Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel Close Up In The Wasatch Mountains
I didn't get any photos of the Uinta Ground Squirrels while I was up in the canyons last week and I will need to fix that soon because I adore these furry, dark-eyed ground squirrels.
I didn't get any photos of the Uinta Ground Squirrels while I was up in the canyons last week and I will need to fix that soon because I adore these furry, dark-eyed ground squirrels.
I've shared photos of this gorgeous dark morph Swainson's Hawk before and I've written about how I believed it was the darkest, dark morph I had ever seen and to date that still holds true.
I spent my morning yesterday driving on the very muddy auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the birds that I photographed the most were Killdeer, it seemed like I saw them everywhere.
This singing male Horned Lark was close enough to me that I could take portraits of him while he sang two days ago and I believe the reason he was so close was that his urge to find a mate overcame his natural wariness.
So far this year the only photo I've taken of the nest building magpies that I have liked is this close up of a resting Black-billed Magpie who was taking a break from looking for nesting materials.
At first the Common Raven was near the side of the road but it moved down the rocks and got closer to the lake and where it poked around in the rocks.
This close up of a Western Meadowlark was taken nearly two years ago on Antelope Island State Park while the bird foraged on the ground.
I always feel fortunate when I am able to photograph winter Barn Owls in flight during daylight hours but that means that these gorgeous owls are struggling to stay alive and that is a concern for me.
I'm not sure I have ever been as close to a Pine Siskin as I was to this one before, I'm glad this siskin decided to delight me with its presence even though it was just for a very brief time.
I've never been this close to a Rough-legged Hawk expelling a pellet before and it is likely that I will never be this fortunate again. This Rough-legged Hawk was my best bird for the day and I'm glad I stopped and waited for him to expel the pellet before moving on down the auto tour route.
On February 16th I woke to fresh snow on the ground and I knew I wanted to see if the American Robins were still feeding in the crabapple trees close to home.
It isn't all that often that I am able to photograph a calling Ring-billed Gull close enough that I can get a great view of the inside of its bill so when the opportunity presented itself earlier this week I took advantage of the situation.
Two afternoons ago when I left the local pond to head home I saw at least 75-100 foraging American Robins in some crabapple trees and on the ground in the snow.
If I hadn't already been stopped to photograph the blackbird I wouldn't have seen this immature Bald Eagle flying towards me in time to take the photos that I took of it on the wing.
An American Coot with a dirty bill wasn't shy at all when it climbed out of the pond close enough for me to take portraits of it.
I'm glad this Gadwall drake came in close so I could take a few photos of him before I turned my attention back to the pair of Hooded Mergansers.
Both of these portraits of a first winter Ring-billed Gull are of the same bird taken one minute apart just as the light changed from okay to much brighter where the gull had changed its location but only slightly.
American Wigeons are here in this area of northern Utah year round but I seem to have my best opportunities with them during the winter. I'm delighted that this drake came in so close.
I really can't pin down why I like this mallard photo and honestly I don't feel a need to figure out why I do. I simply do.
I recently became aware that there were ads at the bottom of the email that was automatically sent out to you all when I published my blog post this morning.
I'm glad I had a few seconds to photograph this Great-tailed Grackle up close in the warm afternoon light before it was flushed and flew away.
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.
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.
I'm not sure how this Ring-bill Gull got the snow on its bill but when I looked through my viewfinder I liked all of fine details I had in the snow, the bill and the white plumage of the gull and I felt I had to take photos of it.
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 photographed this American Coot in February when parts of my local pond were frozen which caused a restriction in the space where the coots, ducks, geese and grebes could feed and there were many territorial squabbles to photograph.
I'm always glad to see and photograph Wild Turkeys and most of the time I see them more than I can photograph them because they are often too far away but some days it does work out that I can have them in my viewfinder and click the shutter release.
Yesterday I photographed a small covey of California Quail, this the second time this month that I have seen and photographed these small upland game birds that have wiggly, little head plumes.
So it wasn't a great morning but it wasn't all that bad either because I was able to focus on a Short-eared Owl, Brewer's Blackbirds and one curious Long-tailed Weasel.
These autumn Turkey Vulture portraits are among the most difficult images I have ever taken because I was holding my breath and retching while I took them due to the awful odor of a road-killed skunk below the bird.