Male Yellow Warbler Perched on a Flowering Shrub
Someday I will get the images I desire of these dainty Yellow Warblers. Bird photography is challenging and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Someday I will get the images I desire of these dainty Yellow Warblers. Bird photography is challenging and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Last week while I was photographing a handsome Green-tailed Towhee in the Wasatch Mountains a bright Yellow Warbler caught my eyes when it landed on a flowering shrub.
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.
Lark Sparrows are only in Utah during their breeding season so whenever I have the opportunity to photograph them and their bold facial patterns I am thoroughly delighted.
Yesterday morning I photographed this Swainson's Hawk while it perched on a fence post in northern Utah
Two days ago the first bird I put my lens on was a Short-eared Owl perched on a rusty metal post looking over its shoulder in morning light.
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 love all birds, even birds that some people tend to ignore when it comes to bird photography but I have to admit that I am particularly fond of photographing owls, especially Burrowing Owls.
Normally I prefer natural perches for my subjects but I rather enjoyed photographing these Turkey Vultures and thinking of them as feathered gatekeepers.
There are so many Swainson's Hawks in northern Utah right now, I see them perched, on their nests, hovering over fields and soaring on the thermals after the sun warms up the air.
I was able to point my lens at this male Red-tailed Hawk on a lichen-covered perch for a few frames before he flew away.
There was a very cooperative first spring male Northern Harrier in a location where I photographed Short-eared Owls last year in northern Utah and for two months I could reliably see and photograph it frequently.
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.
This beautiful little Lark Sparrow was so busy singing that it was a very cooperative subject and I took quite a few images of it as it sang and changed positions on the gnarly old fence post.
I also keep images of birds that look a bit messy because they are molting even if they aren't up to my standards, like this one-year-old Red-tailed Hawk that was rapidly molting the end of July in 2015.
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.
Last week I photographed this adult Burrowing Owl in front of a green field in the bright morning light and loved the contrast between the warm tones of the owl's plumage and the deep greens in the background.
The gray skies are getting old and I'm suffering from cabin fever and wishing for some bright bluebird skies to get out to photograph birds and to be able to relax and soak in nature.
Yesterday morning in northern Utah I saw about a dozen Swainson's Hawks in about 2.25 miles, some were perched, some were in flight and all of them were wonderful to photograph.
The day I photographed this Lark Sparrow with an ant on the boulder right next to it the light wasn't the best for bird photography but when I reviewed the images and saw the ant I knew I had to keep this photo.
I was thrilled and delighted to photograph a very cooperative dark morph Swainson's Hawk up close yesterday morning in northern Utah.
I was so happy to photograph this mixture of spring birds at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge that I had a hard time picking out which birds and which photos to share.
Spring is a time when the Horned Larks here in Utah perch on top of rocks, posts, mounds of dirt, junipers and sagebrush to sing their songs.
My best find of the day was my first of the year Swainson's Hawk about two thirds of the way down the island perched in some trees near a freshwater spring.
Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County, Florida is a great place to see and photograph nesting Ospreys, not just one or two nests either, there are often quite a few.
Short-eared Owls are nomadic so the places where I saw and photographed these male Short-eared Owls last year may or may not have owls this breeding season.
I was trying to photograph some Red-tailed Hawks when I heard a song close to me and realized it was a Song Sparrow before I even located the bird and put my lens on it.
It wasn't "partly sunny" as predicted but I enjoyed myself while photographing the Turkey Vulture and Red-tailed Hawks on a foggy morning even though it tested my skills and techniques.
I was pleased to see and photograph my first of the year Turkey Vulture perched on a fence post next to a road yesterday in northern Utah.
Western Meadowlarks are very active right now on the island, searching for insects, scurrying through the grasses and singing their hearts out from their favorite perches.