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.
This spring I’ve had several opportunities to photograph the courtship “flight display” of the male Northern Mockingbird. While singing continuously from his perch he jumps almost straight up about six feet as he flaps his wings a couple of times which displays those conspicuous white wing patches and then parachutes down with wings open to the same perch. This performance is repeated every 30-60 seconds or so for an extended period of time.
Male Loggerhead Shrikes feed their mates beginning with the formation of pair bonds in early spring and such behavior continues throughout the incubation and nestling periods.
Antelope Island is crawling (and flying) with “bugs” right now. Mosquitoes are common, flying midges are thick as are the dreaded biting gnats (I call this the “itching and bitching” season).
Because of their somewhat limited breeding range I suspect that many have never seen a Long-billed Curlew chick so I decided to post this little cutie despite the partially obscured view of the bird.
Two behaviors indicative of pair bonds between mated pairs of Western (or Clark’s) Grebes are “Ratchet pointing” and “Dip-shaking”. The behaviors are often alternated, one after the other. I photographed both of them as they were performed by a pair of Western Grebes three days ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
Six days ago on Antelope Island as I rounded a curve in the road I encountered this Burrowing Owl on a large rock with a clean setting and background. It was a cool morning and the sun had only recently come up so this bird was obviously enjoying the warming rays and showed no nervousness as I approached.
Western Grebes are almost exclusively fish-eaters but yesterday morning at Bear River MBR I photographed one consuming a crayfish.
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.
With its wings folded the plump, drab-plumaged Willet is brown and inconspicuous but a remarkable transformation takes place when those wings are opened.
Yesterday morning we were witness to a tense drama involving a badger and Long-tailed Weasels on Antelope Island. American badgers feed primarily on rodents (ground squirrels, pocket gophers, rats, mice and voles) which they often capture by digging out their burrows – the digging skills of badgers are legendary.
But on this day a close relative was on the menu.
Yesterday morning was a Western Kingbird bonanza along the Antelope Island causeway.
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.
Two years ago Utah established the Mule Deer Protection Act which provided $500,000 to pay “hunters” $50 for every coyote they kill.
This morning I decided to feature another common and underappreciated species, the Vesper Sparrow. Friend and regular reader “Elephant’s Child” often refers to small, less colorful species as LBJs – “little brown jobs”. She appreciates the LBJs as much as their more colorful cousins and I give lip service to the fact that I do too but there’s no question that they get less attention on my blog than they deserve. This post is an attempt to partially remedy that situation.
