Recently I’ve spent four mornings photographing hummingbirds and sphinx moths as they fed on Rocky Mountain Bee Plant on Antelope Island. This morning I thought I’d present a rather diverse mix of Black-chinned and Rufous Hummingbird images from those sessions.
I’ve found the rushing behavior of Western Grebes to be one of the more difficult bird photography challenges of all. First of all you have to be there when it happens and I’ve only seen it a handful of times.
In early July I photographed a mated pair of Williamson’s Sapsuckers in Clark County, Idaho. As usual I was fascinated by their behaviors.
Yesterday morning I spent more time with the hummingbirds on Antelope Island. This female Rufous Hummingbird perched close and gave me some interesting poses.
Many photographers use elaborate setups and flash when photographing hummingbirds. I prefer au naturel.
When common birds perform uncommon behaviors it catches my eye. And hopefully my lens. This was a behavior completely new to me for this species.
In my experience Red-tailed Hawks in flight most often carry prey in their talons but this molting adult surprised me a little.
The distinctive bright yellow feet and deeply contrasting jet-black legs of the Snowy Egret can really grab your eye when they’re visible above the water’s surface or even when the egret is in flight – so much so that both the bird and its feet are often referred to as “golden slippers”.
Generally the White-faced Ibis is non-aggressive as it feeds in large groups of its own kind. Even when they accidentally bump into each other there is usually no aggressive response. But there are exceptions…
American White Pelicans eat fish almost exclusively and the size range of fish they’ll attempt to swallow can be extreme. If they show poor judgment they can get into serious trouble.
Juvenile Black-billed Magpies have significantly less iridescence in their plumage than the adults so the amount that appeared in this young bird surprised me.
Yesterday morning at Farmington Bay I photographed a subtle but interesting bit of kingbird behavior that caught my attention and piqued my curiosity.
I make every effort in the field to “read” the behavior of my avian subjects. Sometimes I’m right and sometimes I’m not but either way it’s a learning experience for me and my percentage of accuracy does seem to be improving. One of the payoffs can be better bird photographs for a variety of reasons.
The nesting season of Mountain Bluebirds in Montana’s Centennial Valley was delayed this year due to a late spring cold snap so during my visit there last week some of them were still feeding youngsters in the nest boxes. I’ve found it to be relatively easy to photograph the parent birds on top of the nest boxes with insects for the chicks in their beaks but catching them in flight as they leave the nest with fecal sacs is another story altogether.
During our last Montana trip we had multiple sessions over several days with a very cooperative Savannah Sparrow – “cooperative” in the sense that the bird could always be found in the same spot along the shore of Lower Red Rock Lake in Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
