Eight photos of six species, all taken within the last three weeks.
None of them are award winners but I think each has something to offer and collectively they document how raptors tend to become the primary focus of my photography during the winter months. That’s not a conscious effort on my part but rather a result of the realities of the species and locations available to me during the shortest, coldest days of the year.
An immature Red-tailed Hawk trying to establish its balance again after turning on its perch. I like the pose and especially the setting.
An adult Bald Eagle in an unexpected fly by. It’s only a grab shot and the eagle wasn’t close enough for me to get good detail but it’s among the better Bald Eagle flight shots I’ve managed to get so far this season. Hopefully my track record with the species will improve if we ever get any significant snow around here.
An adult female Northern Harrier hunting low and slow at Farmington Bay WMA. Thankfully harrier numbers seem to have picked up in much of northern Utah after several years of noticeably depressed numbers of birds. I attribute that to a corresponding increase in the notoriously cyclic populations of voles, although I have only anecdotal evidence to back up my observation.
An adult male Common Goldeneye, aka “Happy Duck”, seeming to enjoy surfing the swells on the choppy water on a windy day. In the bright afternoon light the black and white bird was a difficult exposure so there isn’t much detail in some of the whites but they aren’t blown out.
An immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk soon after takeoff. Normally I wouldn’t post a bird taking off at this angle away from me but I appreciate the look at most of the dorsal plumage in good light and we can at least see the eye. Besides, in recent years photos of Ferruginous Hawks have been at a premium for me. I’m definitely not seeing as many as I used to.
A male American Kestrel atop a man-made and decidedly smelly perch, an outhouse vent. For generations it was thought that most birds don’t have much of sense of smell but in recent years that fallacy is slowly being laid to rest. For his sake I can only hope this guy has impaired olfactory powers.
Thankfully this outhouse vent is designed to keep birds and other wildlife from entering the vent stack. Until fairly recently most outhouse stacks were open vertical pipes to the outside that cavity nesting birds like owls and many others mistook for natural tree cavities. When they entered the stack they couldn’t get out and fell to the toilet vault below. You can imagine the stinky, often deadly results.
But now, thanks to programs like “The Poo-poo Project“, the outhouse stacks of many if not most public restrooms have had screens of various designs installed to keep birds and other wildlife out.
- Note: Unless you have a high tolerance for silliness I suggest you think twice before clicking on the link to the video embedded in the Poo-poo Project page, although it does become more relevant and less annoying as it plays. The link itself is worth a visit but personally I won’t click on the video again. Just me perhaps…
A female American Kestrel with better taste in perches and apparently a more highly developed sense of smell than her male counterpart.
An immature Red-tailed Hawk taking off from her nest box hunting perch. This is the hawk with an injured left leg that I’ve featured in two previous posts. Part of the reason I’m including this photo is that her bloody bill can be seen if you look closely (it’s much more evident in a tight crop), which confirms what Farmington Wildlife Center manager Billy Fenimore told me – she’s hunting successfully despite the injury to her left leg. Billy told me he’s seen her capturing voles with one foot multiple times.
It’s always nice to include at least some encouraging news in my posts – in this case an injured hawk in the wild that continues to feed successfully and protective screens over pools and piles of poop.
Ron
Not sure that’s a happy Goldeneye. I think he’s saying “Holy poo-poo, I’m surrounded by raptors”.
Great choices for your potpourri.
BTW, I made a donation to the PPP as atonement for the joking reference.
Lyle, gotta admit I chuckled when I read that you’d made a ‘donation’ to the Poo-poo project. There are donations and then there are… donations to a project like that. 🙂
Sorry, I’m known to be a little deranged.
And thank you for donating!
Love the variety of birds with which you’re crossing paths! The first Red Tail cracks me up with that “What the hell just happened?” look.
The PPP link was really interesting (the video was a bit much, but the message wasn’t lost). I regularly visit a few places with permanent outhouses/vault toilets; I know one location has screens over all their “exhaust pipes,” but I’m not sure of the others. Thanks for raising awareness!
