utah – Page 121 – Feathered Photography

Red-tailed Hawk At 40 MPH

That was me at that speed. The hawk was flying considerably faster…

My FOY Rough-legged Hawk And A Rookie Mistake In Setting Up A New Camera

I found my FOY (first of year) Rough-legged Hawk yesterday morning but largely blew the photographic opportunity because of a rookie mistake in setting up my new 7D Mark ll.

Forster’s Tern With Prey And A Common Black-Hawk In Utah!

Today, readers get a “twofer”: a Forster’s Tern with prey and a rare Common Black-hawk.

An Osprey Pirouette

This female Osprey seemed stiff and less confident of her agility immediately after being relieved from many hours of nesting duty.

An Acrobatic Red-tailed Hawk

Raptors sometimes pull some pretty crazy maneuvers during take-off (the last 9 images in this post are sequential with no images in the sequence left out).

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.

Western Scrub Jay (and a question of composition)

As common as they are in some areas I have very few quality images of Western Scrub Jays. They frequent scrub woodlands dominated by pinon pines or oaks in the west so it isn’t unusual for them to be found in Utah neighborhoods adjacent to the mountains where they sometimes visit bird feeders. I prefer to photograph them in their native habitat but they’re more shy there which partially explains my lack of images of the species.

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:

Burrowing Owls And Badger Holes

I’ve been aware for years that these owls sometimes take over badger holes but it’s something I’ve never been able to document without question until this week.