Favorite Locations – Page 116 – Feathered Photography

A Tough Subject – Mourning Dove In Flight

Mourning Doves one of the most difficult of all species I’ve ever attempted to photograph in flight. Their flight is fast and erratic and their take-off speed impressive (most observers are aware of the whistling noise made by their incredibly fast wing beats as they take off and land). All this makes for an aggravatingly difficult bird to photograph in flight – whether at take-off or in full flight. Until yesterday morning I still didn’t have a Mourning Dove flight shot.

Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk And More

This is the last in my four part series on the color morphs of the Swainson’s Hawk. Today the focus is on the dark morph.

Intermediate Morph Swainson’s Hawk

This is the third of my series of four posts on color morphs of the Swainson’s Hawk that I photographed on my last trip to Montana late last month. Todays bird is an intermediate morph.

The three morph categories are convenient to use but color variation of Swainson’s Hawks is almost continuous from darker to lighter individuals so the morph categories are somewhat arbitrary. I sometimes struggle with feeling confident about which category a particular bird belongs in.

Adult Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk

My last post was of a juvenile light morph Swainson’s Hawk transitioning into a subadult, this bird is an adult light morph and my next post will be of a dark morph Swainson’s (and perhaps an intermediate morph also) – this is turning into a series…

Subadult Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk

I’m always interested in the color phases of the various raptors I encounter so when we found this subadult Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk on July 25 on our last trip to southwest Montana it got my attention. These worn young birds look white-headed in spring and early summer because of fading – much different from the adults.

Wildlife Photography While Pulling A Trailer Isn’t Easy

When we leave one of our favorite Montana camping spots for the long drive home it means almost 30 miles of extremely dusty dirt/gravel roads through prime bird and wildlife habitat before we hit pavement. We nearly always leave at sunrise in case there are photo opportunities on the way out – typically those opportunities include raptors on posts, poles or in flight, songbirds, elk, deer, pronghorn – even badgers.

If the roads are good (as they are this year) that drive takes at least an hour when I’m pulling my camping trailer but if we find wildlife, as we often do, it can take two hours or more. And believe me, photographing wildlife while you’re pulling a trailer is a bit of a challenge.

Banded Prairie Falcon – A Fascinating Update

Two days ago I posted about a very tame juvenile male Prairie Falcon I photographed last week in the Centennial Valley of Montana. The bird had two bands and I was extremely curious about where, when and why the falcon was banded and by whom so I asked for any insight my readers might have about the bands. Several of you jumped in with advice and suggestions, for which I’m much appreciative. But it was the superb sleuthing of my friend Mike Shaw that paid huge dividends. Mike did some research and learned that the colored band on the falcon (left foot) was issued to Doug Bell, Wildlife Program Manager for East Bay Regional Park District out of Oakland, California. On Tuesday, figuring that Doug might be interested in knowing that his California bird was now in the wilds of Montana, I emailed him with a link to that blog post and an offer to supply any more information about my encounter with that bird that he’d be interested in. I also asked him if he might tell me a little about his experience with the falcon. Yesterday Doug responded generously with information and photos. Since many of my readers expressed an interest in knowing about the history of this young bird I decided to update you with a new post rather than add an addendum to the previous post that many might not see. Besides, there’s a lot of new “stuff” here. Image property of East Bay Regional Park District – used by permission Doug and his team banded “my” Prairie Falcon…

Greater Sage Grouse In The Centennial Valley

I was driving the dirt roads while on the lookout for raptors (mostly) when out of the corner of my eye to the far right I saw (just barely) a flock of Mallards flush up from the barrow pit next to the road and just a few feet away. I gave them a quick glance and drove on but a couple of seconds later Mia hollered out from the back seat her patented “Stop, bird!”, which I immediately did. Turned out they weren’t Mallards, they were Sage Grouse – about a dozen of them.

The Tamest Prairie Falcon Of Them All

In yesterday’s post about grasshopper-eating Prairie Falcons I promised that today’s post would also be about Prairie Falcons. It is, but only one of them – probably the most approachable larger falcon that I’ve ever encountered in the wild.

Montana Prairie Falcons And Hordes of Grasshoppers

I learned something last week in Montana’s Centennial Valley – Prairie Falcons eat insects.

In the past I’ve only seen them eat birds and small mammals and cursory research had backed up that observation but if you dig a little deeper in your research (Birds of North America Online, for example) you’ll find mention of lizards and insects being included in their diet. My friend (master falconer) Mark Runnels says that “Prairie Falcons will eat anything. In really bad years I have even heard of them feeding on carrion. You’ll never see a Peregrine do that!”

Juvenile Mountain Bluebird

I often photograph Mountain Bluebirds on my Montana trips but I’ve seldom had the opportunity to work with juveniles. That changed last week when we found a young bird hunting from a fence in early morning light.

A Red-tailed Bon Voyage

Typically I don’t have high hopes of getting any decent shots during the almost 30 mile drive on a dirt/gravel road from our usual camping spot to the first paved road. Imagine if you can the noise, the dust and the bird-scattering spectacle of my pickup and camping trailer rattling down the rocky road – a situation not conducive to getting anywhere near spooky birds.

A Wren By Any Other Name…

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not particularly skilled in identifying some of the songbirds. This wren is a case in point. I’m unsure if it’s a Rock Wren or a House Wren.

So, a little help from my friends?…

Loggerhead Shrikes – A Color Change I Don’t Understand

I’m confused about a color change I’m seeing in Loggerhead Shrikes. 1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, image taken 4/26/13 on Antelope Island For most of the year the adults I see have a white or pale ventral surface (belly, breast and sides) which is exactly as described in the field guides and other resources I have access to. 2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, image taken 7/3/13 on Antelope Island But beginning in about early July there’s a fairly dramatic change that is not addressed in my field guides. That white plumage turns significantly darker and an almost black area on the upper breast appears. This is about the time they’re fledging chicks around here and when I first noticed this several years ago I wondered if the birds were simply becoming “dirty” as they scurried around trying to feed and care for those very demanding youngsters. But now I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. All of the adult Loggerhead Shrikes I see go through this change to some degree or another. 3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, image taken 7/14/13 on Antelope Island Here’s another (pretty silly looking) example. This is also the time of year when these birds are molting so I wondered if I was somehow seeing black skin (some birds do have black skin) through very skimpy plumage that time of year and I was somehow mistaking it for black feathers. But as you can see in this preening, molting adult, their skin…

Enveloped By Shrikes!

These young birds loved clamoring around on the hood of my pickup. They would look at their reflections, pick at smashed bugs and just generally act like inquisitive kids. It wasn’t unusual to hear a bird clicking about on my roof at the same time one of its siblings was on my hood.

Category: Favorite Locations