Swainson’s Hawk Face-plant Into Rabbitbrush
Sometimes raptors risk serious injury as they go after prey – especially to their eyes.
Tag: flight
Forster’s Tern In Flight
The Forster’s Tern is the only tern that is almost entirely restricted to North America year around. They’re sometimes called “marsh terns” because they breed primarily in fresh, brackish and saltwater marshes, including here in northern Utah. Prior to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Forster’s Terns were hunted for the millenary trade and because of their habit of hovering over other individuals that had been killed they were particularly vulnerable to being shot.
Red-tailed Hawk – The Power And Grace Of Take-off
Bird photography isn’t easy and the resulting images are often missing an essential element (or two, or more…) but sometimes I like those shots anyway. Case in point:
Bald Eagle Leveling Out After A Steep Dive
Very few Bald Eagles remain in Utah during summer so I almost never see them in that season except on my Montana camping trips.
Springtime Sandhill Cranes In Flight – Two Image Styles
Early this past spring I had some wonderful opportunities with Sandhill Cranes near Capitol Reef National Park.
Intermediate Morph Swainson’s Hawk In Flight
I spent yesterday morning cruising the back roads of Utah’s west desert with the primary goal of finding and photographing raptors.
Red-tailed Hawk Take-off In A Sunflower Setting
For some, raptors and flowers may seem like an incongruous combination but I like the contradiction.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird – A Lifer For Me
Two days ago a new species appeared at the flower patch on Antelope Island – a female Broad-tailed Hummingbird.
Loggerhead Shrike In Full Flight
It isn’t often that I get a full-flight shot of a songbird but I did yesterday morning, thanks in part to Lady Luck who sat on my shoulder twice.
Sphinx (Hummingbird) Moth In Flight – (5 images)
Today I digress from birds or even mammals. Our subject will have no feathers or fur – instead we’ll see paired wings, body segments, antennae and an incredibly long “tongue”. And we’ll have close-up looks at a fascinating insect in flight.
Great Blue Heron Landing Series (13 images)
Yesterday morning I decided to break with one of my long-standing traditions and brave the potential crowds by visiting one of the more popular birding sites in the area on a weekend – Glover Pond near Farmington Bay WMA. One of my goals was to locate and photograph the Little Blue Heron that has been hanging around in the area for the last couple of weeks. That bird is causing a lot of excitement in the birding and photography communities because it’s so far out of its range. I never did find that heron but this one more than made up for it.
Swainson’s Hawk Underwing Plumage Patterns
Typically I tend to not be a fan of flight shots where the bird is already past me but though this Swainson’s Hawk has already done so I keep coming back to the image for a combination of reasons.
Swainson’s Hawk In Flight
This is the time of year that Swainson’s Hawks usually begin to converge on the Centennial Valley to feast on grasshoppers and believe me the area produces grasshoppers in abundance – probably more of them than I’ve ever seen elsewhere (and I grew up on a Montana farm where grasshoppers were unfortunately one of our most successful crops).
Female Sapsucker – A Miscalculation At The Nest-hole
Sapsuckers must be nimble fliers to negotiate access to their nest-hole several hundred times per day during the nesting season – especially if the tree their nest is in leans toward the hole. Usually it’s no problem for them but one time I did photograph the female as she stumbled.
Landing Red-tailed Hawk
This image goes back into my archives about as far back as they go. It was taken on October 1, 2007 – just a few months after I became serious about my photography. I was still shooting with my first digital camera, the Canon Rebel XTi which I still have. It’s an entry-level camera and I still remember what the camera salesman said when I told him that I was planning on mounting that small camera onto a huge Canon 500 mm lens – “well, it will work but don’t you think it’ll look a little silly?”