Believe it or not it was at that moment that a Loggerhead Shrike with a chip on its shoulder swooped in out of nowhere to harass the hawk. Because I was ready for it I was able to get two shots with both birds in the frame. In this first one I don’t believe the hawk yet knows the shrike is there.
The Centennial Valley had one more surprise in store as we left for home last Thursday morning. Photographing birds and other wildlife along the 27 mile long dirt road while I’m pulling the camping trailer is always awkward but the road is typically deserted that time of day and we’ve come up with something special more than once on the way out.
The winter of 2008 was severe and it put a lot of survival pressure on our resident birds, particularly raptors. The number of Northern Harriers wintering over at Farmington Bay seemed unusually high and toward the end of the winter there was intense competition for dwindling food supplies.
Later this morning we leave on another one of our patented camping/photo sojourns to Montana. We’ve put this trip off at the last-minute three times in the last ten days due to changing weather forecasts but right now it’s looking good and we’re a go.
I’m no authority on the highly variable color variations of the Red-tailed Hawk but I believe this bird to be an intermediate-morph adult. I love these rufous-colored hawks.
I photographed this male Northern Harrier earlier this month as it hunted the causeway to Antelope Island. The grayish-browns of the bird are similar to the grays of the Great Salt Lake mudflats in the background. Monochromatic images like this may be an acquired taste for many and it was through the influence of my friend and photographer Richard Ditch that I learned to appreciate them.
Ten days ago I reported on the progress of the three Red-tailed Hawk nestlings I’ve been following out in the west desert. At that time several of my readers requested that I keep folks up to date on these birds as they approach fledging. This post is my attempt to do so.
Yesterday a comment from one of my readers on a recent post got me thinking about Prairie Falcons. In the comment “James” said ” I would love to see some more shots of the prairie falcon if you have any”. I’d been considering posting more images of this beautiful female and that comment prompted me to get off my duff and finally do it.
We’ve been keeping an eye on this Red-tailed Hawk nest in the west desert for about three years now.
The eight minutes I spent photographing this male Northern Harrier in flight were both exhilarating and frustrating to the extreme.
I often photograph Bald Eagles in Utah during winter but for me those images have a different mood (for lack of a better word) because they’re often taken near urban environments and for me they don’t convey the feeling of wildness that I so love about the Centennial Valley. And I very seldom get anything “green” in my Utah Bald Eagle images taken in winter.
Two days ago as I was photographing this dark morph Swainson’s Hawk on a power pole something completely unexpected happened and this time I was ready for it.
When I first approached this adult Red-tailed Hawk twelve days ago on the north end of Antelope Island I had the distinct impression that it was enjoying the view over the Great Salt Lake from its lofty perch.
Yesterday morning just after sunrise I was driving slowly on an isolated and deserted road looking for birds when I encountered a male Northern Harrier hunting along the road edge as it flew in the same direction I was traveling.
The only common theme running through all of these images is that the subjects are all “birds of prey” (phrase used loosely). Each photo was taken within the past year.
