and Montana.
Black-bellied Plovers in Breeding and Nonbreeding Plumage
Black-bellied Plovers in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can look like two different plover species but they aren't.
Caspian Terns
Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia) are North America's largest tern with a wingspan of 50 inches and weighing in at 1.4 pounds.
Bathing Laughing Gull in breeding plumage
I photographed this adult Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) in breeding plumage while it bathed in the shallow waters of a tidal lagoon at Fort De Soto's north beach a few years ago.
Reddish Egret at Low Tide
This adult Reddish Egret was going into breeding plumage, it has the pink and black bi-colored bill and the lores are turning bluish purple.
American Avocets in breeding and nonbreeding plumage
I photographed this American Avocet in nonbreeding plumage as it foraged in Glover's Pond at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in northern Utah a few years ago in the month of November.
Ruddy Turnstones in breeding and nonbreeding plumage
Ruddy Turnstones in breeding and nonbreeding plumage can appear to be two different species to novice birders and bird photographers as can several other bird species.
Dunlins in breeding and nonbreeding plumage
Dunlins exhibit a vast difference between nonbreeding and breeding plumage, so different that a novice birder might mistakenly believe that they were two different species.
An American Avocet
Currently I am considering pursuing legal action against a commercial web site in Layton, Utah that has stolen 4 of my copyrighted images and used them on their site. The process of making a legal claim is daunting to me, however; I feel that I have to stand up and fight for what is legally mine AND protected by law.
American Herring Gulls
Two Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) at different stages of life, one an adult in breeding plumage, the other an immature gull in flight.
Western Sandpiper on the Go
It dawned on me this morning that I haven not posted an image of a Western Sandpiper here yet so I pulled this one out of my archives that I photographed at Fort De Soto as the small shorebird ran in front of me on the shoreline.
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) in Breeding Plumage
Some images remind me of the wonderful day I had when I created a certain image, this photo of a Tricolored Heron in breeding plumage photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto, Florida is one of those files.
California Gull With Nesting Material
It was the first time I have been able to photograph a California Gull with nesting material so I was quite pleased.
Too many Eared Grebes to Count
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.