Lesser Scaup Hen And Drake At Bear River MBR
On my last trip up to Bear River MBR I had a brief opportunity to photograph a Lesser Scaup hen next to the auto tour loop as she flapped her wings.
On my last trip up to Bear River MBR I had a brief opportunity to photograph a Lesser Scaup hen next to the auto tour loop as she flapped her wings.
Yesterday afternoon I was thrilled to be able to photograph two adult drake Common Goldeneyes in a territorial dispute on a pond as they moved across my field of view.
I spent time photographing a few Rough-legged Hawks but my personal choice for birds of the day were the Common Mergansers I observed and photographed.
Near the auto tour route though I saw what appeared to be 250 to 300 Red-breasted Mergansers on the Bear River. I think it was the largest raft of Red-breasted Mergansers I have ever seen.
Red-breasted Mergansers do not breed in Utah, they breed much further north in Alaska, across northern Canada to New Newfoundland and the Great Lakes of Michigan but they do migrate through this area.
American Coots have interesting behaviors that I like to try to capture, for instance the way they run across the surface of the water during territorial chases.
Yesterday I noticed that the rubber grip on my Nikon D810 memory card door has loosened up on a camera that is only 13 months old.
There were plenty of Western Grebes to be seen and photographed yesterday morning at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge and I took tons of images of them.
This series of Ruddy Duck images took just a little less than 8 seconds and then she tucked her bill back under her scapular and closed her eyes again.
Maybe when the weather clears tomorrow I'll be able to get back out Farmington Bay to photograph more birds.
Things were "just ducky" earlier this month in the Centennial Valley of Montana and this Cinnamon Teal seemed to be enjoying the warm late afternoon light.
Yesterday morning I spotted a lone Common Merganser at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area nearly hidden in some phragmites and when we came around the corner the bird seemed to have disappeared but after a bit it came out from its hiding spot and gave us quite a show.
Chukars are not native to North America, they were introduced as game birds and in some areas they have thrived, one of those locations is Antelope Island State Park in northern Utah.