Category: Birds

Barn Swallow

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…

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Rough-legged Hawk With A Peculiar Hunting Technique

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…

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Flaming Gorge Osprey

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…

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Anticipating An American Avocet Behavior

Anticipating behaviors is often crucial for nature photographers and that’s particularly true when your subject is a lightning-fast bird.  Most of us don’t need any more images where the wings have been cut off in the frame or the bird is soft due to lack of shutter speed or poor focus tracking of the bird at take-off. The American Avocet in breeding plumage is an especially lovely subject with its long recurved bill, bluish legs, cinnamon head and neck and the black and white chevron pattern on its back.  But you don’t see many quality flight or take-off images of the species, partially because their flight tendencies are fast and erratic.     Like many birds, avocets routinely perform single wing and leg stretches.  These stretches occur when the bird is at rest and at ease.  They stretch like this in the water…     and on land.  But this single-wing/leg stretch is not an indicator of nervousness or a precursor of take-off.   Neither of the birds in these two images did so immediately after the stretch.      1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, a sliver of canvas added for composition  But when you see this two-winged wing stretch, expect imminent take-off.   A few seconds later this bird did just that but it took off away from me and I deleted the images.     Another two-wing stretch.  And almost immediately after the wings came down…     the bird took off.  It’s not a good shot because of the angle of take-off but it illustrates my point. Here’s what Birds…

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Black-billed Magpies Constructing Their Nest

This post is largely about behavior.  The image quality ranges from good to mediocre but I think each photo contributes something to a better understanding of magpies. Black-billed Magpies begin nest-building as early as January and these particular birds have been at it for several weeks now.  Actually, in this case it’s more a “remodel” than it is “new construction” since this nest has been used for at least the last three years. All of these photos have been taken this week, which accounts for the relatively bright snow and ice background in some of the shots.   1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light One of the first things you may notice is the fact that sometimes these Black-billed Magpies don’t seem to have black bills.  Part of nest construction involves mud gathering and the drying mud on the bill can significantly alter the appearance of the bill.     1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light Both sexes contribute to nest construction and they’re quite industrious in their efforts.  The size of the twigs they bring in is often impressive.     1/4000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light The nest is buried deep in a greasewood bush at about eye level for me.  Typically a bird bringing in construction material will land on a nearby perch and look over the nest for a few moments – seeming to plan placement of the twig and an approach path through the myriad of vertical greasewood stems that present significant obstacles to proper placement of such an unwieldy…

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Magpie Nesting Season Has Begun

I’ve spent the last two mornings photographing Black-billed Magpies in the midst of nest construction.  These birds often re-use old nests and this is at least the third year they have used the same one.  Even when “recycling” the nest like this, weeks of work go in to refurbishing it – they bring in a completely new lining of grass, mud, rootlets and even bison fur.  And they add an amazing number of new twigs to the basic structure.  These are industrious birds! I’ve said before that this species is my most challenging avian photographic subject and that fact has been reinforced this week.  There are several reasons for that, including: the deep black and bright white combination is hugely difficult to expose properly that aggravatingly long tail makes composition difficult and it is very easy to clip or cut off in action shots they close their nictitating membrane more than any other bird I’ve photographed and when they do its color is a blue-white which is almost shockingly apparent against the black head when they take off from an elevated perch they typically flap once and then fold their wings tightly against the body at exactly the moment when it’s easiest to get them in flight, resulting in what I call a “torpedo-bird” flight posture that is less than desirable the dark eye set against a black head makes it very difficult to get a good catch light in the eye In the last two days I’ve taken over 1200 shots of these magpies and about 95% of them were garbage, largely due…

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Juvenile Burrowing Owl Posing Up A Storm

The antics of Burrowing Owls are always entertaining but “personality” simply oozes out of the juveniles.    1/400, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This youngster had recently fledged and had begun to do a little exploring.  On this early morning I found it on this perch just after sunrise.  Thus was further away from the burrow than I’d seen any of the juveniles up to that point.      1/400, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in  Within just a few minutes it gave me a variety of interesting poses – first an enthusiastic yawn…       1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in  and then long and drawn out wing stretch with left foot extended…      1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in which concluded with the wing down and partially hidden behind the rock. Soon after this shot was taken the bird flew back to the comfort and security of the burrow and the rest of its family. Ron

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The Prairie Falcon And The Northern Shoveler

Back in November I blogged about my encounter with a Prairie Falcon and its Northern Shoveler prey.  I thought that some of the images I didn’t use back then were worthy of another post. This falcon struck the duck on the water, then waited for it to die and to be washed up onto shore.    1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in  It attempted to enjoy its meal at the water’s edge but waves kept coming in and “rocking the boat”…      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in  so the falcon decided to drag the shoveler further up the rocky shore and away from the annoying waves.      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It wasn’t an easy task.  Average weight for Northern Shovelers is almost as much as it is for Prairie Falcons (1.3 vs 1.6 lbs) so the falcon really struggled in its attempt to drag the duck to a more suitable dining area.      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in  I thought this was an interesting shot with the wings up, the left foot off the ground and direct eye contact.      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Finally the falcon was satisfied with the…

