Warbling Vireo And Fall Colors In The Stansbury Mountains
When this Warbling Vireo popped into my view I knew if I wanted to photograph it I had to hurry because these small vireos move fast.
When this Warbling Vireo popped into my view I knew if I wanted to photograph it I had to hurry because these small vireos move fast.
This morning I wanted to share a potpourri of Ruby-crowned Kinglet photos because I adore seeing and photographing these quick moving, charismatic little birds.
Eleven days ago I photographed an adult Sage Thrasher regurgitating the seed of a sumac berry that was so close I could barely fit the thrasher in the frame.
Spotted Towhees are among the most colorful members of the sparrow family and I always enjoy photographing them on those occasions when they are out in the open.
I don't usually share photos where the main subject is facing away from me but I liked the alert pose of this raptor as it perched in the dead but distant juniper tree.
I was so excited that I was shaking because the creature I had found was a Desert Tarantula which was my first sighting of one in Utah.
I was busy photographing six species of sparrows when I noticed this adult Sage Thrasher pop up in a sumac bush that was close enough for me to take portraits of it.
I had a great time photographing all of the sparrow species I saw two days ago and I could have stayed with them all morning long. I might do just that later this week.
The first bird I photographed yesterday morning was an immature Cooper's Hawk that I found because I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on a cliff face that the young accipiter decided to harass.
Five days ago I photographed a lifer dragonfly when I found a male Twelve-spotted Skimmer that was hanging around a spring-fed seep next to a gravel road in Box Elder County.
Worldwide doves symbolize peace and I felt that I could use a little of that feeling this morning so I decided to share some Mourning Dove images I took two days ago in northern Utah.
I had a great time photographing three recently fledged Red-tailed Hawks from two different nests in northern Utah yesterday morning.
I hoped the Sage Thrasher would come closer so that I could photograph it and just about the time the Short-eared Owl lifted off the thrasher popped up on a nearby metal post.
I'm always happy to photograph "other things with wings" when I am out in the field so last week when I spotted my first of year Monarch butterfly I had to take a few photos of it.
I don't know for sure if I will see another Short-eared Owl to photograph this year but I do know I had fun photographing these three.
When I spotted this sharp-looking, adult male Lazuli Bunting less than 30 feet away from where I sat in a mobile blind on the side of the road I almost jumped with joy.
Over time I have come to associate Say's Phoebes with sagebrush because I don't think I have ever seen or photographed one of these phoebes where there wasn't sage nearby here in northern Utah.
In April there was a bright, sunny morning when I had several opportunities to photograph adult Turkey Vultures warming up after a chilly night by thermoregulating.
I know that I have to be alert, paying attention and fast when it comes to photographing Ruby-crowned Kinglets or they will make the statement "she/he who hesitates is lost" a reality.
I photographed this adult male Horned Lark singing on a snow-topped fence post three days ago after a spring snow fell overnight in the West Desert.
I've been busy the past few days and haven't been able to get out into the field but that hasn't stopped me from thinking of spring, green fields, warm sunlight on my skin, and Short-eared Owls.
I keep wondering if I will see this big, gorgeous, rufous Red-tailed Hawk female in my viewfinder again this year.
I reached back into my archives and found this photo of a side lit Great Horned Owl in desert habitat that I spotted from one of the dirt access roads that lead to the Mt. Moriah Wilderness of eastern Nevada in 2012.
Because I have spent so much time out in the West Desert lately I have seen and heard quite a few Juniper Titmice moving through the junipers that dot the slopes of the mountains and foothills.
It has been a long time since I had a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk in my view finder so when I spotted it hovering over a field I knew I had to stop and get photos of it.
I photographed some sparrows, goldfinches, juncos, and this lovely male Spotted Towhee that was eating the fruit of a Fragrant Sumac tree.
I didn't get the Brown Creeper photos I have been dreaming of yesterday but I did take lovely images of an immature Ferruginous Hawk in early morning, golden light.
When it comes to accipiters I see Sharp-shinned Hawks less frequently than I do Cooper's Hawks or Northern Goshawks so when I have a Sharp-shinned Hawk in my viewfinder I become very excited.
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.