Preening Trumpeter Swans
I believe the Trumpeter Swan to be the most elegant bird species I’ve ever photographed.
Category: Waterfowl
Preening Trumpeter Swan On Montana’s Elk Lake
I won’t soon forget being allowed so close to these wild, quintessential swans that came so very close to extinction.
Northern Shoveler Duckling
Occasionally (very occasionally) I can’t resist the cuteness of a duckling and post it to my blog. It hasn’t happened for a long while now but this little guy put me over the edge.
The Value (and rewards) Of Reporting Banded Birds
Two weeks ago I reported a banded Tundra Swan I photographed at Salt Creek WMA. It wasn’t long before I received some interesting information back about that bird from the North American Bird Banding Program.
Mating Canada Geese
These large geese are very impressive up close, especially during their mating rituals.
Mallards Mating And Fighting
Redhead Pair
“If you’ve dated a redhead raise your glass, if not . . . raise your standards” – Anonymous.
Redheads (of the duck variety) begin to pair up on their winter range and some of the birds now migrating through my area have already formed their monogamous pair bonds.
A Survivor! Last Year’s One-footed Merganser Has Returned
With all the recent bad news about critters suffering and dying at the hand of man it’s so refreshing to come across one who has defied the odds and not only survived, but thrived!
Gadwall Stealing Food From A Coot
Gadwalls are well-known for stealing food (kleptoparasitism) from American Coots . They eat the same kinds of food (submerged aquatic vegetation), Gadwalls are almost a third bigger than coots and the two species often feed together in mixed flocks so being the bullies on the block, Gadwalls can’t resist taking advantage of the situation.
A Greater Yellowlegs And Its Weather Loach Prey
Yesterday morning we encountered several cooperative Greater Yellowlegs at Farmington Bay and this one found a rather unusual prey item.
Prairie Falcon – A Fascinating Hunting Strategy
Some of you may recall that last November I photographed an amazing encounter between a Prairie Falcon and a hapless Northern Shoveler along the causeway to Antelope Island. These are photos of that experience that I haven’t posted before.
Trumpeter Swan Pair With Six Cygnets
Trumpeter Swans are the largest of all North American waterfowl, weighing up to 30 pounds and having a wingspan of as much as 8 feet. It’s hard to imagine that by the 1930’s this species had been almost wiped out. In 1949 the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that the Trumpeter Swan was “the fourth rarest bird now remaining in America”. But thankfully recent intense swan restoration and management programs have brought the species back from the brink of extinction.
Canvasbacks – Feeding and Fighting
Because of its striking appearance the Canvasback is often referred to as the “aristocrat” of ducks. But as you’ll see, it’s difficult to look aristocratic with your face, head and neck slathered in mud.
One Red-tailed Hawk, Six Canada Geese and One Huge Commotion
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.
Promised Update On Mergansers Entangled In Fishing Line
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…
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Preening Trumpeter Swan On Montana’s Elk Lake
I won’t soon forget being allowed so close to these wild, quintessential swans that came so very close to extinction.
Northern Shoveler Duckling
Occasionally (very occasionally) I can’t resist the cuteness of a duckling and post it to my blog. It hasn’t happened for a long while now but this little guy put me over the edge.
The Value (and rewards) Of Reporting Banded Birds
Two weeks ago I reported a banded Tundra Swan I photographed at Salt Creek WMA. It wasn’t long before I received some interesting information back about that bird from the North American Bird Banding Program.
Mating Canada Geese
These large geese are very impressive up close, especially during their mating rituals.
Mallards Mating And Fighting
Redhead Pair
“If you’ve dated a redhead raise your glass, if not . . . raise your standards” – Anonymous.
Redheads (of the duck variety) begin to pair up on their winter range and some of the birds now migrating through my area have already formed their monogamous pair bonds.
A Survivor! Last Year’s One-footed Merganser Has Returned
With all the recent bad news about critters suffering and dying at the hand of man it’s so refreshing to come across one who has defied the odds and not only survived, but thrived!
Gadwall Stealing Food From A Coot
Gadwalls are well-known for stealing food (kleptoparasitism) from American Coots . They eat the same kinds of food (submerged aquatic vegetation), Gadwalls are almost a third bigger than coots and the two species often feed together in mixed flocks so being the bullies on the block, Gadwalls can’t resist taking advantage of the situation.
A Greater Yellowlegs And Its Weather Loach Prey
Yesterday morning we encountered several cooperative Greater Yellowlegs at Farmington Bay and this one found a rather unusual prey item.
Prairie Falcon – A Fascinating Hunting Strategy
Some of you may recall that last November I photographed an amazing encounter between a Prairie Falcon and a hapless Northern Shoveler along the causeway to Antelope Island. These are photos of that experience that I haven’t posted before.
Trumpeter Swan Pair With Six Cygnets
Trumpeter Swans are the largest of all North American waterfowl, weighing up to 30 pounds and having a wingspan of as much as 8 feet. It’s hard to imagine that by the 1930’s this species had been almost wiped out. In 1949 the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that the Trumpeter Swan was “the fourth rarest bird now remaining in America”. But thankfully recent intense swan restoration and management programs have brought the species back from the brink of extinction.
Canvasbacks – Feeding and Fighting
Because of its striking appearance the Canvasback is often referred to as the “aristocrat” of ducks. But as you’ll see, it’s difficult to look aristocratic with your face, head and neck slathered in mud.
One Red-tailed Hawk, Six Canada Geese and One Huge Commotion
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.
Promised Update On Mergansers Entangled In Fishing Line
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…