The male Broad-tailed Hummingbird lifted off from the perch so I pre-focused on it, listened for him to come back then when I heard the bird get close to the perch I fired off a burst of shots and captured him in a landing position with the vivid color of his gorget showing
I spent some time up in the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains yesterday photographing the birds I found including this handsome Green-tailed Towhee perched on a blooming Utah Serviceberry.
The day I photographed the Green-tailed Towhee singing up in the mountain canyon I also had an opportunity to take a nice series of photos of what appeared to be a mated pair of American Goldfinches.
I had fun yesterday morning photographing a male Green-tailed Towhee singing in a mountain canyon, this was a bird I heard before I spotted him perched on a flowering branch.
May... the month where baby Uinta Ground Squirrels seem to show up everywhere within their favorite habitats which include shrubsteppe habitat, meadows and pastures with elevations of between 4,000 and 8,010 feet in areas of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.
I was delighted to be able to photograph the female Yellow Warbler as she fed her young and to watch the fledgling as it fluttered its wings and gulped down the food the female brought it.
Imagine a bird whose bright yellow feathers rival the rays of the sun then add a black forehead, ebony eyes, black and white wings and you have a male American Goldfinch in breeding plumage. Feathered sunshine.
Green-tailed Towhees are migratory so I don't see them year round in Utah like I do their close relatives the Spotted Towhees. Green-tailed Towhees spend their winters in the southern most parts of the U.S. and in Mexico and I miss seeing a hearing them while they are away.
There are days when one bird can "make" the day great for me as a bird photographer, yesterday that bird was a Cooper's Hawk in a Wasatch Mountain canyon east of Salt Lake City.
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.
These two Mule Deer were photographed in different settings, different lighting situations but about the same time of the morning and I find them both appealing.
Yesterday morning I was able to photograph and adult Song Sparrow eating while perched at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge early in the morning.
I don't know what species of wildflowers these blue flowers are, I just know that I enjoyed seeing and photographing them.
I was delighted to be able to photograph a Gray Catbird in a willow thicket yesterday up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.
Birds aren't always neat looking, feathers wear, birds molt and young birds transitioning from their juvenal plumage into adult plumage can look quite disheveled or messy.
The young Mountain Bluebird turned and snatched the cricket from the male quickly before any of its siblings could reach the branches.
I was looking through my archives from last year and came across some images I had taken last June in Morgan County, Utah that I hadn't processed yet and I came across these Cedar Waxwing photos.
When this Barn Swallow started to stretch its wings I was ready for the action and took several photos of it while it stretched on top of the fence post.
Last week while I was photographing a handsome Green-tailed Towhee in the Wasatch Mountains a bright Yellow Warbler caught my eyes when it landed on a flowering shrub.
One good bird can make the the day when photographing birds in the field, yesterday that bird was a male Green-tailed Towhee I spotted perched on a shrub in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.
I didn't have much luck at all with birds yesterday in the west desert canyons but I did spot and photograph a Rock Squirrel in Mercur Canyon.
This adult Sage Thrasher with prey was photographed on public lands in Tooele County in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains last July.
Yesterday while up in one of the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains some movement caught my eye and when I looked closely I could see a small flock of Wild Turkeys in the junipers.
It was clear, smoke-free, cool and wonderful up in Little Emigration Canyon yesterday and seeing several Cedar Waxwings made it even better.
One of the places on that 2007 trip that I most wanted to see was Bryce Canyon National Park because I wanted to view the hoodoos in person and I am very glad I went because it is beyond gorgeous.
Yesterday while looking for birds to photograph I was enchanted by this Mercur Canyon Mountain Bluebird male while in Tooele County, Utah.
This past September I spotted an adult Red-tailed Hawk perched high on a rocky canyon wall as it looked out over the cold waters of Elk Lake in Beaverhead County, Montana.
Yesterday I headed up Skyline Drive at the entrance to Bountiful Canyon to see if I could find any migrating raptors riding the thermals of the Wasatch Mountain Range and while that wasn't a "bountiful" activity finding a Moose and her calf feeding near a beaver pond was.
Last week while heading up the Skyline Drive of Bountiful Canyon this Green-tailed Towhee was singing on top of a shrub and I was surprised when it hung around for about 2 minutes
Yesterday I was able to photograph this Green-tailed Towhee as it sang on top of a Juniper in a canyon of the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County, Utah.