Groundhog Day 2022 – What It Means To Me In Utah
Groundhog Day is simply another day where I grow even more concerned about life giving water here in Utah. I'm not superstitious. I rely on facts.
Groundhog Day is simply another day where I grow even more concerned about life giving water here in Utah. I'm not superstitious. I rely on facts.
January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day around the globe. There are many reasons to appreciate these furry, four legged, cute creatures.
I found and pointed out dozens of birds yesterday but the biggest surprise to me was spotting a Yellow-bellied Marmot out and about in the middle of January.
I've been seeing and hearing American Pipits since the end of September but this was the first time this fall I was able to get close to them.
Yesterday morning I spotted this dark morph Red-tailed Hawk high on a cliff and I was able to photograph him as he lifted off with prey in his talons.
I've been hearing American Pipits since around the end of September but so far this year I haven't been able to photograph even one of these birds.
The first photos I took with my newly refurbished Nikon D500 with a new shutter assembly were of this Wild Turkey hen foraging on desert ranchlands.
I saw snow on Utah's West Desert mountains for the first time since late spring so I thought I'd share a few views of what I saw while out there yesterday morning.
I am now on the lookout for my first of season Rough-legged Hawk. I hope to spot one soon.
When I spotted the light colored breast of this immature light morph Red-tailed Hawk from a distance it seemed to glow in the morning light.
I was looking through my older images and came across this one of a hatch year Spotted Sandpiper on some rocks at Bear River MBR.
While Franklin's Gulls are in northern Utah for their breeding season brine flies are an important food source for the adults and their young and are a part of their breeding success here in the Great Basin.
I spent yesterday morning traveling Mirror Lake Highway in the Uinta Mountains and came home with a few photos of Uinta Chipmunks.
Yesterday when I spotted a Rock Wren singing from the top of a juniper in Utah's West Desert I hoped to take a few decent photos of it before it flew away.
Around the middle of March while photographing nesting hawks I spotted a bit of movement and saw this Yellow-bellied Marmot resting on a cliff.
Yesterday morning I was able to photograph a spring Turkey Vulture warming up in the morning light from a rural road in Box Elder County.
March is when I usually see my first of the year Yellow-bellied Marmot awake and above ground here in northern Utah.
Earlier this week I photographed a light morph, adult male Rough-legged Hawk in the West Desert of Utah with three different backgrounds.
Yesterday morning I was able to take Ferruginous and Rough-legged Hawk lift off photos where both of the raptors still had their feet on their perches.
The Yellow-bellied Marmot in these photos should be hibernating until mid-March. I spotted it wide awake yesterday on a rocky slope in northern Utah.
Yesterday morning I was able to take female American Kestrel photos from the causeway to Antelope Island State Park twice.
As best as I can figure out what is in this photo is a cook's memorial that I found 7 years ago today out on a range in Utah's West Desert.
Two years and one day ago I only photographed two birds on a trip out into the West Desert and this light morph Ferruginous Hawk made the trip well worth the journey out into the cold.
I'm concerned for our wild American Mink and have begun to wonder of the coronavirus could be passed to the other native mustelids here in Utah.
Three days ago I spotted an immature Great Blue Heron resting at the edge of the water at Farmington Bay WMA and couldn't resist taking photos of it.
Last year by this date I had taken hundreds of photos of American Pipits. So far this autumn I have taken Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.
I have taken thousands of images of Yellow-bellied Marmots where the marmots have been closer but very few of them that include as much habitat as this photo does.
The female Red-tailed Hawk blended into the lichen covered cliff face so well that even with my sharp eyesight I didn't see her until the male landed next to her.
These are a few of my favorite photos that I have taken of American Pipits. Ever. Part of the reason they are my favorites is because of the sweet morning light.
I reached back into my archives and found this photo of a side lit Great Horned Owl in desert habitat that I spotted from one of the dirt access roads that lead to the Mt. Moriah Wilderness of eastern Nevada in 2012.