Some Recent Things With Wings

And a brief look at the brand-new visitor center on Antelope Island.

I meant to post some of these photos last week but my copy of Photoshop kept crashing every time I tried to load it, so my blogging wings were clipped. I was immensely frustrated for nearly a week before my ex-neighbor and still good friend Ryan Johns came to my home and fixed it. Turns out that the “Preferences” file was corrupted. Thanks, Ryan.

And to think, all he ‘charged’ me was a couple of drinks, a BLT for dinner and some garden veggies to take home.

 

It’s dragonfly time in my yard right now and I’ve had several interesting Odanatan visitors, including a large male twelve-spotted skimmer.

 

He was using one of the tomato cages in my garden as a hunting perch so, typical of dragonflies, he repeatedly took off after insect prey and then returned to the same perch. He continued to do so for over 40 minutes so I had plenty of opportunities to photograph him.

Both male and female twelve-spotted skimmers have 12 brownish-black spots on their wings (3 on each wing) but males have white spots between them that females lack. So this is a male, with a slightly tattered left hind-wing.

 

 

At one point a female Black-chinned Hummingbird took exception to his presence and tried to intimidate him – probably because he was only a couple of feet away from the canna lily patch that she considers her own.

He stood his ground and she flew off.

 

 

And speaking of those canna lilies, yesterday morning I got this shot of a female rufous hummingbird at the same cannas. I like the photo for the colors, including the unusually colored dark green background.

 

Readers already know that my good friend and neighbor Shane Smith and I have a routine where we each watch out for one of the two (or possibly three) Cooper’s Hawks that regularly hunt our backyards and when one of us spots one, we notify each other. Shane is a bird photographer too so he’s as keen about Cooper’s Hawks as I am.

Last evening I walked out my back door and didn’t even see that one of the Cooper’s Hawks was perched right in front of me, on the roof of my shed. But Shane could see me and he could tell that I hadn’t seen the hawk so he made a noise that drew my attention and pointed to it. Thanks, Shane.

I got many photos of the Coop on various perches over about 40 minutes.

 

 

By the time I took this one it was nearly dark. Eventually it became so dark I went inside to fix dinner (homemade chicken pot pie, in case you’re interested).

I’ve mentioned Shane so many times in the past I figure it’s time to introduce him to my readers.

 

 

A few days ago, both Shane and I were photographing hummingbirds at my trumpet vine. I was shooting from my old, decrepit and unused side-deck and Shane was shooting from the ground behind it. On impulse I aimed my second camera at him and took a few photos.

This is the exact moment he realized that I was taking his picture. In the next photo he had a big grin on his face but I like this one best.

Shane’s one of the good guys.

Ron

 

PS – Eleven months ago, when the new visitor center on Antelope Island was in the midst of construction, I sold 10 photos to Utah State Parks for use in the visitor center’s exhibits. I hadn’t been to the island in much more than a year so last week, when I heard that the visitor center was now partially open, I decided to make a trip to the island and check it out. I’ll admit to some curiosity about how they used my images.

 

The new visitor center is mind-blowingly huge. This view is from the east, from about a quarter mile away.

 

 

This is a look at its backside, from the south. As of last week, the center isn’t completely open or completed so they’re calling it a “soft opening”. 

 

 

Here’s an example of how they’re using some of my ten photos in their exhibits. The photos are quite small and not very impressive but I’m happy to know they’re being used to educate folks about the wildlife on the island.

To be honest, I have strong mixed feelings about the new visitor center, on both sides of the spectrum. But that’s a story for another day.