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.
I have wondered lately if I have gotten into a bit of a rut, photographically speaking, of always wanting to have the sun over my shoulder with "perfect" light falling directly on my subject.
The juvenile and out of focus adult Mourning Doves were perched on a lichen encrusted, slightly frosted fence rail near the road in the southern part of the Centennial Valley.
I don't know what species of wildflowers these blue flowers are, I just know that I enjoyed seeing and photographing them.
I was delighted to be able to photograph a Gray Catbird in a willow thicket yesterday up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.
I was delighted to photograph a lovely, little Dark-eyed Junco juvenile perched in a conifer near Washington Lake which is not too far from Trial Lake and the Mirror Lake Highway.
Finding birds was very challenging yesterday in the canyons of the Stansbury Mountains but it wasn't hard to find beauty in the scenery.
Jackpot and frustrations... I'll explain the jackpot first and get to the frustrations later about the Targhee National Forest Red-naped Sapsucker feeding its young.
The Short-eared Owl was perched on the post and slowly turned its head to look around as if it was surveying the beauty of the valley it had made its home in.
This male Red-naped Sapsucker was photographed last year in the high Uintas, a mountain range that is east of Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Mountains I can see from where I live.
The young Mountain Bluebird turned and snatched the cricket from the male quickly before any of its siblings could reach the branches.
I was looking through my archives from last year and came across some images I had taken last June in Morgan County, Utah that I hadn't processed yet and I came across these Cedar Waxwing photos.
When this Barn Swallow started to stretch its wings I was ready for the action and took several photos of it while it stretched on top of the fence post.
Yesterday I was able to photograph the largest buteo in North America, a gorgeous Ferruginous Hawk that was on top of a hill with the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert in the background.
One good bird can make the the day when photographing birds in the field, yesterday that bird was a male Green-tailed Towhee I spotted perched on a shrub in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.
Last year I was able to spend time photographing this male Tree Swallow in low light in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho and even though the light wasn't the best I still liked the resulting images.
I couldn't resist photographing this tiny Chipping Sparrow singing while perched on a "cedar" fence post with the sky and dark juniper behind it.
I always try to pay attention to what is going on in the background of my photos because by changing distance or angles the same bird, like this Swainson's Hawk, can look very different in my images.
I'm dreaming of seeing Greater Sage-Grouse, Sandhill Cranes and White-tailed Prairie Dogs as spring warms up the sagebrush steppe.
We do see Herring Gulls in northern Utah during the winter and I was able to photograph this one as it circled over the water with the snow-covered Promontory Mountains and sky behind it.
Watching a colorful sunset at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge fade to the darkness of night is a gift. A wonderful, priceless gift.
Today marks the Centennial of our National Park Service and entry to our National Parks is free from August 24 through August 28 so that we can all enjoy the celebration.
Maybe I have the summer doldrums. I am not sure, but I know I will be glad to get back out shooting again.
One of the Uinta Ground Squirrels stood up and simply looked around right on the shoulder of the road and I couldn't resist photographing it.
One of my favorite things is to see is squadrons of American White Pelicans wheeling in the sky high overhead circling until they are out of sight.
Waking up and seeing the lake mist at the Lower Lake and an ephemeral pond near it with birds in the air, on the lake and feeding in the pond is amazing.
Nature is calling and I am answering her call. I am happy to be off on another new amazing adventure.
I photographed my favorite nesting tree in the Targhee National Forest and this Northern Flicker nesting cavity.
This image shows a sunset at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge from September 9, 2015 but every sunrise and sunset on our national lands is a treasure.
I photographed this Ring-billed Gull in flight at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on New Year's Day on the west side of the auto tour loop.