After looking through all of those images I decided to share a photo today of an immature Rough-legged Hawk perched on a waterfowl rest area sign taken at Farmington Bay WMA on Christmas Eve day in 2013.
One of the birds I took images of that afternoon was an immature Double-crested Cormorant that flew past me in that golden light just barely above the surface of the pond.
It isn't often that I am able to be close enough to a Northern Harrier to take a portrait of one, in fact I can only think of one time that I've been that fortunate and that was in May of 2016.
Why did it make me laugh and smile? Because it looks like the Rough-legged Hawk might have been playing peek-a-boo as it looked towards me through its wingtips.
It might seem a little late in the year to see immature Mourning Doves but it probably isn't because Mourning Doves can have as many as six broods per year.
I was able to photograph two immature Red-tailed Hawks at East Canyon State Park and the photos I am sharing today are of the first one that I found.
The more I have looked at this image over the past year the more I liked it for the flight pose, the look at the Red-tailed Hawk's plumage colors against those yellow leaves and somehow the poor lighting conditions became less significant to my eyes.
I've been collecting images of immature White-crowned Sparrows that I have taken over the past month or so up in Box Elder County because of all the different settings I have photographed them in.
A few weeks ago I observed and photographed an immature female Northern Harrier repeatedly harassing a Ring-necked Pheasant hen out on the marshes at Farmington Bay.
I've been trying for over a month to get decent images of fledgling and juvenile Cedar Waxwings and hadn't succeeded but yesterday I was able to take a photograph of an immature waxwing that I actually like.
Three days ago I was able to photograph a female or immature Dark-eyed Junco of the Oreganus Group when it flew in and landed not too far away from me and I have to admit that seeing it excited me because I enjoy these birds so much.
This time of the year male and female Spotted Towhees have finished raising their broods and their young are learning how to be on their own but they do look a touch ragged as they molt into their adult plumage.
Yesterday the "unexpected" bird was a juvenile Osprey in the Wasatch Mountains. I'd say it was unexpected because I'd been photographing songbirds and wasn't expecting to see North America's "Fish Hawk" in the same area.
This female or immature Wilson's Warbler isn't a photographic lifer for me but it is the first time I have gotten a decent image of one, most of the time I've gotten blurry images of them of just a small part of the bird.
There was plenty of bird activity where chokecherry trees lined both sides of the gravel road, the most numerous birds foraging on the chokecherries were American Robins and many of them were immature birds.
Last week for a few brief seconds I was pleasantly surprised to have a Rufous Hummingbird in my viewfinder while up in the Wasatch Mountains.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to photograph male, female and immature Lazuli Buntings as they have been gorging on the fruits of Serviceberry trees to fatten up before their migration.
I am glad I didn't rush to report a Least Flycatcher along with the Baltimore Oriole when this little empid is actually a Dusky Flycatcher and a photographic lifer for me.
This spring and summer I have photographed Yellow Warblers primarily in mountainous riparian habitat so when I spotted one foraging in a Rough Cocklebur two days ago in the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I was happy to take photos of it.
I'd driven up into a Wasatch Mountain canyon and was waiting for the sun to rise over the mountains when I spotted several juvenile Barn Swallows perched on a fence right next to the road in lovely morning light.
Even though the sun was high I couldn't resist photographing a juvenile Lazuli Bunting that flew in and perched on a Utah Serviceberry branch because to my eye the setting was both enchanting and very appealing.
It was a lot of fun photographing adult Gray Catbirds earlier this year and photographing the juveniles learning to be on their own has been equally fun and entertaining.
In the past week I have photographed so many birds in a Wasatch Mountain canyon that I thought I would share a group of them in a photo gallery.
I spent a few minutes yesterday morning focusing on young Chipping Sparrows foraging in a stand of Chokecherry trees, there were several of these juveniles flitting around in front of me in nice light.
While photographing some waxwings a flash of movement caught my eye and I spotted an immature American Robin reaching for a berry in a Utah Serviceberry shrub, I couldn't help myself, I had to photograph this young bird too.
This juvenile Mountain Bluebird was hunting for food its own, perching on sagebrush and then diving to the ground after prey.
Juvenile Western Kingbirds may look sweet like this one does perched on a fence but they can be rather pushy when it comes to demanding food from their parents and they are also quite noisy too while they are begging.
This first winter Common Goldeneye drake had no issues with getting close to me as I photographed it on a chilly December afternoon.
I've taken my share of crappy photos during the time I have been focused on photographing birds but this photo of a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron crapping in flight may be the crappiest of them all.
Brine flies that live in the Great Salt Lake are an important food source for California Gulls and watching the gulls feed on the flies is fascinating as they use several techniques to catch them.