Our Chukars are generally easier to approach in the spring and early summer than they are the rest of the year. Right now, pair bonds are being formed and the birds seem more concerned with others of their own kind than they are about me and my pickup.
Many extinct and ancient relatives of modern birds had alulae, as do flies (insects of order diptera). I find it fascinating that evolutionary selection pressure has produced this structure in such diverse and relatively unrelated groups as birds and some flying insects. And that man has (once again) copied nature to solve a modern problem.
I’m always happy when I can get decent images of an owl in flight. If they’re carrying prey it’s a bonus. And if the bird is flying toward me I often consider it icing on the cake – partly because those kinds of shots are so very often baited, decoyed, set up or called in. As always for me, these were not. I’ve posted one of these shots before but I hoped it might be interesting for some to see a sequence of images as this adult male Short-eared Owl flew toward me with a vole for its mate before veering off to my right. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This first image shows less detail and image quality because the owl was further away as it began to approach me but I decided to include it for context in the sequence. The lower background is sagebrush flats while the upper blues are Montana’s Centennial Mountains in shade. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Four frames later the owl was significantly closer and flew almost directly at me before veering off – a pattern it followed more than once. I’d guess that it was his way of checking me out for any potential threat before delivering the vole. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Which he’s doing intently here. Eye contact can’t be much…
Well, yesterday may have been the first day of spring but so far I’m not impressed – it’s been dreary and wet and it’s supposed to be very cold through the weekend. I’ll even have to turn the heat on in my de-winterized camping trailer to keep the plumbing from freezing, Ugh… So I’ve been stuck in the house and was going through some older images when I came across this series of a very young Killdeer chick at Farmington Bay WMA. It was in the grasses near a parking lot and it was just as curious about me and my pickup as I was about it. 1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in I’d taken a few shots of this chick just after the sun came up but it was so buried in the grasses that the images weren’t very good but when I came back to the parking lot 51 minutes later it was in an area where the grasses weren’t quite as thick. At first it just watched me and didn’t do much. One of the parents was nearby but neither bird seemed nervous about my presence in my vehicle. 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in And soon it walked closer to me to check me out. 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in Then it decided to do some posing for…
This was one of my stranger encounters with the bird world, though I’ll preface my narrative by admitting that I don’t have a lot of experience with nightjars of any species so perhaps what this bird was doing wasn’t really so unusual. I just don’t know.
One of my favorite subjects is the male Northern Harrier. Because juveniles of both sexes are similar to the adult female, to the untrained eye most harriers look like females which is one of the reasons that many folks believe that they rarely see males – thus the name “Gray Ghost” for the ”elusive” adult male.
Last week, Mia and I enjoyed our first camping/photo trip of the season. We explored some remote areas of northern Utah and even found some interesting birds. But the incident I’m reporting on here still has me a bit perplexed.
Ok, despite the fact that it’s turning colder again this week I’m now convinced that spring has arrived because two days ago I finally got close enough to photograph a singing Western Meadowlark – my first of the year. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I was sure the bird would fly off as I approached, just as all the others have this spring, but this one stuck. I like the somewhat different head angle in this shot. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I probably have more trouble with framing this species than any other because their legs are always longer than I think they are when they’re buried in the perch like this and I typically don’t leave enough room for at least one of them. This time I think I did. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light When the bird would break out in song it truly lifted my spirits, as it always does. They’re just so enthusiastic about it and when you’re close the sound can go right through you – in a good way. I’m always impressed by the size of their mouth which seems to be exaggerated some by that long beak. I suspect there are a few of my regular readers who are unfamiliar with the call of this songster (Elephant’s Child in Australia, for example) so I’ve provided a link to their song if you’d like to hear it (scroll down about half-way). These birds (and their…
Some of you may remember that on February 17th I posted about the problem of birds getting caught in discarded fishing line at Willow Pond, one of our urban fisheries here in Murray, Utah. I had photographed some Common Mergansers that had fishing line entangled on their bodies and fish hooks stuck in their bills. This merganser had lost a foot to fishing line. Another had a fish-hook stuck in its bill and other ducks had line wrapped around their legs and wings. Here’s a link to that original post: https://featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/02/17/one-footed-merganser-in-a-hurry/#comment-21517 In comments, many of you were as disturbed as I was about the carelessness of anglers and the resulting suffering of birds and some suggested a variety of methods to help address the issue. I chose to contact Tom Wharton, a long-time and highly respected columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, to see if he was interested in doing a story on the situation at Willow Pond. When I sent him a link to the merganser post he responded almost immediately and asked if I would meet him at the pond and give him some background. So a couple of days later Mia and I met him at the pond and spent most of an hour with him reviewing the situation. He was enthusiastic about writing a column on the subject and trying to help birds. That column was published three days ago but I’ve been on a camping/photo trip and couldn’t post about it until now. But since many of you had asked me to update any developments…
I’ve spent a fair number of years now photographing Great Blue Herons and I’d never before seen this behavior from the species.
