I wanted to share a five image series of a male Yellow-headed Blackbird that I photographed in the marshes of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge this morning that I took the second week of May.
Yesterday when I saw, heard and photographed these Long-billed Curlews while on Antelope Island I was reminded of all the times I have taken photos of these large shorebirds here in Utah, Montana and in Florida and how I have enjoyed having an intimate view of their lives both through my lens and with my eyes.
It has been nearly a year since I posted any photos of Red-winged Blackbirds and since I took photos of a cooperative, sticky male yesterday I thought I should rectify that situation and share two photos here this morning.
Breeding season has begun for Wild Turkeys so when I spotted a flock of them yesterday in the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County I was hoping to photograph a tom turkey strutting.
Because I had noticed the Common Goldeneye drake's behavior I was able to photograph him as he assumed the Head-throw posture.
The number of birds in a specific location can increase and decrease substantially from one day to the next and that happened with Common Goldeneyes at my local pond in northern Utah when their numbers increased considerably.
We still have our winter birds and the spring migrants have begun their journey north so my bird photography is likely to pick up and get exciting soon if the clouds will give me a break.
When I photographed this male Yellow-headed Blackbird displaying at Bear River MBR it was a beautiful May morning and all the birds there were singing.
This pose made me think "The Long-billed Curlew Scores" but he was really just exhibiting a territorial response to another curlew that was nearby
Since the snow has started to fall in the high country of Utah I have started thinking about Greater Sage-Grouse again.
Brewer's Blackbirds are a target species of the “Bye bye Blackbird” USDA Wildlife Services Program, a program that uses DRC-1339, an avicide.
The two second Greater Sage-Grouse skirmish was over but only for a few seconds before these two males started back up again.
I was delighted to find quite a few Sandhill Cranes in the Centennial Valley of Montana last week and this pair was close enough to photograph.
Yesterday morning I had Western Kingbirds and Long-billed Curlews in my viewfinder on Antelope Island State Park.
A simple post this morning of a Brewer's Blackbird male displaying that I photographed on a bright day in May out on Antelope Island State Park.
I don't if this male was successful with the female Red-winged Blackbirds but he sure had me mesmerized with his sleek black feathers and his flashing red, orange and yellow epaulets.
These Sandwich Terns were courting early one morning at Fort De Soto's north beach and even though the light wasn't "sweet" I felt their courtship behavior was interesting.
I wanted to share a sampler of bird images that I have taken over the past week in Davis and Box Elder Counties.
The only native true lark that lives and breeds in North America is the Horned Lark.
While out on Antelope Island State Park on Friday I spotted a male Brewer's Blackbird on top of a bush, the light was just great for viewing and photographing the iridescent teals, blues, greens and purples that can show up on these "black" birds.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds have begun to show up in large numbers in my area of the country. I'm seeing them perched on cattails, phragmites and in flight.
This is the time of the year that "midges" are as thick as flies on you-know-what at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.