Perky Adult Gray Catbird In The Wasatch Mountains
The month of May is nearly upon us and for me that means it is time to start looking and listening for my first of year Gray Catbird.
The month of May is nearly upon us and for me that means it is time to start looking and listening for my first of year Gray Catbird.
I haven't found my first of season Swainson's Hawk yet but I expect that to change any day now as spring migration is almost in full swing.
Yesterday afternoon I received an email from the UBird Google group with a first of the year Turkey Vulture sighting and that got me excited.
Yesterday morning was clear, bright, chilly, and I spent ten minutes photographing an adult male Rough-legged Hawk that I found in the West Desert.
Yesterday morning not long after sunrise I spent some time photographing a light morph, immature Ferruginous Hawk hunting for its breakfast.
I am always looking for Short-eared Owls in northern Utah because they are year round residents here but they are nomadic which means I don't always see them.
The highlight of my morning yesterday was when I spotted an immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk perched on a cedar post in the West Desert.
These five images of a Least Chipmunk grooming session are some of the last photos of chipmunks I took high in the Wasatch Mountains in 2020.
The past couple of weeks on some of my journeys to the West Desert of Utah I have been able to have a few long distance views of Ferruginous Hawks and that has me excited.
I don't know how many times I have said "expect the unexpected" since I began photographing birds while talking to fellow photographers.
When a Least Chipmunk popped up on a fence post that was so close I wasn't sure I'd be able to get sharp images of it due to my minimum focusing distance I still tried. I'm glad that I did.
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.
I don’t think it was a “King of the castle” kind of behavior going on but what do I know, I am not a bird!
This morning I'm grateful that I spotted a single Gray Catbird pop up on top of a snowberry bush yesterday morning because if I hadn't none of the following photos would have been possible.
As I went through the images I took four years ago this photo of a female Mountain Bluebird perched on an old fence post with prey for her young in her bill stood out to me.
I heard the male Green-tailed Towhee before I could see him perched on the weathered post with lichens on the top so a view of him was no surprise for me.
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.
This adult male Swainson's Hawk was perched near his nest in a light rain and although he looked soaking wet that didn't appear to bother him much at all.
Today I am sharing a simple photo of an American Robin perched on a wooden fence high in the Wasatch Mountains that I took photos of two days ago.
This Least Chipmunk was running along the rails of an old wooden fence and when it stopped for a rest on a fence post I was ready.
The young Short-eared Owl in this photo was parallaxing when I photographed it in which basically means the fledgling owl was moving its head to gain different viewpoints.
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.
While I was up in Box Elder County, Utah four days ago I spotted my first of season Western Kingbirds chasing each other around in flight near a ranch.
The memories of photographing this Turkey Vulture that spring morning have made me feel excited because these vultures are heading north now and soon I will have them in my viewfinder again.
It isn't everyday that I can take photos of a Peregrine Falcon in Red Rock Country so I'm very glad I spotted this one and was able to get a few images it.
I photographed this Least Chipmunk last summer high up in a mountain canyon where it appeared to be sniffing the lichens that covered the top of a wooden fence post.
I photograph birds all the time and there are a few that simply take my breath away and totally mesmerize me, this dark morph Ferruginous Hawk is one of those birds.
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.
As common as Dark-eyed Juncos are I have surprisingly few photos of them in my galleries and that is why I get excited when I can add a new photo of them to my portfolio.
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.