One year ago today I experienced one of the two most frustrating days in my entire time of being a bird photographer while photographing Red-naped Sapsuckers in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho.
Imagine moving down a gravel road and seeing just a tiny flash of movement and light-colored plumage in a stand of green vegetation and trying to figure out if it is a bright leaf in the breeze or a fledgling Yellow Warbler in a split second.
I spotted a flash of black, white and red as a bird landed in the aspen tree that was closest to me above where the wrens and swallows are nesting and realized that a male Red-naped Sapsucker had flown in and was foraging for food in the buds of the aspen.
I had a great deal of fun yesterday morning while photographing the American Tree Sparrows that I found in abundance on Antelope Island State Park foraging on the ground and perching on the bushes on the northern end of the island.
I had been photographing just one Reddish Egret dancing in the waves as it caught fish after fish and fought with the Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls over its prey when a second Reddish Egret flew in.
A few days ago I saw an adult Red-tailed Hawk fly towards its nest with prey for its chicks, the prey was a duckling.
Maybe next year I'll have better opportunities with these Red-naped Sapsuckers and maybe they will chose to place their new nesting cavity in a location that is easier to photograph.
Early in January I photographed an American Coot being chased by two Mallards for the food it carried in its bill.
The Prairie Falcon I photographed had prey and that may be why it was less skittish. I have no idea what the prey is but it is larger than a vole and had fur not feathers.
The American Coot seemed to turn its head a few times to see if it was still being chased and when it saw that it was it it kept scooting across the surface of the pond and always kept its bill clamped down on its food.
Finding Red-naped Sapsuckers feeding chicks at a nesting cavity in the Uintas made my day!
Through the steamy mists of a hot spring I found a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Blue Creek Spring in Box Elder County and I hoped to get a few decent images of it.
One year ago today I found, pointed out and photographed a Coyote and Black-billed Magpies scavenging a deer carcass to survive on Antelope Island State Park.
The Great Salt Lake this time of the year is full of ducks and that means that there is ample food in the area for this young Peregrine Falcon.
The first bird I photographed on my recent trip to Idaho and Montana was a White-faced Ibis in full breeding plumage.
Yesterday was another interesting day on Antelope Island seeing snow-covered Bison, snowy weather, birds and spotting Coyotes at a Mule Deer carcass.
American Coots are common birds and some folks might find them fairly plain but I like them and enjoy photographing them too.
Last week I photographed this adult Forster's Tern in flight as it foraged for food above Glover Pond near Farmington Bay WMA.
Every time I see this image of this Richardson's Ground Squirrel I have to laugh because of how full its mouth is.
A month ago I photographed a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nesting cavity in Idaho and this past week I spent several days photographing them again.
This image was taken on a breezy April morning in 2009 at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach when I saw an aerial food fight occurring over the Gulf of Mexico.
It was great to get back out into the field yesterday and even better that there were some cooperative Lark Sparrows in my viewfinder.
Midges are an important food source for the birds that live and breed in the marshes and wetlands of Utah and they have recently begun to hatch.
I haven't had many opportunities to photograph the Harlan's subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk so I was thrilled yesterday when I spotted a juvenile dark morph Harlan's Hawk feeding on a dead American Coot on the bank of a creek.
While photographing this Snowy Plover in June of 2008 I was able to observe the tiny shorebird snatch an ant from the sugar sand of the north beach of Fort De Soto.
Last week while out photographing I spotted a Prairie Falcon in the midst of a tussle with two Common Ravens in mid air. At times it seemed that the falcon was chasing the ravens and then the tables would turn and it appeared that the ravens were diving at the falcon.
These Savannah Sparrows were nearly as much fun to observe as they were to photograph. They are very active birds and it was a challenge to keep up with them