road kill

Autumn Turkey Vulture Portraits – Why I Held My Breath While Taking These Photos

By Mia McPherson|October 8th, 2018|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Turkey Vultures, Utah|Tags: adult, alert, autumn, Cathartes aura, close up, portrait, road kill, rousing, skunk, Turkey Vulture, vulture, vultures|

These autumn Turkey Vulture portraits are among the most difficult images I have ever taken because I was holding my breath and retching while I took them due to the awful odor of a road-killed skunk below the bird.

Immature Rough-legged Hawk With Its Jackrabbit Prey

By Mia McPherson|February 13th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Rough-legged Hawks, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Buteo lagopus, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, Lepus californicus, light morph, ranchlands, raptors, road kill, roadside, Rough-legged Hawk, snow, winter, young|

My best bird of the day was a juvenile Rough-legged Hawk standing on a jackrabbit in the snow that I spotted next to the road.