Birds – Page 282 – Feathered Photography

Barn Owls in Flight

Flight shots of Barn Owls are very difficult to get because these birds are almost strictly nocturnal and typically fly and hunt only at night. Photographing birds in flight in the dark or very low light is virtually impossible without using artificial lighting methods which I will not do for ethical reasons. Barn Owl in flight during in full daylight I had never even seen a Barn Owl in flight until the winter of 2007-08. That unusually frigid winter began early and brought more snow than usual to the valleys of Utah. Suddenly, during January and much of February, Barn Owls were hunting the marshes close to the Great Salt Lake during daytime – sometimes until 10 or 11 AM. Their usual strategy was to hunt for voles (very similar to mice) along the edges of Phragmites growth in the wetlands. Typically it was very cold on those mornings – often between 0 and +20 degrees Farenheit which made it very uncomfortable standing outside in front of a tripod mounted camera for hours on end! I very nearly lost some digits to frostbite many times but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Barn Owl hunting voles along frosty Phragmites edges I usually preferred to get Phragmites in the backgrounds of my flight shots if possible because they make such a nice backdrop. In the photo above, there had been heavy fog with sub freezing temperatures so literally everything was covered with a heavy coating of frost. A magical setting. Barn Owl skimming Phragmites in background Sometimes the…

Why Grebes Eat Feathers

Grebes, as a group, are known for eating feathers – usually their own. The obvious question is – why? There would be virtually no nutritional value in a feather. Clark’s Grebe eating a feather I’ve photographed four species of grebes – Western Grebe, Clarks Grebe (these two are very similar), Pied-billed Grebe and Eared Grebe. I’ve been able to document feather eating in all but the Eared Grebe. Western Grebe parent feeding feather to young Over a period of perhaps a half hour I watched this adult feed several feathers to the chicks, who seemed almost as eager to consume the feathers as they did the fish provided by the parents. Western Grebe chick reaching for a feather from its parent Feathers are fed to the young almost immediately after hatching. In fact, feathers are very often the first item eaten by newly hatched chicks of many grebe species. The purpose(s) of feather eating is unproven but evidence suggests that the behavior has these benefits for the birds. Some of the ingested feathers form a plug in the pylorus, between the stomach and small intestine, which acts as a strainer to keep fish bones in the stomach long enough to be completely digested. Most swallowed feathers end up in the stomach lumen, mixed with food. They eventually (along with any indigestible matter) form pellets that are ejected through the mouth. The continuous passage of these pellets through the upper digestive system minimizes the buildup of a variety of parasites that are very common there and plague grebes. Pied-billed…

Photographing Birds on Antelope Island

My previous post was an overview of the geology of Antelope Island and its non-bird wildlife. Here, I’ll focus on its birds. Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike begging for food Loggerhead Shrikes are common on many parts of the island during summer. They can be a challenge to approach but those few that nest close to the road eventually get used to traffic so if you photograph from your vehicle you can often get quite close. Here this juvenile was begging for food that was being delivered by a parent just out of frame to the left. Loggerhead Shrike with dragonfly Shrikes are often called “butcher birds” for their practice of temporarily impaling their prey on thorns or other sharp projections. This juvenile had done just that with the dragonfly but it wasn’t very good at it yet and in the end just decided to eat it instead of store it away. Loggerhead Shrike with spider Shrikes are opportunistic carnivores known to feed on insects, spiders, amphibians, small reptiles, rodents and other birds. This one also attempted to impale the prey before eating it. Juvenile Burrowing Owl practicing its parallax technique on me Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite species on the island though they can be difficult to locate from year to year as they often don’t seem to nest in the same burrow the next year. In the summer of 2009 there was an entire family of owls along the causeway to the island nesting under concrete rubble, as in the…

