Falcons tend to have long toes but I thought those of this Merlin in flight (2nd image) were especially well seen. Merlins are bird-hunting specialists and they often snag their quarry right out of the air in flight so the bigger “net” they can throw the better.
I don’t post images of these two species as often as I should. Both are common in my area and such large birds are relatively easy to photograph in flight so I hope the reason I’ve largely ignored them has nothing to do with snobbishness on my part.
Adult Barn Swallows stuff insects so far down the throats of their youngsters that it can almost look like the young birds are trying to swallow the head of their parent.
Our smoky skies can be a real problem for bird photographers. For now I’ve pretty much given up on flight shots where the background is sky because the smoke makes that background uniformly gray and unappealing.
When a parent Barn Swallow stuffs food into the mouth of one of its fledglings it usually comes off flawlessly. But not always…
Birds were generally slow on Antelope Island yesterday morning but this Loggerhead Shrike saved the day.
I don’t have a great track record with Black-crowned Night Herons in flight but yesterday morning I had some success with juveniles of the species at Bear River MBR.
For better or worse the background of an image can have a significant impact on an image. This is one that works well for me.
A visit to Box Elder County yesterday morning resulted in a very close encounter with a female Short-eared Owl in flight.
Do some raptor species tuck their feet faster after take-off than others? I’m beginning to think so.
I’m surprised by how few Red-tailed Hawks I’ve been able to photograph lately but yesterday morning this juvenile gave me a few chances.
Bird photographers like to know why certain elements of their images are soft (blurry) when others are not because it helps them to evaluate their settings and technique.
Many of my readers are or aspire to be bird photographers so today I pose a question related to one of its frustrations.
