Great Horned Owl Fledglings On The Farm
This morning I met some of my relatives out on Antelope Island and in our conversation the subject of the Great Horned Owls on our family farm in nw Montana (by Glacier NP) came up. I haven’t visited the farm yet this summer and our conversation reminded me of how much I miss the place (and the owls). So I decided to do a post of some images I’ve taken in the past of fledgling GHO’s on the farm. I’ve posted some photos of a couple of these birds in the past but they were different images. The owls have been resident on the farm for many years now and everyone up there loves them and watches out for them. When the youngsters fledge you just never know where they will turn up in the early mornings and evenings. They do a lot of exploring around the old barns, granaries and farm equipment. 1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Sometimes the setting I find them in is both rustic and cluttered with old metal and farm machinery. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Other times they perch in the openings of old barns and granaries which usually gives me a black background which I like. When there’s no direct sunlight on the wood the color tones are cool. The staple diet of these owls is Richardson’s Ground Squirrels (we’ve always just called them”gophers”). Here you can see fresh gopher blood dripping down the wood from the last meal of one of the owls. …
A Mated Pair Of Red-tailed Hawks
Our recent trip to the Centennial Valley of sw Montana lasted 6 days. On the last morning, only an hour or so before we had to leave, we found these cooperative adult Red-tailed Hawks. I couldn’t believe our luck – warm, early morning light coming from the right direction, a clean natural perch, an interesting and varying background with clouds and blue sky, they allowed us close to them for over 20 minutes and there were two of them! 1/800, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc When we first found them they were perched together. I strongly suspect they’re a mated pair (though I don’t know that unequivocally) since they’re adults and many Red-tails stay paired year-round. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc The two birds stayed together on the perch for almost 10 minutes as we photographed them and then one of them flew off. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc The hawk left behind immediately decided to occupy the vacated perch… 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc and did so for some time. 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc But the bird that flew off landed in a nearby conifer and immediately had to contend with a pair of very aggressive and persistent American Kestrels. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc Soon the kestral-harrassed hawk returned, only to find its preferred perch already occupied. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc There was some…
Great Salt Lake Chukar
I often enjoy elements of incongruity in my images, particularly birds in unexpected settings. Chukars prefer steep, rocky, mountainous and dry terrain so in my experience with them it is atypical to catch them in a photograph with a body of water in the background. When it’s hot, as it is now, these birds drink large amounts of water but of course the Great Salt Lake is much too saline for them to drink from. So they spend nearly all their time higher up on the rocky slopes and drink from the fresh water springs in the area. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc However, there is one thing that draws them to the shore of the lake this time of year – brine flies. Chukars are almost exclusively vegetarians and eat mostly leaves and seeds although they’ll consume insects “occasionally”. But apparently they can’t resist the bounty of hordes of brine flies found along the shore of the lake during July and August (I’ve posted a shot here of a Chukar gorging on these flies) . I found this bird and several others along the shoreline yesterday. While I didn’t actually observe them consuming flies this time I’m confident that it was the flies that attracted them to the shore. Ron
Savannah Sparrow Parasitized By Cowbirds
Brown-headed Cowbirds are well-known for laying their eggs in the nests of other species – brood parasitism. A single cowbird female may lay up to 40 eggs in the nests of other species per season. More than 220 host species have been identified and at least 144 of those species have successfully raised the parasitic cowbird offspring. The physical size of the host species ranges from tiny 10 gram creepers to 150 gram meadowlarks. For a variety of reasons, the young of the parasitic cowbirds are more likely to survive than are those of the host species. The breeding success of the rare Kirtland’s Warbler has been severely reduced by cowbird brood parasitism. 1/1600 f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 On our recent trip to sw Montana we found this Savannah Sparrow bringing food (insects, mostly young grasshoppers) to one of its fledglings on a fence near our campground. 1/1600 f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4 But the fledgling was a cowbird and not a Savannah Sparrow. Cowbirds are more than twice the size of Savannah Sparrows by weight and that difference is obvious here. 1/1600 f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 The cowbird youngster was boisterous and rambunctious when food was brought in. I actually had the impression that the adult sparrow was a little intimidated by the size and hyperactivity of the cowbird chick and the “parent” bird didn’t stick around for long when food was delivered. 1/1600 f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 After the chick swallowed this grasshopper the sparrow gave it another…
Juvenile Burrowing Owl In Flight
This morning was the first time we’ve been out photographing since our Montana trip. I’ll post more images from Big Sky Country soon but I thought I’d break it up a bit with a couple of photos from this morning. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The juvenile Burrowing Owls were quite active at just the right time – when the sun was still low but high enough to give me enough light and shutter speed that I didn’t have to crank up my ISO too far. I haven’t had a lot of luck with Burrowing Owls in full flight so I was quite pleased with this shot even though I had to add a bit of canvas to the image for composition. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These youngsters are beginning to show some signs of maturing by the development of more color on the breast. As you can see, this is one of the young birds that has been banded.It’s very entertaining to watch these juveniles. In the morning before it gets too hot they often fly from perch to nearby perch and when they’re on the ground they seem to enjoy manipulating objects like twigs and leaves and nibbling on flowers. They interact with each other with the enthusiasm of youth. The problem for the photographer is that when they’re on the ground it’s virtually impossible to get a clear shot of them through all the vegetation. I really enjoy these little guys. Ron
