Western Meadowlarks At Farmington Bay WMA
Much like the Great Blue Herons I shared yesterday, the Western Meadowlarks I found at Farmington Bay WMA two days ago were also behaving as if it were spring.
Much like the Great Blue Herons I shared yesterday, the Western Meadowlarks I found at Farmington Bay WMA two days ago were also behaving as if it were spring.
What intrigued me the most was the post-coital posture of the female Spotted Sandpiper where she kept one wing raised for a long period of time.
It was the highlight of my morning to find, observe, listen to, and photograph ten Sandhill Cranes at Bear River MBR yesterday.
Last week when I took my Mom to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge we were fortunate to see and photograph Killdeer mating while on the auto tour route.
The Loggerhead Shrike did fly in and brought prey to feed the presumed female, during the mating season the males will allofeed the females as part of their courtship behavior. I've never been able to photograph allofeeding behavior before so I was tickled pink.
One might ask what do Greater Sage-Grouse have to do with our public lands and the answer would be that more than half of all remaining habit for these large upland game birds is on our public lands in the Western U.S..
I'm glad that I made the trip down to the pond because I was able to photograph a drake Redhead exhibiting courtship display behavior several times as he tried to impress the hen that was nearby.
Three days ago while out on Antelope Island State Park under cloudy skies I was able to observe a glimpse into the mating behaviors of a pair of Western Meadowlarks.
What I didn't expect yesterday was that I would be able to photograph the Red-tailed Hawks mating on the lichen-covered outcropping but that is what happened
It was 21°F one frigid morning on a Greater Sage-Grouse Lek and before dawn broke the grouse began to display on the high country sagebrush steppe in Wayne County, Utah.
Yesterday I had my best opportunities thus far this year to photograph Sage Thrasher courtship behavior and bilateral wing displays on Antelope Island.
Officially it isn't spring yet but the Canada Geese here in the Salt Lake Valley don't seem to be paying much attention to our human calendars at all and have begun their mating season.
I photographed these rushing Western Grebes in early June of this year at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge in Box Elder County.
I had a wonderful photographic opportunity yesterday seeing a Long-billed Curlew mating display on Antelope Island State Park.