A Two Woodpecker Day And The Temptations Of The Clone Tool
I’ve known for years that extremely cold temperatures can make many birds “stickier” – easier to get close to. Two days ago I learned that this maxim also applies to woodpeckers.
Tag: farmington bay
A (Fool) Hardy Wilson’s Snipe
I suspect that most folks aren’t accustomed to seeing a Wilson’s Snipe in a setting like this.
Dark Morph Rough-legged Hawk
I’ve only had two reasonably good chances at the dark morph of the Rough-legged Hawk and one of them was a highly unexpected encounter two weeks ago.
Pied-billed Grebe Feeding Behavior And An Invasive Species
Yesterday morning the Pied-billed Grebes at Farmington were having a bit of a feeding frenzy and I was able to capture several instances of interesting feeding behavior.
A White-crowned Sparrow And The Effect Of Depth Of Field
Two days ago I found this juvenile White-crowned Sparrow sunning itself in a wild rose-bush at Farmington Bay. It was a cold morning (you can see frost on the perch behind the bird) and due to the frigid temperature the sparrow wasn’t flitting around much so I did a little experimentation with depth of field.
A Goofy-looking Red-tailed Hawk
Occasionally I run across a bird that just looks, well…. silly. This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was one of them.
The American Goldfinch
Due to ongoing copyright infringement issues I’ve recently spent enormous amounts of time registering many thousands of my images with the U.S. Copyright Office. During that process I ran across these American Goldfinch images that I’d essentially forgotten about. They were taken almost exactly 6 years ago (11/18/2007) when I was first learning bird photography.
You Never Know In What Direction A Raptor Will Take Off
Because of my fondness for raptor take-off shots I work hard at trying to predict what direction they will take off so I can be as prepared as possible. But to say it’s not an exact science is an understatement.
Gadwall Stealing Food From A Coot
Gadwalls are well-known for stealing food (kleptoparasitism) from American Coots . They eat the same kinds of food (submerged aquatic vegetation), Gadwalls are almost a third bigger than coots and the two species often feed together in mixed flocks so being the bullies on the block, Gadwalls can’t resist taking advantage of the situation.
A Menacing Look From A Male Northern Harrier
When Northern Harriers choose to hunt along the edges of the dirt roads I frequent they sometimes give me interesting looks as they pass by. This is one of them.
Frosty Rough-legged Hawk
It was one of those classic frosty mornings at the bay where everything was covered with the thick hoar-frost that I tend to love in my settings.
Oolitic Sand – The Perfect Idiot Trap
There’ll be no birds in today’s post, I’m afraid. It takes me an hour to get to the island from my home and it’s not unusual for me to have clear skies when I leave much before dawn and then have it be mostly socked in when I arrive at the Farmington Bay/Antelope Island area – a phenomenon I refer to as the “Farmington Curse”. That’s exactly what happened yesterday morning so I generally had poor light and got correspondingly low quality photos, which I deleted.
The only saving grace of the morning was some karmic justice I observed on the island.
Northern Harrier Surprise
Sometimes bird photographers have to be a little crafty to get the shot.
Red And Blue On Red And Blue – American Kestrel
This image was taken several years ago in early October at Farmington Bay. I’ve always liked the color combinations in the shot. The background is the deeply shaded Wasatch Mountains. The reds are caused by the fall colors of scrub oak and other vegetation. 1/125, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It was overcast, with clearing to the west (behind me) so it was bright back there. This kind of lighting often produces a horizontal catch light in the eye, rather than the more typical pinpoint catch light. I often like that effect, as I do here. I’ve seen noticeably fewer kestrels this winter and early spring than I have for many years. I sure hope there’s nothing ominous going on… Ron
Killdeer Chick With An Extra Dose Of Personality
Well, yesterday may have been the first day of spring but so far I’m not impressed – it’s been dreary and wet and it’s supposed to be very cold through the weekend. I’ll even have to turn the heat on in my de-winterized camping trailer to keep the plumbing from freezing, Ugh… So I’ve been stuck in the house and was going through some older images when I came across this series of a very young Killdeer chick at Farmington Bay WMA. It was in the grasses near a parking lot and it was just as curious about me and my pickup as I was about it. 1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in I’d taken a few shots of this chick just after the sun came up but it was so buried in the grasses that the images weren’t very good but when I came back to the parking lot 51 minutes later it was in an area where the grasses weren’t quite as thick. At first it just watched me and didn’t do much. One of the parents was nearby but neither bird seemed nervous about my presence in my vehicle. 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in And soon it walked closer to me to check me out. 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in Then it decided to do some posing for…
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A (Fool) Hardy Wilson’s Snipe
I suspect that most folks aren’t accustomed to seeing a Wilson’s Snipe in a setting like this.
