It’s Been A Tough Winter For Birds (and it’s getting worse)

Typical winters are hard on birds in northern Utah (and elsewhere).  But when the season is unusually frigid with lots of snow as we’re having this year they struggle even more to survive. All of  these images have been taken since January 2 of this year.   Upland game birds like this Chukar seem to have adapted to extreme conditions fairly well.  This bird was all puffed up and sitting high on a rock to catch the earliest warming rays of the sun as it rose over the nearby Wasatch Mountains.     Another upland game species that can apparently take harsh conditions quite well is the Ring-necked Pheasant (this is a female).  They seem to forage for seeds at the base of plants where the snow isn’t as thick and their food is more readily available.     But many other species have a difficult time and quite a few birds don’t survive until spring.  The waterfowl that winter over here congregate in the few areas of open water where the flowing water is the last to freeze over.  But when it gets very cold, even those small bits of open water freeze.  I’ve seen  ducks and coots frozen into the ice, some of them still alive.  This female Green-winged Teal has just left one of the last unfrozen patches of water and is approaching an area of frost flowers.     This Northern Flicker is using the protection of the underside of the eaves of a building on Antelope Island State Park.   I thought the angled…

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Mean-fighting Coots

American Coots are, without question, the most aquatic, common and widely distributed rail species in North America.  Clumsy and awkward fliers, they require long running take-offs to become airborne but they are skilled swimmers – largely due to their lobately webbed toes. And oh, are they ever ornery! But first, allow me to make a few excuses…  These images of fighting coots were taken several years ago when I was relatively new to photography.  My settings weren’t particularly appropriate so I’m not including them here.   And most of these photos were shot in JPEG rather than RAW, so my processing options were extremely limited when I tried to adjust exposure, so the frustratingly white bill is pretty bright in a few of these images.   This is one of the aggressive postures used by males to challenge other males.  Whenever I see this I know that all hell is about to break loose and I’d better be ready.     In my experience, coots have two primary fighting strategies.  One is for each bird to lie on their backs in the water while propped up by their wings and tails and strike out at each other with their feet and claws.  In this fighting position, their defense is to try to grasp the opposing birds feet.  Here we get a good look at those unusual lobed toes.  If they become locked together they then fight with their bills.     The second fighting strategy uses bills and wings as weapons.  If one bird gains the advantage it often tries to force its opponent underwater.     The losing bird…

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