Bald Eagles in Utah

Every winter hundreds of Bald Eagles migrate south from Canada and Alaska and winter in Utah. They do so because of our relatively mild winters and they are able to find sufficient food here. Typically they begin arriving in November and leave in March when the ice begins to melt. They can be found in many areas of the state but a large percentage of them winter on the wetlands surrounding the Great Salt Lake where there are a number of bird refuges and other suitable areas to accommodate them. Adult Bald Eagle in flight Each year I spend many hours at some of the Great Salt Lake wetlands photographing eagles. What attracts them to some of the refuges is fish – lots of fish, especially carp. Carp are a nuissance for wildlife managers because they root in the mud of the shallow impoundments which makes the water cloudy and unable to transmit light to the bottom. This disrupts the healthy growth of desirable plant species needed by birds so some refuges “poison” the carp, usually in mid-winter, with rotenone – a non-toxic chemical that forms a film on fish gills preventing oxygen transfer from the water to the blood which kills the carp. Then it’s feast time for the eagles. Bald Eagles and gulls on the ice It’s common to see several hundred Bald Eagles from one spot. One refuge counted 408 eagles. I’ve personally seen 150 – 200 birds on several occasions. Immature Bald Eagle with carp This is why they’re here – fish! Specifically, carp. Lots of carp…

Weather Loach in Utah – Another Invasive Species

On December 12, 2007 I photographed this Common Goldeneye with a fish at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area. At the time I didn’t pay much attention to what kind of fish it might be and then just kind of forgot about it. Male Common Goldeneye with unidentified (at the time) fish The moment of capture Then, on October 2, 2008, I took some photos of a Snowy Egret fishing, also at Farmington. Finally, I became curious about the unusual fish – noticing the atypical elongated almost eel-like body in particular. I made some casual inquiries of refuge personnel about fish species present there but didn’t get anything definitive that would match this fish. More time went by, then I finally showed Justina Parsons-Bernstein some of the photos and asked her about the fish. She is the Director of The Great Salt Lake Nature Center at Farmington Bay WMA and she was also curious as to what species of fish it was so she sent some of my images to a vertebrate specialist with the state of Utah. He keyed it out as a Weather Loach. It turns out that the Weather Loach or Dojo Loach as it is also known (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) is quite a remarkable fish. The name Weather Loach comes from the fact that it is highly sensitive to minor changes in barometric pressure and when it perceives such a change its behaviour becomes erratic, active and animated. Humans have kept them captive as a weather indicator for centuries. They are a very hardy species, capable of surviving poor conditions by swallowing atmospheric…

The Frustrations of Unnatural Perches

Most bird photographers prefer their subjects to be on natural perches. We are, after all, nature photographers. The definition of just what is “natural” becomes a slippery slope for sure but for my purposes I’ll define a natural perch by exclusion – it does not include buildings, telephone poles and wires, chunks of concrete, signs, or most anything else that is obviously man-made. Now for my exceptions. Some objects that are man-made and have a “rustic” quality are often acceptable. Weathered fence posts, old barns and rusty barbed wire would be examples. One of the major frustrations of bird photographers is to be able to finally get close to a beautiful subject in good light but the bird has chosen an ugly or inappropriate (for us) man-made perch. It is typically very difficult to approach many bird species close enough to get excellent detailed photos, even with big expensive lenses. So it can be aggravating in the extreme to finally get close enough but the bird has chosen an unappealing perch. Some folks choose to largely avoid this problem by shooting at “setups” where the bird has been unnaturally lured into an artificial situation by provided food with attractive perches arranged close by. To many of us this is not nature photography but more like studio or zoo photography. Good bird photography ain’t easy. If it were it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying when I do finally get the shot I’m after – even though the pursuit has often been frustrating. Below are some of the situations where I’ve been frustrated by these unattractive, unnatural perches. Most bird photographers know…

Northern Harriers Fight to Survive Harsh Winters

Typically life is good for the hundreds of Northern Harriers who spend fall and winter in the marshes and prairies surrounding the Great Salt Lake after spending breeding season up north. Here their diet consists almost exclusively of microtine voles (small rodents resembling mice). These voles are incredibly abundant and relatively easy prey. It’s quite unusual to see a harrier even attempt to catch a songbird or anything else for that matter. Harrier hunting voles near the Great Salt Lake However the easy life takes a major turn for the worse during unusually harsh winters with intense cold and deep snow packs. During these times the voles spend most of their time underground eating roots and dried vegetation which means the primary source of food for harriers is suddenly unavailable just when they most need nourishment for warmth. And since most songbirds (their fall-back food source) have either migrated south or have already succumbed to the many American Kestrels in the region, simple survival for the harriers is suddenly very precarious. Now, out of desperation, harriers begin to go for larger prey – ducks and coots for example. Harrier on a duck kill frozen into the ice They aren’t able to take these prey often and when they do they can’t eat them quickly like they can a vole. The result is intense aggression – fighting fiercely over food. Typically I see very little true aggression(other than territorial squabbles) between harriers but all that changes when food becomes scarce. A relatively large prey item will provide multiple…