Sometimes a change of position of just a few inches can have a fairly dramatic affect on the overall “feel” of an image. That was the case with this Antelope Island Chukar. 1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I found the bird on a rock ledge and slightly above me which gave an almost eye-level perspective that I like. Occasionally it would call, as they’re very prone to do. 1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light But then it began to walk a short distance to my right (I’m always surprised that the bottoms of their feet are yellow)… 1600, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light which brought the snow-covered hillside in the background into play. At first there was a mix of snow and blue sky back there… 2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light but then I deliberately raised my window a couple of inches (as usual I was shooting from my pickup) to take the blue sky out of the picture. And the bird obliged me by calling once again. Most of the snow is finally gone from the island now. Even the roads to the Frary Peak trailhead and White Rock Bay are open – they’ve been closed for months due to snow. Hopefully that’s a sign that the curlews and Willets (and other spring birds) won’t be far behind. Hope so – it’s been a long dry spell on the island. Ron
I’ve always had a “thing” for Barn Swallows. I’m sure it goes back to my childhood on the family farm in Montana where they nested in huge numbers on and in all of the many old barns, granaries and outbuildings. As a kid I spent many hours watching their graceful flight with their long forked tail and pointed wings being quite distinctive. Another thing (besides the fond memories) that I’m indebted to them for is that the species indirectly led to the beginning of the conservation movement in the United States. The destruction of Barn Swallows for the millinery trade (those long tail feathers were apparently considered very attractive on the hat of a lady) during the 1800’s led to George Bird Grinnell’s article in Forest and Stream in 1886 that prompted the founding of the first Audubon Society. Hooray for Barn Swallows ! I think the way they’ve adapted to man is fascinating. They’re now the most abundant and widely distributed swallow in the world and originally they nested almost exclusively in caves but with the advent of human structures that has changed dramatically. They have almost completely converted to nesting in or on man-made structures like bridges, culverts and the eaves of buildings. In fact, in modern times any Barn Swallows found nesting on natural sites create quite a stir among birders and are often reported with much interest. 1/640, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light But I must admit that I also enjoy them in natural settings. I found this bird at Bear River MBR where…
I was photographing adult male blackbirds when suddenly this very recently fledged youngster popped up in the cattails right in front of me. At first I thought it was just curious about me and my big truck but that turned out not to be the case.
I’ve spent many hours watching Rough-legged Hawks hunt. Nearly always they hunt from the air or from elevated perches but several years ago this bird showed me a technique I had never seen before and haven’t since. All of these images are presented in the order they were taken. Techs for these shots were: 1/2000 – 1/3200, f/8. ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I found the hawk on the ground and as I approached it in my pickup it didn’t fly off as I expected it would. Here it’s looking at me but most of the time it was scanning the grasses in the vicinity – obviously hunting for voles from the ground. It would lift off but only fly a few feet before it landed again. In this first lift-off it had vegetation in its talons. I’ve seen them do this before – it’s almost like they’re reluctant to let go of the plant material after they’ve missed the prey. The hawk landed again… And intensely scanned the surrounding area for prey. Then another take-off… and it flew within inches of the ground… before it pounced on a vole and swallowed it. Then it continued to hunt in the same manner. Another take-off… and another. There’s blood on the right foot from the last vole. The hawk repeatedly did the same thing – take…
The Osprey is a species that I’ve only had a handful of opportunities with but last spring I found a cooperative nesting pair at Flaming Gorge. In my mind this is a true miracle species because it has arisen Phoenix-like from the ashes of its own demise. During the 1950s-1970s their populations crashed dramatically, largely due to the effects of DDT and other persistent pesticides in the environment which caused severe eggshell-thinning and poor hatching success. But when those chemicals were banned the Osprey made a miraculous comeback and today their numbers are approaching historical highs. Part of the reason for that success has been the widespread use of artificial nesting sites. In some areas of North America, 90-95% of all nesting pairs choose these artificial sites over natural ones. The nest of this mated pair was on a pole installed for that purpose close to Flaming Gorge Reservoir. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, cloned out a piece of nest platform, not baited, set up or called in This is most likely the male of the pair (less conspicuous breast band) bringing a small fish in to the incubating female on the nest platform. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I believe this to be the female coming into the nest. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, canvas added, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When the male would bring its mate a fish…
