First Winter Red-tailed Hawk Lift Off Photos
Last month I spent twenty-eight lovely minutes photographing this first winter Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.
Last month I spent twenty-eight lovely minutes photographing this first winter Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.
Much to my delight I was able to photograph some birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning.
Even though it is now four years later I still look for this striking leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in Tooele County and hope to find and photograph it again one day.
Yesterday opportunity knocked when several Lesser Goldfinches flew in to knosh on wild sunflowers seeds near a road at Farmington Bay WMA.
Is one of these immature Great Blue Heron images more visually appealing than the other? That depends on the personal tastes of the person viewing them.
On August 10th I drove into the mountains for a quiet, relaxing morning and came away with quite a few bird photos I have yet to process.
I only had two minutes with these immature Eastern Kingbirds and I felt I had to make every second I had with them in my viewfinder count. I succeeded.
When I spotted this sharp-looking, adult male Lazuli Bunting less than 30 feet away from where I sat in a mobile blind on the side of the road I almost jumped with joy.
The female Red-tailed Hawk blended into the lichen covered cliff face so well that even with my sharp eyesight I didn't see her until the male landed next to her.
I took this photo of an adult male Red-winged Blackbird taking off this morning with the distant snow covered Promontory Mountains in the background.
No matter how these Golden Eagle photos came to be I am happy to have photographed this magnificent bird on the wing.
There were plenty of Great Blue Herons to photograph yesterday morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and I was more than happy to take photos of them.
I photograph birds all the time and there are a few that simply take my breath away and totally mesmerize me, this dark morph Ferruginous Hawk is one of those birds.
This photo session with an immature Swainson's Hawk reinforced how as a bird photographer I need to not only be keenly aware of changing light it also showed how I may need to quickly change my settings to get the photos I want.
I spent 26 minutes yesterday photographing juvenile Red-tailed Hawk siblings and had a blast watching them preen, lift off, flying, scratching, resting and landing.
I had a nice time photographing Cedar Waxwings yesterday morning as they perched in willows next to a creek and while they were on the wing catching insects in the Wasatch Mountains.
I kept my focus on this male American Goldfinch and when he lifted off I was able to take a photo with his wings raised just as he started to take flight.
Justice has been served in the case of Richard Parker killing the 150 raptors but that does not bring those valuable raptors back. Parker should be glad that I wasn't his judge.
I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.
By the time I took this next image in the series the Red-tailed Hawk had straightened her legs, her wings were high over her body and she was pushing off from the rock.
If I hadn't found and pointed out this stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning I would have basically come home without a single decent image of a bird.
I took a long series of photos of this male American Kestrel in a tree at Farmington Bay WMA back in January and decided that I liked these two photos of the kestrel the best.
I'm fortunate that I live near two ponds here in Salt Lake City where I can find Common Mergansers at this time of the year and I appreciate being able to photograph them so close to home.
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.
Personally I am fascinated by European Starling murmurations, their interesting, beautiful plumage and how they can mimic the calls and songs of other birds.
Some days one good bird is all I get and if I hadn't spotted this cooperative Mockingbird on a Fragrant Sumac in northern Utah yesterday I would have been mostly skunked.
My big excitement yesterday morning was seeing my first, second and third of the year Rough-legged Hawks at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and the next thing was seeing all the changes that have happened at the refuge since my last visit.
Because of the avocet's determination to chase off this Greater Yellowlegs I was able to photograph it lifting off from the water with water still dripping from its feet and with the shorebird's head framed by its wings.
When the female American Goldfinch lifted off I liked the eye contact I had with her and how graceful she looked when she raised her wings, when I saw this image on my camera LCD I just had to smile.
I could wish that the Warbling Vireo had hung around longer so that I could have taken many more images of it but I'm thrilled that I was able to take any photos of the bird at all.