American Avocet Feeding on Fish

I’ve spent many, many hours watching and photographing feeding avocets and have never once seen one eat a fish or even attempt to catch one that I was aware of. Until yesterday. American Avocet feeding on fish at Bear River MBR While at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I photographed this avocet catching, manipulating and finally swallowing a fish. I know that this behavior is not unheard of as Birds of North America Online (BNA) states that this species sometimes eats fish and my friend Dave Sparks once posted an avocet with a fish on an online critique forum. However, for me it was something new and unique and worthy of a post here. Ron

Loggerhead Shrike Impaling Prey, revisited

Recently on this blog I posted images of a juvenile Loggerhead Shrike impaling a dragonfly on thorns and said I hoped to get more documentation of the behavior but it would likely have to wait until next years nesting season. I was wrong. I witnessed and photographed this behavior again just three days ago. This time the shrike was also a juvenile but the prey was a large spider. Juvenile shrike with spider What happened after the capture was interesting for me. The bird didn’t simply impale the prey and leave it (as a cache or food store) as might be expected of an adult. Instead, it attempted to impale the spider on different thorns multiple times, like it was practicing – learning how to do it (keep in mind, the bird is a juvenile). In fact, at one point the shrike even seemed to be “studying” its work, as you will see (I’m sure that’s anthropomorphic of me). Sometimes they don’t actually impale the prey, instead they wedge it into crevices or between forked branches/twigs. This shrike tried to do both with the spider. After what I believe was four attempts at impaling/wedging the spider on some thorny branches someone had placed in a campground fire pit, the bird had apparently had enough practice and simply ate the prey in several pieces. Some of the images below aren’t of the best quality but I think they do document what I saw. As far as I could tell, the spider was dead through this whole process. Attempting to impale…

Red-winged Blackbird With a Crossed Bill

This morning while out photographing birds at a local wildlife refuge I came across this Red-winged Blackbird with a strongly crossed bill, which of course is not typical of the species. I’ve seen a few mildly crossed bills in this and other species in the past but never one quite this pronounced in a species where it isn’t “normal”. Red-winged Blackbird with a crossed bill, perched on curley dock There are species of birds in North America that have crossed bills as a species trait – the Red Crossbill and the White-winged Crossbill. Their crossed bills are an adaptation for extracting seeds from cones. Seeing this RWBB with a crossed bill naturally got me thinking about evolution. Variations occur throughout nature since each individual inherits a different combination of genes from its parents. This particular variation would likely be selected against in RWBB’s and would not persist since they do not typically pry seeds from cones. However, one can see how this same variation in the ancestors of todays crossbills would be the genetic fuel for the crossed bill trait they all exhibit today. Ron

Great Horned Owls on the Farm

For perhaps twenty years now there has been at least one pair of nesting Great Horned Owls on the farm where I grew up near Cut Bank, Montana. They were never there when I was a kid but they’ve sure taken to it since. This farm still seems like home to me and I return to it at least once every year for a visit with family and of course to check up on the owls. It’s the perfect place for these birds as it’s isolated, there are many old barns and granaries for the owls to find sanctuary and mice, voles and the ubiquitous Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (gophers) are everywhere. Both the owls and I love the place! Great Horned Owl in a barn cutout Most often I prefer my birds on natural perches but there’s just something about owls and old barn wood that appeals to me. I think owls, particularly Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls, often just seem to “fit” in many rustic settings. In the image above, I like the warm tones of the bird contrasting with the cooler tones of the black background and some of the wood. Juvenile (no “horns” yet) in warm, early morning light The youngster above was sitting in an east facing cutout in an old granary just as the sun came up. The effect of the warm light on both bird and wood is fairly dramatic (no saturation added). This juvenile is wet from the dew, thus the “spikiness” on the top of the head. They look very different from the…

