Juvenile Western Meadowlark and the Great Salt Lake
I have already seen Sage Thrasher chicks on Antelope Island State Park and I suspect it won't be long before I see juvenile Western Meadowlarks learning how to fly and feed on their own.
I have already seen Sage Thrasher chicks on Antelope Island State Park and I suspect it won't be long before I see juvenile Western Meadowlarks learning how to fly and feed on their own.
One thing I know for certain is that we can't drink dust.
I was absolutely delighted to spot a pair of Sage Thrashers on Antelope Island yesterday because I have been anxiously awaiting their arrival since they left last fall.
The Chukars are singing from the rocks in the morning and if I am lucky I might be able to photograph them fighting over the hens again like I did three years ago.
Yesterday there was a springtime chorus being sung almost every where on Antelope Island and the flute-like melody of the Western Meadowlarks resonated the loudest.
Last month I photographed this coyote out on the mudflats and I recall wondering if it was the young coyote I photographed in August of 2013 all grown up.
I had left my camera at home that had a wide angle lens so I brought out my cell phone and took images with it of the stormy weather over Antelope Island State Park.
Yesterday was a Coyote kind of day for me seeing two Coyotes fight, a pair chase off an intruding Coyote and another pair with an intruding Coyote following them.
Even when the light is cruddy I can't resist taking images of Coyotes no matter where I spot them.
Yesterday I had a three Coyote day on the causeway to Antelope Island State Park, one was by itself and the other two were traveling together.
I wasn't expecting much from the images but to my delight I liked the effect of the white Tundra Swans on the pure white snow.
This isn't hunting, not the kind I grew up respecting where the hunters provided food for their families, this is killing for nothing more than the sake of killing.
I often see this phrase "species in decline due to habitat destruction or fragmentation" or something similar and the frequency of seeing that phrase is most likely to become higher.
Yesterday morning I happened to be on Antelope Island State Park as July's Super Moon set over Buffalo Point and I took a few images of it.
I know a lot of people are suffering because of the heat of summer so I though I would post an image of a male American Kestrel perched on a frosty Rabbitbrush.
There is just something about this Coyote image that makes me feel happy.
Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite subjects to photograph and to get one perched with the Great Salt Lake in the background was wonderful.
I love photographing my subjects but I am also there for the experiences I crave in nature, the quiet, the peace and the grand views.
Normally I prefer to have my subjects larger in the frame than this image of a Willet tiptoeing on the surface of the Great Salt Lake as it landed.
I have seen and heard more Northern Mockingbirds this year on Antelope Island State Park than any previous year since I moved to Utah.
This morning while Antelope Island there was a Loggerhead Shrike perched on a dead branch that was near the north shoreline of the Great Salt Lake.
In the fall of 2011 I enjoyed being able to photograph this first year Prairie Falcon several times close to the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
Yesterday was a bit like a wonderful open air concert on Antelope Island with the calls of Curlews, Willets, Chukars, Red-winged Blackbirds and Western Meadowlarks floating through the air.
After seeing few Chukars on Antelope Island State Park over the winter it is a delight to see them perching on rocks, preening, calling and warming up in the first rays of sunlight on the island again.
Starting the day photographing Coyotes always makes me want to howl with delight. They are amazing adaptable creatures who help to keep nature in balance.
Two years ago I could often find Northern Harriers hunting along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park and I photographed a series of images of this female Northern Harrier on February 16th of that year.
It won't be long before the American White Pelicans are back at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge which is where I photographed the pelican in the image above last spring.
There are times when one subject will make my day in the field worthwhile, yesterday it was a lone Coyote hunting for voles on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake.
I was going to do a post about a Bald Eagle this morning but at the last minute had a change of mind and decided to work up this male American Kestrel that I photographed resting near the shore of the Great Salt Lake.
The first time I went to Antelope Island State Park was on July 28, 2008 and among the wonderful things that I saw and photographed that trip were hundreds of American Avocets along the causeway to the island.