Finally – A Cooperative Ferruginous Hawk
We had to go all the way to Montana to find a cooperative Ferruginous Hawk but three days ago we found one in Beaverhead County. My files on this species are woefully lacking and it’s not because I haven’t worked hard at getting acceptable images of them. I’ve made many trips to the island mountain ranges of western Utah specifically to photograph this handsome raptor but until this last week I could count the number of nice images I had of them on one hand. They just won’t let me approach them. This single bird made the enitre trip well worth it. The Ferruginous Hawk has been described as “the largest, most powerful and grandest of our buteos – a truly regal bird”. In fact the scientific name for the species is Buteo regalis – a fitting descriptor of this hawk. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc We found this bird on our way home, beside a long and isolated dirt road and I was even pulling my camping trailer which didn’t spook it. This first shot was taken from some distance because I assumed it would fly off when we got closer. It didn’t. Here it looks like the bird is upset with us for coming along but I think it was reacting to another Ferruginous Hawk that was in the vicinity (though we didn’t yet know it was there). This road has quite a bit of traffic (horse trailers, logging trucks etc) considering how isolated it is and since these birds are “sit and wait hunters” I believe this…
Red-tailed Hawk Take-off
We just returned last night from a 5 1/2 day camping/photo trip to sw Montana. It was simply an awesome journey with mostly great weather and light, lots of wildlife and birds (especially raptors), spectacular scenery, interesting characters and no significant mishaps but now the piper must be paid. I have an endless list of chores to catch up on which includes unpacking, washing gobs of dried mud and cow poop off of my pickup and camping trailer and then culling thousands of new images and processing the keepers. So, for obvious reasons this will be a short post. 1/2000. f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This image was taken last Thursday morning in Beaverhead County, Montana. Lots of factors have to play out to get a nice image of a bird taking off and for this shot I was able to get many of them right but I was missing an attractive, natural perch. In this case it was an ugly power pole insulator and wire so I decided to clone them out. I’m a very reluctant cloner but when I just can’t resist the temptation I always disclose. Because of the trip I’ve been slow in posting and commenting on other blogs. I’ll remedy both shortcomings in the near future. Ron
Juvenile Burrowing Owl – Wing Exercises
I simply can’t resist posting a couple of more images of juvenile Burrowing Owls that were taken last week. 1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc It may look like this bird has lost its balance on the sage and is trying to regain it but I believe it was simply exercising its wings. It flapped and fluttered for quite a while – long enough for me to get several dozen images of the action (I saved 18 of them). 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I do wish there’d been a bit more light though. The sun ducked behind a cloud just as just as this youngster started flapping. Should’a heard Mia cussing that cloud! As per usual, I kept my cool and just went with the flow. 🙂 Actually, we’ve both been known to cuss clouds on occasion but I’m much better at it than she is. She just doesn’t have my enthusiasm. Or originality… Ron
Rough-legged Hawk Hunting Voles
Out of pure habit I still look for Rough-legged Hawks whenever I pass one of their favorite perches, despite the fact that they’re now on their arctic and subarctic breeding grounds in northern Alaska and Canada. Last winter it seemed that these hawks were everywhere in northern Utah and it wasn’t unusual for me to see a dozen or more different birds in a morning of shooting. They’re a particularly handsome raptor and I love photographing them. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this one hunting voles along the Antelope Island causeway this past December. A moderate headwind slowed the bird down and made getting flight shots a little easier. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When hunting they’re usually looking down which makes it difficult to get eye contact but occasionally you can catch them looking at you if you’re quick on the trigger. Here the wings are mostly horizontal but for me the tilt of the tail helps to compensate for that. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This eye/head angle is more typical of a hunting bird. The position of the left wing probably won’t appeal to many but there’s something about the curves of both wings that I liked. The sky color may seem a little funky but that’s the color it really was so I didn’t play with it. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Here the hawk has captured a baby vole. This surprised me a little…
Storm Clouds Over Antelope Island
Last Wednesday, June 11, was an interesting day to be on Antelope Island. We need good light for bird photography and clouds usually don’t cut it for us (much different from landscape photography, I know) so we’re seldom out there when it’s overcast. But the forecast called for clearing so we took a chance and left home right after 5:30 so we could be there at sunrise. It turned out to be mostly cloudy all morning so we didn’t have much luck with birds but the clouds and light gave us some dramatic vistas that I couldn’t help but photograph. 1/200, f/9, ISO 400, 17-85mm @17mm, hand-held Just after sunrise we had this view of the island from the causeway. I liked the unusual combination of fearfully dark clouds with no wind which made the water almost as smooth as glass for some interesting reflections. The cluster of American Avocets on the right added to the natural scene for me. 1/640, f/9, ISO 400, 17-85mm @17mm, hand-held Traveling south on the island I liked the play of light on the clouds, prairie grasses and sagebrush to go along with the curved horizon line. I’m certainly no landscape photographer and have no plans to give up my “day job” photographing birds but I couldn’t resist sharing a couple of images from that wonderful morning. Ron