Marty, thankfully screens on outhouse stacks are becoming much more common. I suspect parks folks get a lot of calls from visitors to their outhouses reporting still-living owls and other birds in their vaults. And they probably put pressure on the parks folks to get them out so they’d much rather spend the money on screens than have to rescue nasty, filthy birds from their pits and then clean them up prior to release. Just my guess… 🙂
Nice potpourri. Someone posted in Birding in Utah a recent photo of the injured redtail flying and she had a crop bulge. As far as Poo, Poo owls we have had a few. Nice to see changes, but there are for more vault toilets that still don’t have the modification to the vent.
I remember in the not too distant past there use to be a huge variety of ducks at the bay. I just am not seeing that in the last 3 or so years. How do we get them back?
Good to know she’s still out there and eating, April.
I wish I knew a practical answer to your question.
Perfect potpourri! And honestly, I think the look on Mr. Kestrel’s face says, “Ewww, what’s that smell??” I have been a fan of the PPP for a number of years, have even “given” a screen as a Christmas gift to a friend who loves both birds and camping!
Thanks for all the rapturous raptors today. ♥️
Chris, for the last couple of years they’ve been installing a lot of those screens in outhouses around here.
I can’t say I looked at the Poo-Poo Project video, but I can personally attest to the importance of those screens – and I was partially responsible for getting them installed on the US Corps of Engineers vault toilets in the Willamette Valley … after we rescued a barn owl from the depths of one. An interesting rescue to say the least, wearing plastic garbage bags while holding and doing the first rinse of the bird before even putting the poor thing into a carrier for the trip back to the center. The wash job here … and ultimate release.
The Poo-Poo Project is the brain child of The Teton Raptor Center in Jackson Hole – good people doing good rehab, education, and research!
Louise, that link is actually to the Teton Raptor Center’s website.
Thank you for the information leading to the poo-poo brochure about screening vault toilet vents. I am going to pass it along to state parks. I saw a dead, I believe, screech owl just recently in a vault toilet.
Love everyone of these… especially the Bald eagle 😁
I couldn’t resist clicking on the poo link❗️
Thanks, Diana.
Oooh.
Ahhh.
And thank you. Many, many thanks.
I have scrolled up, I have scrolled down. Several times. And will repeat the process again (and again).
And yes, it is lovely to know that young red-tail is successfully feeding herself.
“it is lovely to know that young red-tail is successfully feeding herself”
At least she was when that photo was taken. I hope that’s still the case!
Yes. And at this hour of the day I am leaning towards optimism.
Wonderful collection, Ron…….😀The 1st photo REALLY appeals to me! Yeh, the video leaves something to be desired – for a righteous cause BUT! 😉
Thanks, Judy. I wonder what they were thinking…
I could spend hours at a time just looking birds and nature photographs and yours are a real treat for my eyes. I live in Quebec where many of your birds and animals are rarely encountered, if not present at all. I love to discover what you saw through your camera lenses and how you manage every time to show the beauty of your part of the world.
Good! Thanks very much, Laval.
Terrific potpouri this a.m.! Just love those kestrels…they just exude self-assurance. Raptors seems to be in abundance here also and I never complain about that. I hope you are able to keep documenting the successes of the injured Red-Tail…I believe all your readers are rooting her on!
Thanks, Kathy. I haven’t been to Farmington for a while due to poor shooting weather but I intend to look for her on my next visit. Gotta admit, I’m a little worried but then I do tend to be a pessimist.
This is a very interesting comparison between the immature Red-Tail and Ferruginous Hawks. At fist glace ther is not much difference in their appearance – but then Ferruginous Hawks are not something to expect in Wisconsin.
The patagial mark shows on the Red-Tail. What characteristics made you know the species of the Ferruginous Hawk immsture?
Thanks, Pam. I tend to go mostly by eye color. Younger Ferrugs have buff-yellow eyes (like this one does) while the eyes of adults are usually much darker. I’m sure better birders than I can age them using various plumage characteristics.
An outstanding potpourri Ron. All outstanding, but I like the Goldeneye the best. Maybe because he looks so happy. And like most of your followers I think I will skip the Poo-poo Project.
Thanks, Everett. The Poo-poo Project link is actually interesting, informative and relevant. It’s only the video link within that page that was a little hard for me to tolerate, at least in the beginning. Others may not have that problem.