Swainson’s Hawks – Antipicating Their Arrival
Swainson’s Hawks have been absent from North America for many months. They winter in the pampas of South America and their breeding ground is the temperate zone of North America which means their annual migratory round trip is a long one – roughly 12,000 miles (among raptors only the Arctic Peregrine Falcon migrates further).
Mated Pairs Of Sandhill Cranes In Flight
Sandhill Cranes are exceedingly graceful in flight, especially when it’s a mated pair flying in tight formation. Pair-bonded cranes often seem to enjoy flying as close to each other as possible.
Mating Red-tailed Hawks
Yesterday was the first time I’ve been able to photograph mating buteos in the wild.
Singing Male Marsh Wren
For me, male Marsh Wrens in springtime epitomize the word “frenzied” as they flit from cattail to cattail defending nesting territory, attracting and mating with multiple females and building many “dummy” nests. And their singing is almost constant.
Red-tailed Hawk Hunting Voles
In January I spent a few days with this adult Red-tail as it was hunting voles from power poles in Tooele County. Those blasted poles and wires are a real problem for the photographer.
Meadowlark Singing On Sagebrush
Unusual Sandhill Crane Behavior
Most of the Sandhill Crane behaviors I observed last week were typical for the species but one was quite unusual.
Recent Camping Trip To Wayne County, Utah
We eagerly await our first camping trip each spring and this year we chose the area of Wayne and Garfield Counties, Utah near Capitol Reef National Park as our destination. For this post I thought I’d present a few scenics from our trip.
An Unusually Robust Ferruginous Hawk?
The Ferruginous Hawk is often described as “massive and robust” but this one appears to have taken that description to extremes. Weighing up to 4 1/2 lbs (2kg) they are our largest and most powerful buteo so one expects to see an impressive-looking bird but even so I was struck by the prodigious girth of this individual.
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.