Knowing that this is a favorite perch has given me opportunities I might have missed if I hadn't been paying attention to the behavior of this tiny Broad-tailed Hummingbird since their arrival this spring.
Spending time photographing Yellow Warblers can try the patience of even the most patient photographer because they are so flighty, small and move quickly but it can also be rewarding when you get photos that you like.
The sack of crap was open, it doesn't matter to me if they left it open or if a critter opened it but that sack of crap was what was attracting the Northern Rough-winged Swallows and photos of these birds with dog waste shouldn't exist, yet now they do.
Luck was on my side when I found the family of Mountain Bluebirds in good light plus they were close enough to take quality photos of them, first the male then the female and the juveniles.
Even though this adult Cedar Waxwing is small in the frame because I photographed it from quite a distance it is one of my favorite images taken in the Wasatch Mountains four days ago.
As a bird photographer I have found that it is easy to make any species of owl look interesting and appealing in my images but it is more of a challenge to do that with Turkey Vultures but that doesn't mean I don't try. I will always try.
Of the photos that I took that morning I liked this one Rough-winged Swallow the most because I could see its entire body while the other swallow had the out of focus perch in front of the body of the bird.
After a bit the female Mountain Bluebird did something surprising... She flew in so close that I could only take close ups of her as she appeared to forage at the edge of the dirt road.
The male Broad-tailed Hummingbird lifted off from the perch so I pre-focused on it, listened for him to come back then when I heard the bird get close to the perch I fired off a burst of shots and captured him in a landing position with the vivid color of his gorget showing
While photographing some Pine Siskins that were foraging and gathering nesting materials I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and spotted a Chipping Sparrow with nesting materials in its bill.
Two days ago I spent time photographing nesting House Wrens in the high Uintas near Mirror Lake Highway, of interest to me is that two years ago I photographed Red-naped Sapsuckers using this same nesting cavity.
I laughed again when I saw this photo on my camera LCD, the Moose was reaching to grab more willow leaves but was also keeping an eye on me in the mobile blind while his "beard" swung like the clapper of a bell.
I spent some time up in the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains yesterday photographing the birds I found including this handsome Green-tailed Towhee perched on a blooming Utah Serviceberry.
The day I photographed the Green-tailed Towhee singing up in the mountain canyon I also had an opportunity to take a nice series of photos of what appeared to be a mated pair of American Goldfinches.
I had fun yesterday morning photographing a male Green-tailed Towhee singing in a mountain canyon, this was a bird I heard before I spotted him perched on a flowering branch.
May... the month where baby Uinta Ground Squirrels seem to show up everywhere within their favorite habitats which include shrubsteppe habitat, meadows and pastures with elevations of between 4,000 and 8,010 feet in areas of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.
Yesterday morning was spent up in the mountain canyons again photographing the birds I found at the higher elevations, the birds I saw the most of were Yellow Warblers, birds who look like sunshine on the wing.
Imagine a bird whose bright yellow feathers rival the rays of the sun then add a black forehead, ebony eyes, black and white wings and you have a male American Goldfinch in breeding plumage. Feathered sunshine.
Green-tailed Towhees are migratory so I don't see them year round in Utah like I do their close relatives the Spotted Towhees. Green-tailed Towhees spend their winters in the southern most parts of the U.S. and in Mexico and I miss seeing a hearing them while they are away.
There are days when one bird can "make" the day great for me as a bird photographer, yesterday that bird was a Cooper's Hawk in a Wasatch Mountain canyon east of Salt Lake City.
Last week I was able to photograph several Swainson's Hawks, some perched and others while in flight and of the flight photos I liked this photo the most because of the mountains in the background.
I get excited to see and photograph my first Yellow-bellied Marmots of the years, sunning on rocks, scurrying along a hillside, nibbling on fresh spring grasses or calling out an alarm because a raptor is flying overhead.
Breeding season has begun for Wild Turkeys so when I spotted a flock of them yesterday in the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County I was hoping to photograph a tom turkey strutting.
The Tundra Swans are truly at home in the landscape of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and they belong there as much as the mountains, marshes, birds, animals, fish, sky and the clouds overhead do.
When I look up at the tops of the Wasatch, Oquirrh, Stansbury and Promontory mountain ranges and they look more like late April or May than they do on a normal winter because there is just so little snow up there.
I had a blast photographing the Tundra Swans at the refuge yesterday and for the first time in a while I forgot about practically everything but the birds in front of me and the peace I find at the refuge.
My only keeper images of the morning were a few photos I took of the Stansbury Mountain Range and Deseret Peak and even those weren't that great but I loved seeing the snow-covered mountains.
When I can get beautiful light on a Swainson's Hawk and deeply shadowed mountains in the background Mother Nature creates the drama.
This is Broad's Fork Twin Peaks, usually just called Twin Peaks, and I thought my view of it through my lens yesterday was absolutely stunning.
It isn't everyday I get to see and photograph a Great Blue Heron in flight with the Wasatch Mountains in the background but I had that opportunity two afternoons ago at a pond close to home.