Rock Wrens On, Of All Things, Rocks
Including several recent fledglings that are messy with spider silk, plant debris and brine flies. (9 photos)
Tag: insects
Loggerhead Shrike Regurgitating A (sticky) Pellet
A Midge Smorgasbord At Bear River MBR
My First Ever Say’s Phoebe Takeoff And Flight Shots
Yesterday morning we found a family of at least four Say’s Phoebes in the Wasatch Mountains. The adults were feeding their hungry fledglings.
Lark Sparrow With Prey (Plus A ‘Red’)
A few of the birds on Antelope Island are still in the late stages of nesting, including this Lark Sparrow and a female Bullock’s Oriole I saw at a distance feeding a recent fledgling.
Barn Swallow Feeding A Fledgling On The Wing
Photographing swallows in flight is one of the more difficult tasks I attempt as a bird photographer.
Magpie Hunting Insects On The Back Of A Bison
Savannah Sparrows With “Bugs” For Their Nestlings
Savannah Sparrows are incredibly efficient hunters while they’re feeding nestlings or fledglings.
Yellow-rumped Warbler Snagging A Snack (+ one for eye candy)
The only thing that keeps me going while I’m culling images is the occasional serendipitous surprise.
Loggerhead Shrikes Snagging Robber Flies Out Of The Air
Watching juvenile Loggerhead Shrikes learning to hunt insects on the fly can be pretty entertaining.
American Pipits Gorging On Midges
Western Kingbird Feeding Behavior
Yesterday morning was a Western Kingbird bonanza along the Antelope Island causeway.
Horned Larks Attending To Domestic Duties
It’s not easy to get photos of Horned Larks with insects in their beaks. The diet of adults of the species consists largely of seeds year-round but they do feed insects to their young so if you can catch them at the right time of year it’s possible to get photos of them with insects. Yesterday morning in the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains I photographed both a male and a female with their beaks full of insects.
Ravenous Yellow-headed Blackbird Fledgling
I was photographing adult male blackbirds when suddenly this very recently fledged youngster popped up in the cattails right in front of me. At first I thought it was just curious about me and my big truck but that turned out not to be the case.
Juvenile Willets In Montana’s Centennial Valley
On my mid-July trip to the Centennial Valley I spent several days with an adult Willet and two juveniles. I reliably found them foraging for insects where a dirt road met Lower Red Rock Lake. Most of the shore birds and wading birds in this area are truly wild and difficult to approach but these three birds were the exception as they repeatedly let me get close as they fed and preened. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 This was the most perfectly coiffed of the two juveniles, as the other youngster had a patch of unruly feathers on the back of its head and upper neck. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 This particular site provided a bountiful Arthropod smorgasbord for the willets, both in the water and on the shoreline. The birds would feed on aquatic insects and crustaceans in the shallow water for a while and then get a little variety in their diet by coming up onto the shore and gobbling down hordes of terrestrial insects. Here, the more unkempt juvie (notice the fluff of feathers on the back of the head) feeds on a variety of dipterans that it flushes from the vegetation. I’ve cropped this image unconventionally to show more of the “bugs” in the air. I didn’t get a catch light in this shot but this image showed the insects best. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc At times some of the insects almost seemed to dare the Willets to pluck them out of…
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Loggerhead Shrike Regurgitating A (sticky) Pellet
A Midge Smorgasbord At Bear River MBR
My First Ever Say’s Phoebe Takeoff And Flight Shots
Yesterday morning we found a family of at least four Say’s Phoebes in the Wasatch Mountains. The adults were feeding their hungry fledglings.
Lark Sparrow With Prey (Plus A ‘Red’)
A few of the birds on Antelope Island are still in the late stages of nesting, including this Lark Sparrow and a female Bullock’s Oriole I saw at a distance feeding a recent fledgling.
Barn Swallow Feeding A Fledgling On The Wing
Photographing swallows in flight is one of the more difficult tasks I attempt as a bird photographer.
Magpie Hunting Insects On The Back Of A Bison
Savannah Sparrows With “Bugs” For Their Nestlings
Savannah Sparrows are incredibly efficient hunters while they’re feeding nestlings or fledglings.
Yellow-rumped Warbler Snagging A Snack (+ one for eye candy)
The only thing that keeps me going while I’m culling images is the occasional serendipitous surprise.
Loggerhead Shrikes Snagging Robber Flies Out Of The Air
Watching juvenile Loggerhead Shrikes learning to hunt insects on the fly can be pretty entertaining.
American Pipits Gorging On Midges
Western Kingbird Feeding Behavior
Yesterday morning was a Western Kingbird bonanza along the Antelope Island causeway.
Horned Larks Attending To Domestic Duties
It’s not easy to get photos of Horned Larks with insects in their beaks. The diet of adults of the species consists largely of seeds year-round but they do feed insects to their young so if you can catch them at the right time of year it’s possible to get photos of them with insects. Yesterday morning in the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains I photographed both a male and a female with their beaks full of insects.
Ravenous Yellow-headed Blackbird Fledgling
I was photographing adult male blackbirds when suddenly this very recently fledged youngster popped up in the cattails right in front of me. At first I thought it was just curious about me and my big truck but that turned out not to be the case.
Juvenile Willets In Montana’s Centennial Valley
On my mid-July trip to the Centennial Valley I spent several days with an adult Willet and two juveniles. I reliably found them foraging for insects where a dirt road met Lower Red Rock Lake. Most of the shore birds and wading birds in this area are truly wild and difficult to approach but these three birds were the exception as they repeatedly let me get close as they fed and preened. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4 This was the most perfectly coiffed of the two juveniles, as the other youngster had a patch of unruly feathers on the back of its head and upper neck. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 This particular site provided a bountiful Arthropod smorgasbord for the willets, both in the water and on the shoreline. The birds would feed on aquatic insects and crustaceans in the shallow water for a while and then get a little variety in their diet by coming up onto the shore and gobbling down hordes of terrestrial insects. Here, the more unkempt juvie (notice the fluff of feathers on the back of the head) feeds on a variety of dipterans that it flushes from the vegetation. I’ve cropped this image unconventionally to show more of the “bugs” in the air. I didn’t get a catch light in this shot but this image showed the insects best. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc At times some of the insects almost seemed to dare the Willets to pluck them out of…