Cornell’s Birds of North America Online calls Mountain Bluebirds one of the most sublime songbirds in North America and I agree. The cerulean blue of the male is simply spectacular and females and juveniles show some of it too.
Western Grebe chicks are both adorable and annoying, probably for their parents and I’m sure for me.
Yesterday morning I had another supremely challenging session with the nest-building waxwings in the Wasatch Mountains.
Raptors in particular are known for repeatedly using the same perch, sometimes over a period of years. And sometimes they’re used by more than one raptor species so it behooves the bird photographer to check them out regularly. If raptors like’m, I like’m – even when they’re less than photogenic.
To say I was excited to get this two shot series is an understatement. A later event took the shine off of one of the images for me but at the time I didn’t know what the future would bring.
The highlight of my morning yesterday was a serendipitous male Red-naped Sapsucker who showed up unexpectedly at the aspen tree containing swallow and wren nest cavities.
Last week I posted a few Yellow Warbler images that were taken in the Wasatch Mountains on May 30. I took the photos below on the next day in the Uinta Mountains. Given my pathetic track record with the species I’d say I’m on a roll with Yellow Warblers.
Yesterday I was very lucky to find these pups with their mother outside their burrow because youngsters are weaned at 22 days of age and their mother almost completely abandons them after weaning. Then they’re on their own so they disperse to establish their own territories. And try to survive.
Few subjects have more appeal than curious Short-eared Owl youngsters, especially when they’re bobbing their heads into weird positions.
Plus a surprising reacquisition of focus on the shrike by the 7D Mark II after it took off directly at me.
