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.
Tag: dnr
Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – This Time A Female American Kestrel
Yesterday morning I spotted this female American Kestrel perched on a far-off rock to the west on Antelope Island. She was much too far away for decent photographs (as is obvious from the mediocre quality of these first five photos) but when I see raptors at most any distance it’s my practice to “scope them out” through my lens so I can ID them and look for anything unusual or interesting. I took a couple of shots for documentary purposes but at first I didn’t notice anything noteworthy about her except for the keratin flaking off of her beak. But then she scratched her face with her foot. Jesses! Those damned jesses again. In this shot you can see anklets above both feet and the jess on the left leg. She perched and preened on the rock for quite a while and a few minutes later she scratched with her other foot which provided a good look at the jess on the right ankle. I’m including this shot for a look at her right side, in the unlikely event that some local falconer may recognize her. I hung around for a long time in the hopes of catching her at take-off for a better look at both jesses and anklets. As luck would have it, when it happened they were both in shade and I lost focus on the bird but the photo still provides a decent look at the jesses. I’m deeply troubled by this event and I’ll provide a little background as…
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Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – This Time A Female American Kestrel
Yesterday morning I spotted this female American Kestrel perched on a far-off rock to the west on Antelope Island. She was much too far away for decent photographs (as is obvious from the mediocre quality of these first five photos) but when I see raptors at most any distance it’s my practice to “scope them out” through my lens so I can ID them and look for anything unusual or interesting. I took a couple of shots for documentary purposes but at first I didn’t notice anything noteworthy about her except for the keratin flaking off of her beak. But then she scratched her face with her foot. Jesses! Those damned jesses again. In this shot you can see anklets above both feet and the jess on the left leg. She perched and preened on the rock for quite a while and a few minutes later she scratched with her other foot which provided a good look at the jess on the right ankle. I’m including this shot for a look at her right side, in the unlikely event that some local falconer may recognize her. I hung around for a long time in the hopes of catching her at take-off for a better look at both jesses and anklets. As luck would have it, when it happened they were both in shade and I lost focus on the bird but the photo still provides a decent look at the jesses. I’m deeply troubled by this event and I’ll provide a little background as…