I went out into the west desert of Utah this morning hoping to take images of the raptors I thought I would find there to do a post on but some days though the birds are few and those that you find just aren't cooperative
Just a simple image today of a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow with a pumpkin patch in the background as the month of October comes to an end.
It was an unusual experience to see these Pied-billed Grebes standing upright and walking on the edge of this pond, some might even consider it rare.
Although White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) are year round residents in Utah I see far more of them in the fall, winter and early spring and because it is cold they also are "stickier" and allow closer approaches.
Last winter was awesome for seeing Rough-legged Hawks and I am hoping they had another great breeding season and that they will show up here in large numbers to over winter.
This is an adult White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) that I photographed at Fort De Soto's north beach that was feeding in a tidal lagoon by the mangroves
I had another great day with juvenile Red-tailed Hawks on Antelope Island State Park last week.
Normally I wouldn't take or present an image where the subject is as small in the frame as this juvenile White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) is but I couldn't resist because I like this image a lot.
I don't get to see or photograph Oystercatchers here in Utah but I still dream about these shorebirds and can hear their calls when I look at the thousands of images I took of them.
One foggy morning last December I spotted this juvenile Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus) perched on a frost-covered rock on the causeway to Antelope Island SP with the Great Salt Lake in the background.
Several people have remarked on how much they like the resting Black Skimmer juvenile image that was in my rotating banner at the top of this blog so I thought I would post it to show the whole bird.
These juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) images were taken on two consecutive days last week. I'm always excited to have a bird in my view finder and when I can photograph hawks for two days in a row... I feel raptor rapture.
I had fun yesterday photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) as it perched on rocks and hunted for prey. This image shows the Red-tailed coming in for a landing.
Not only did I see numerous Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on my recent trip to Montana, I also saw quite a few Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) juveniles too.
While I was away in Montana for eight days starting last week I had a fantastic time photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.
Fluffy Great Horned Owl fledgling + knotty weathered wood + large yellow eyes = Wonderful!
Some images strike my funny bone, this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photograph sure has. This is but one of many captions that came to my mind after viewing it.
After having driven around the north end of the island we headed south thinking there probably wouldn't be much to shoot there... until I spotted this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk perching on some of the darker rocks on the island.
On my mid-July journey to southwestern Montana it seemed like there were juvenile hawks every where I looked, the east and west side of the Centennial Valley and the south and north sides too.
These images were taken at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana. There were two Willets; an adult and a juvenile, on the shoreline of the lower lake that delighted me.
I like gulls, I know that gulls are not always a popular subject for many bird photographers and that they will often pass them by but to me they are as delightful, beautiful and fascinating as any other bird.
On the first day of my recent trip to southwestern Montana I came across two Willets (Tringa semipalmata) near a lake shore, one was an adult and one was a juvenile.
These images of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in Beaverhead County were taken on Sunday morning, June 22nd while leaving southwestern Montana to head back to Utah.
Let's face it some butt shots aren't very pretty but some can be awfully darned cute!
From all appearances it has been a great nesting season for the Loggerhead Shrikes on Antelope Island State Park, it seems everywhere I look there are numerous juvenile Shrikes perched on bushes near rather harried looking adults.
In 2008 I had the great pleasure of observing and photographing a family of American Oystercatchers from the day after the chicks hatched until three and a half months later.
When I photograph Burrowing Owls I can't resist smiling, especially when they are juveniles. Just seeing them makes me grin.
Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic so we don't see them around here in northern Utah during the summer.
Yesterday I photographed a mixture of the birds of Antelope Island State Park and had great fun while doing it.
Grebe chicks are showing up all over at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (aka Bear River National Wildlife Refuge) in northern Utah and they are just adorable to see and photograph.