Adult Red-tailed Hawk With A Snake In The West Desert
I noticed immediately that the Red-tailed Hawk was on prey because I saw it tearing into something despite the grasses that were partially obstructing my view.
I noticed immediately that the Red-tailed Hawk was on prey because I saw it tearing into something despite the grasses that were partially obstructing my view.
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.
Throughout my life I have liked to think that every sunset has a promise and a gift from Nature in it. The promise that the sun will rise again in the morning.
Over the past week I have had the pleasure of photographing male Lazuli Buntings high in the Wasatch Mountains in several different settings.
I took quite a few photos of the fledgling Short-eared Owl that I had a clear view of and even though the lighting wasn't the best I was enchanted by the views I had of it.
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.
Seeing the baby ground squirrels brought a smile to my face and I must admit that my heart skipped a beat. I really think that they are adorable.
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.
Early this month I was able to create this golden background by having leafless willows that line the creek below the road behind the Uinta Ground Squirrel when I photographed it.
A few days ago I photographed my first of the season Broad-tailed Hummingbird and I was elated that the bird was a female.
The first time I raised my lens yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains it was for three Elk I spotted on a hillside.
That is one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven posts about birds, wildlife, flowers and the incredible scenery I see out in the field.
Earlier this month I spotted my first of year Vesper Sparrow way up north in Box Elder County and since then I have been looking for them closer to home in the Wasatch Mountains.
Two days ago I photographed something I had never seen or documented when I stopped to take photos of a Uinta Ground Squirrel and it started eating a big, fat earthworm.
My rare Mountain Plover sighting happened almost seven years ago on Antelope Island State Park when I spotted, identified and photographed of the plovers during spring migration.
Today I wanted to focus on Virginia Rails because I don't find them out in the open very often, they are such secretive marsh birds.
Someone at sometime had tossed a soda can into the junipers and the Wild Turkey hen walked right in front of it during the few seconds she was out in the open.
If I hadn't have been paying attention yesterday I might have missed out on spotting a flock of turkeys in some junipers and photographing a smoke phase Wild Turkey hen.
Two days ago I heard and saw my first of the season Long-billed Curlews while looking for birds to photograph in northern Utah and I could barely contain my excitement.
It is currently the time of the year when I start looking for Rough-legged Hawks in northern Utah, the temps have dipped below freezing, there has been frost on the ground and now we've had our first snow.
The Long-tailed Weasel stood up, looked around and then made a mad dash back to the west side of the road before I lost sight of it in the vegetation.
I haven't had any California Quail in my viewfinder since last December so a when I had the chance to photograph a male at Farmington Bay WMA nine days ago I was happy.
I like to share some of the views I see while I am out wandering to look for birds because the scenery and different habitats I see at times are simply spectacular.
If I hadn't been looking for birds I wouldn't have spotted this coyote searching for prey yesterday near a creek in a canyon which made it my best subject of the day.
I was excited to have been able to take a decent image of an American Mink when I found this one in the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning.
I was delighted to photograph the few immature Black-billed Magpies that were close to me and to observe those who were further away foraging and chasing each other around in a field dotted with wildflowers, grasses and sage.
I was able to get back out into the field yesterday and I had a marvelous time photographing young Spotted Sandpiper chicks and learning more about their behaviors near a creek in the Wasatch Mountains.
Uinta Ground Squirrels spend most of their lives underground and because they do they need to make the most of their time above ground matter and they certainly do.
I took a couple hundred images of the Yellow-rumped Warblers as they flitted around in search of prey next to the creek and after reviewing my images I only found a few that I felt were worth keeping.
The gems of my photographic journey yesterday morning were Broad-tailed Hummingbirds that were hanging around a Wax Currant bush next to the dirt road where the sounds of their wings alerted me to their presence.