American Kestrels Rejecting Intestinal Tract of Prey

Several times I have photographed American Kestrels discarding the intestinal tract of their prey. The prey has always been a vole or mouse when I’ve seen it happen, though it may occur with small birds also. I was surprised by this behavior. Every time I’ve seen it happen has been during our harsh winters when I would assume every last morsel of food would be significant for their survival. Below is a series of photos where a female American Kestrel demonstrates the behavior with a vole kill. Female kestrel begins to pull small intestine out of a vole And deliberately drops it The cecum? is discarded: the intestine is still attached to the body and hanging down the side of the post She pulls more intestine out of the vole Breaks it loose from the body And deliberately drops it to the ground Finally, she pulls out the last of the small intestine, which she also dropped I know of others who have seen similar behaviors in other raptors – a variety of hawks and Osprey. Several theories to explain it have been mentioned by bird photographers and others who have seen my photographs. Among them: “These organs are filled with potentially harmful bacteria”. Then how are many raptors, owls for example, able to consume their prey whole without harmful effect? “These organs are filled with food of low value to the kestrel (vegetative matter). Why fill up on carbs when it’s protein you need? Begs the question – Would they also discard intestines of insectivorous birds? I don’t know……

A Bitter Lesson in Depth of Field

I have spent many hours photographing Burrowing Owls over the past two summers but it’s a real challenge to get clear shots of them as they typically stay on the ground and are usually at least partially obscured by vegetation. For me it’s a real coup to get one on an elevated, natural perch in good light. Last week I had a wonderful opportunity with them and simply blew it. As we approached our “owl spot” we noticed that there were three of them perched up high on a sagebrush in beautiful early morning light. I maneuvered my pickup for the best light angle I could get and to obtain separation of the owls from each other. Everything perfect. And all three birds gave us a variety of interesting poses for several minutes. I had noticed that the owl on the left was perhaps a foot (or slightly less) closer to us than the other two birds so I was concerned about depth of field. I seldom shoot multiple subjects and typically with only one bird I’m shooting at f/6.1 – f/8 depending on the situation. Knowing I needed more DOF here I dialed in f/13 thinking that would be plenty to get all three birds sharp. The image below is typical of the results I got. Burrowing Owl – Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/200, f/13, ISO 500, cropped to 77% of original image The owl on the left is noticeably soft. That is quite apparent at a larger image size, say 1200 pixels, though not quite so obvious at this…

The Short-eared Owls of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

Male Short-eared Owl with a vole for the family Red Rock Lakes NWR is simply a wonderful spot on this ol’ earth. Located in SW Montana about halfway between Yellowstone National Park on the East and Interstate 15 on the west, it lies in a beautiful high elevation valley and the setting is stunning. It’s not for the faint of heart though as the weather holds many potentially nasty surprises and the access to the refuge is primitive at best. But that’s one of the things I love about Red Rock. In late June we had the place mostly to ourselves, which is ideal for me. Coyotes howling, other mammals in abundance, birds plentiful, wildflowers galore, spectacular mountain scenery, amazing sunrises and sunsets, weather surprises, bad roads to limit visitation, isolation and especially those incredible Short-eared Owls. I love this place! Female at the nest with one of two youngsters On our second day there we found a pair of nesting Short-eared Owls with two youngsters. The nest was at the base of a sagebrush within a few feet of a road. I have a (very unscientific) theory as to why these birds would make their nest so close to a road with regular traffic. Coyotes are very common on the refuge – we heard them howling often and would see them but they were seldom close to any road. They seem to avoid roads whenever possible. A nest on the ground would be very vulnerable to coyote predation. So I wonder if the choice to build…

Loggerhead Shrikes Impaling Prey

Shrikes have been called “butcher birds” for their habit of impaling their prey (insects, small rodents, reptiles or birds) on thorns, barbed wire or other sharp projections. They do it for several reasons. It helps them to tear the flesh into bite sized pieces, they use it as a method of caching (storing) their food and it helps them to survive eating the toxic lubber grasshopper because the toxins within the insect degrade to harmless substances within a couple of days. I had never seen or photographed this behavior, or evidence of it, until this summer when I did both several times. In the first three photos below, this juvenile Loggerhead Shrike is practicing this instinctive behavior but the bird apparently isn’t very skilled at it yet as it had some difficulty impaling the dragonfly on the short thorn just below the insect. In the first image the bird seems to be trying to decide which of several thorns to use for this grisly task. Preparing to impale the dragonfly Impaling the dragonfly on a thorn The dragonfly has been impaled, though a little off-center. In this case the bird didn’t wait long to begin eating the prey. Here it has torn off the head and the front part of the abdomen with one pair of wings attached and is swallowing them. As you can see, the rest of the insect is still impaled on the thorn. Soon after this shot was taken the shrike removed the rest of the dragonfly from the thorn, flew with…

Category: Birds