Tag: hunting

Western Kingbirds

Yesterday was a slow day on the island, though we did see our first Western Kingbird of the year (I should say that Mia saw it as I missed it – one of the disadvantages of being the driver…).  The sighting got me to thinking about these aggressive tyrant flycatchers and reminded me of how much I’ve missed them these last few months so I decided to devote a post to them. They’re called “kingbirds” because of their belligerent behavior and fearless nature.  Kingbirds are very aggressive toward other birds and it’s not unusual to see them attacking almost any species – including hawks and American Kestrels.  They’re extremely agile in flight and can get away with such seemingly foolish behaviors.    1/800, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In this shot you can see most if the important field marks – pale gray head and breast, darker mask through the eyes, underparts yellow, tail black with white edges and black bill.  The sexes are similar.  Most folks are unaware that the species has a small orange-red patch on the top of the head but it is nearly always hidden except while performing certain behaviors.      1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc These birds are almost unknown to walk anywhere – virtually all locomotion is by flight.  Typically they hunt from elevated perches so they flit from perch to perch looking for insects mostly.  When I’m lucky I find them on natural perches like this dried thistle…      1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4,…

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Kiting Rough-legged Hawk

Kiting is the ability of some birds to maintain a stable position in the air by using air currents rather than by the flapping of wings or hovering.   Last week I had a wonderful opportunity with this young Rough-legged Hawk while it was kiting in the stiff wind rising up from the Antelope Island causeway.  The light was good and the bird was cooperative and let me get close – what more could a bird photographer wish for?      1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc It was amazing to see how still in the air this bird could be – often maintaining the same relative position to the ground without significant wing movement for long periods.  I swear that if I had been using a tripod I could have focused on the bird, walked away for 10 seconds or so and then returned and snapped the shutter with the hawk still in the frame and without having had to look through the viewfinder or refocus.   A bit of a stretch perhaps, but not by a lot.       1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Much of the time the hawk was hunting – looking down into the grasses for voles.  That head position doesn’t provide the eye contact that is photographically desirable but I wanted to include a shot that illustrated hunting posture.         1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The hawk caught several voles while I was photographing it.  In this instance the bird immediately took to the air with the very young vole…      …

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Harlequin Ducks Along Antelope Island Causeway Have Apparently Been Killed

As many of you are aware there have been three Harlequin Ducks along the Antelope Island causeway for many weeks now – two females and one male.  These ducks are extremely rare in Utah as there’s only been a handful of sightings of the species in our state over the years.  These three ducks have been enjoyed by bird lovers and others at the first bridge on the causeway for about six weeks this early winter.  They were quite approachable by people and were a delight to observe and photograph. According to reports, all three ducks are now dead – “harvested” by hunters.  Here’s a link to a very enlightening (in more ways than one) discussion of the reported incident on a hunting forum.  Killing these rare ducks along the causeway is apparently perfectly legal.  Whether or not it is ethical is very much open to question – including by many in the hunting community.     Harlequin Duck. Photo taken on 10/30/11 at first bridge along causeway      Female Harlequin Duck – photo taken on 11/17/2011 at first bridge along causeway     Male Harlequin Duck coming into breeding plumage – photo taken on 11/17/2011 at first bridge along causeway    Though I’m not a hunter I’ve been an avid supporter of hunting for many years – including extolling the positive effects the practice has had on wildlife populations to my high school zoology and biology classes for 33 years.  Should it turn out that the person reporting the killings of these ducks has been less than truthful and the birds turn up again in the future I…

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Savannah Sparrows – a Bug’s Worst Enemy

On a recent camping trip to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge a rustic old fence near where we camped was the staging area for several hunting Savannah Sparrows.   They obviously had nests in the grass nearby and would regularly perch on the fence with prey in their beaks after hunting deep in the grasses.      Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, EV -0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Boy, did they eat a lot of bugs!  Most any kind of Arthropod seemed to be an acceptable part of their diet but this critter was one of their favorites.  I believe it to be a dragonfly larvae.     Canon 7D, 1/800, f/6.3, ISO 640, EV +0.33, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc When they returned to the fence line they would often have multiple prey in their beaks.  I expected them to either immediately consume it or deliver it to the nest but that seldom happened.  Instead they would typically hang around on the fence for extended periods of time with the prey still in their beaks – often for 10 minutes or more before eating it or flying off to their nest with it.  I can’t explain the behavior but I’m certainly not complaining about it because that little behavioral quirk gave me many opportunities to photograph them with their bills full of interesting tidbits.      Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, EV +0.00, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Their diet wasn’t limited to insects either, as it wasn’t unusual to see them with spiders.      Canon…

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A Loggerhead Shrike, a Spider and Spit

 A few days ago Mia and I found this Loggerhead Shrike sitting prettily on a dried sunflower on Antelope Island.  The bird was using the sunflower as a hunting perch.    1/1600, f/8, ISO 500 I’ve always been amazed by the incredible eyesight of many bird species.  This shrike somehow spotted a spider crawling through the thick grass about 20 feet away from where it was perched and immediately flew down to grab it.      1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500 It was a relatively small spider and I have no idea how the shrike was able to see it in all the dense grass.  Even though the background is busy here I still liked the shot for the interesting look at both the spider and the tongue of the shrike.  It’s my presumption from looking at this photo that the saliva of the shrike is viscous and sticky, enabling the prey to stay attached to the tongue during the very fast process of pulling the spider to the back of the throat with the tongue.      1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500 A heavily cropped, close-up view of the same image provides a clue.  You can see that there’s a sheet of saliva stretched between the bottom of the tongue and the floor of the lower mandible and it does appear to be quite viscous.  I had no idea that it would be so “juicy” in there.  Nothing earth-shattering here, just some avian trivia  in a photo that I found interesting (yes, my interests can be…

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The Short-eared Owls of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

  Male Short-eared Owl with a vole for the family  Red Rock Lakes NWR is simply a wonderful spot on this ol’ earth.  Located in SW Montana about halfway between Yellowstone National Park on the East and Interstate 15 on the west, it lies in a beautiful high elevation valley and the setting is stunning.  It’s not for the faint of heart though as the weather holds many potentially nasty surprises and the access to the refuge is primitive at best.  But that’s one of the things I love about Red Rock.    In late June we had the place mostly to ourselves, which is ideal for me.    Coyotes howling, other  mammals  in abundance, birds plentiful, wildflowers galore, spectacular mountain scenery, amazing sunrises and sunsets, weather surprises, bad roads to limit visitation, isolation and especially those incredible Short-eared Owls.   I love this place!    Female at the nest with one of two youngsters  On our second day there we found a pair of nesting Short-eared Owls with two youngsters.  The nest was at the base of a sagebrush within a few feet of a road.  I have a (very unscientific) theory as to why these birds would make their nest so close to a road with regular traffic.   Coyotes are very common on the refuge – we heard them howling often and would see them but they were seldom close to any road.   They seem to avoid roads whenever possible.   A nest on the ground would be very vulnerable to coyote predation.  So I wonder if the choice to build…

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