I have had an amazing time photographing Prairie Falcons (Falco mexicanus) since last fall. Since the ducks are no longer near the causeway to Antelope Island I have had a more difficult time locating them because they are now searching for their normal winter diet of Western Meadowlarks and Horned Larks which are found more "inland" on the island.
This is the third consecutive year that I have photographed Black-billed Magpies working on their nest in this same location on Antelope Island.
I have had such amazing experiences with Rough-legged Hawks this winter. I've captured them in flight, preening, eating, hovering, kiting, resting and so much more.
It was real slow for bird photography out on Antelope Island this morning but I did get a nice lift off shot from this Western Meadowlark.
There aren't many people in the west desert of Utah thus the raptors and other birds that live there are not habituated to people so they are very skittish even when using a mobile blind.
The weather outside hasn't been good for bird photography today but since I am always behind on editing I thought I'd process this Red-breasted Merganser image that I took in Florida a few years ago.
I can relate to the hawk in a way, just like it doesn't always get the prey it is intent on, I don't always get the shots I want.
I have been very pleased to add so many images of Rough-legged Hawks to my portfolio in just the past week and hopefully these Roughies will stick around until late February of next year so there will be many more opportunities.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America, the "regalis" in the latin name means "kingly" or "regal" and I have to agree with those descriptions.
I can't acquire focus on the Lunatic Sage Thrashers because they don't ever stay still long enough, they race around willy-nilly until dizziness forces me to stop watching them. Think Ricochet Rabbit.
This morning when we had almost reached Antelope Island I spotted a huge flock of Northern Shovelers blasting off from the water