Dark Morph Rough-legged Hawk
I’ve only had two reasonably good chances at the dark morph of the Rough-legged Hawk and one of them was a highly unexpected encounter two weeks ago.
Pied-billed Grebe Feeding Behavior And An Invasive Species
Yesterday morning the Pied-billed Grebes at Farmington were having a bit of a feeding frenzy and I was able to capture several instances of interesting feeding behavior.
A White-crowned Sparrow And The Effect Of Depth Of Field
Two days ago I found this juvenile White-crowned Sparrow sunning itself in a wild rose-bush at Farmington Bay. It was a cold morning (you can see frost on the perch behind the bird) and due to the frigid temperature the sparrow wasn’t flitting around much so I did a little experimentation with depth of field.
A Goofy-looking Red-tailed Hawk
Occasionally I run across a bird that just looks, well…. silly. This juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was one of them.
The American Goldfinch
Due to ongoing copyright infringement issues I’ve recently spent enormous amounts of time registering many thousands of my images with the U.S. Copyright Office. During that process I ran across these American Goldfinch images that I’d essentially forgotten about. They were taken almost exactly 6 years ago (11/18/2007) when I was first learning bird photography.
You Never Know In What Direction A Raptor Will Take Off
Because of my fondness for raptor take-off shots I work hard at trying to predict what direction they will take off so I can be as prepared as possible. But to say it’s not an exact science is an understatement.
Gadwall Stealing Food From A Coot
Gadwalls are well-known for stealing food (kleptoparasitism) from American Coots . They eat the same kinds of food (submerged aquatic vegetation), Gadwalls are almost a third bigger than coots and the two species often feed together in mixed flocks so being the bullies on the block, Gadwalls can’t resist taking advantage of the situation.
A Menacing Look From A Male Northern Harrier
When Northern Harriers choose to hunt along the edges of the dirt roads I frequent they sometimes give me interesting looks as they pass by. This is one of them.
Frosty Rough-legged Hawk
It was one of those classic frosty mornings at the bay where everything was covered with the thick hoar-frost that I tend to love in my settings.
Oolitic Sand – The Perfect Idiot Trap
There’ll be no birds in today’s post, I’m afraid. It takes me an hour to get to the island from my home and it’s not unusual for me to have clear skies when I leave much before dawn and then have it be mostly socked in when I arrive at the Farmington Bay/Antelope Island area – a phenomenon I refer to as the “Farmington Curse”. That’s exactly what happened yesterday morning so I generally had poor light and got correspondingly low quality photos, which I deleted.
The only saving grace of the morning was some karmic justice I observed on the island.
Northern Harrier Surprise
Sometimes bird photographers have to be a little crafty to get the shot.
Red And Blue On Red And Blue – American Kestrel
This image was taken several years ago in early October at Farmington Bay. I’ve always liked the color combinations in the shot. The background is the deeply shaded Wasatch Mountains. The reds are caused by the fall colors of scrub oak and other vegetation. 1/125, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It was overcast, with clearing to the west (behind me) so it was bright back there. This kind of lighting often produces a horizontal catch light in the eye, rather than the more typical pinpoint catch light. I often like that effect, as I do here. I’ve seen noticeably fewer kestrels this winter and early spring than I have for many years. I sure hope there’s nothing ominous going on… Ron
Killdeer Chick With An Extra Dose Of Personality
Well, yesterday may have been the first day of spring but so far I’m not impressed – it’s been dreary and wet and it’s supposed to be very cold through the weekend. I’ll even have to turn the heat on in my de-winterized camping trailer to keep the plumbing from freezing, Ugh… So I’ve been stuck in the house and was going through some older images when I came across this series of a very young Killdeer chick at Farmington Bay WMA. It was in the grasses near a parking lot and it was just as curious about me and my pickup as I was about it. 1/800, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in I’d taken a few shots of this chick just after the sun came up but it was so buried in the grasses that the images weren’t very good but when I came back to the parking lot 51 minutes later it was in an area where the grasses weren’t quite as thick. At first it just watched me and didn’t do much. One of the parents was nearby but neither bird seemed nervous about my presence in my vehicle. 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in And soon it walked closer to me to check me out. 1/500, f/11, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in Then it decided to do some posing for…