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Cliff Swallows In Flight

Cliff Swallows are one of North America’s most social land birds.  Their nesting colonies sometimes consist of up to 7,000 individuals.  Originally they were birds of the western mountains where they nested under horizontal rock ledges in canyons and foothills but in the last 150 years their range has expanded to include most of the continent due to the construction of buildings, bridges and highway culverts that provide alternative nesting sites. But holy moly, are they ever difficult to photograph in flight! I suspect that most serious bird photographers have attempted swallow (any species) flight shots and I’m no exception.  But their small size combined with their swift, erratic flight has always stymied me.  Until last May I didn’t have a single legitimate “keeper” of any swallow species in flight but that spring I was finally able to get some shots I like but it took some significant alteration of my past strategies.    1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 800, 500 f/4, natural light One of my problems in the past was that the bird was nearly always shaded underneath.  So finally it struck me (duh!) that I needed to be shooting them when the sun was very low – for me that meant early in the morning.       1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 800, 500 f/4, natural light But shooting flight shots just as the sun comes up provides another problem – sufficient shutter speed.  At that time of day the light intensity is relatively low so I needed to be shooting at the effective noise limit of my Canon 7D – ISO 800….

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Displaying Yellow-headed Blackbird

Welcome to the month of March everyone – for me a psychological barrier between the depths of winter and the promise of spring.  It’s supposed to be almost 50 degrees today and that has me thinking of spring birds, warmer temperatures, liquid water and some actual greens in the landscape. By the Ides of March (only two weeks from now) male Yellow-headed Blackbirds will begin arriving in Utah and the females a week or two later.  Almost immediately the males will begin their raucous calling as they compete for territories and later for females.   This male was defending breeding territory in May.  Males display two primary types of song spreads – the Symmetrical Song Spread and the Asymmetrical Song Spread.  Each song spread is accompanied  by a distinct song type.  Here’s a link to one of them.     In this sequence of images the male is displaying the Symmetrical Sound Spread where the bird spreads its wings to expose the white patches and the tail is lowered and spread.  During this display he localizes with the song called the Accenting Song.     Once a display begins it almost seems like the bird loses voluntary control of its actions and the display must be completed before it regains control (my unscientific observation).     During part of this display the head is directed upward at 30-45 degrees.     This behavior is often difficult for the bird to complete without losing its balance on the typically spindly perches they prefer.  The whole thing is quite entertaining to watch.  …

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Red-tailed Hawk Lift-off Sequence

This past fall I spent several days photographing a couple of juvenile Red-tailed Hawks on Antelope Island.  I suspect they were siblings as they seemed to enjoy each others company, though one of them was significantly more skittish than the other.  This one was the more cooperative of the two. I enjoy the challenge of lift-off sequences.  I usually consider myself lucky if I can get 2-3 sharp shots with poses I like before losing focus on the bird but this time I did better than usual. There won’t be much “narration” here, just a series of images as the hawk took off after prey.  Some of the shots are a little sharper than others but I like seeing the entire sequence – “warts” and all.   Techs for all these images were identical – 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in.    Moment of lift-off.     I like the splayed feet.     Here the nictitating membrane is partially closed.     Compositionally the left wing is too tight at the top of this image.  I could easily add canvas up there and I might.     I like how they splay their tail during the wing down-beat at take-off.     Normally I do very little cloning but in this case I’d probably remove the stem under the bird if I chose to print this image.     I did add a little canvas at the bottom of this shot. These last two images are very similar but I include them to…

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Mucus-drinking Cowbird

Before Europeans came to North America and cleared forests which modified the environment into the agricultural and suburban landscapes of today, the range of the Brown-headed Cowbird was limited to the short-grass plains where they followed the almost endless herds of American Bison as they fed on the insects stirred up by those wandering behemoths.  Early settlers so strongly associated them with bison that they were called “Buffalo Birds”. Today that relationship still exists wherever limited numbers of bison can still be found.  Antelope Island is one of those places. One of the many challenges facing the cowbird was obtaining enough moisture as it followed the bison herds over the hot, rolling plains.  In late summer several years ago I photographed a cowbird behavior that illustrated one of the ways they solved that problem.   I found this huge bull languishing in the broiling sun next to a boulder that it had been using as a scratching post.  A group of Brown-headed Cowbirds were in the vicinity but at first I wasn’t paying much attention to them.   Then this female (at frame bottom) flew in close…     and began flying at the nostrils of the bull.  Initially I was unsure about what she was doing but she did it repeatedly and eventually it became clear that she was…     drinking the mucus-laden secretions from the bison’s nostrils.  She would actually hover in place as she gobbled down the long, stringy strands of mucus. Not a pretty sight and perhaps a bit unsettling to our human sensibilities but what an incredibly adaptive behavior…

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