Tag: utah

Some Hope For Barn Owls

I’ve reported previously on this blog that Barn Owl populations took a huge hit this past winter in northern Utah. It was dreadfully cold for much of the winter with lots of snow. Normally that’s not a huge problem for these owls but with deep snow on the ground we had a warm spell that melted the surface of the snow and immediately after that we had an extended cold snap. Those conditions caused a hard crust of ice to form on the snow surface that lasted for weeks.

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Coyotes Like Eggs For Breakfast Too

At 5:30 yesterday morning Mia and I almost decided to stay home rather than make the hour-long drive to Antelope Island because the area up north looked to be socked in with clouds (the “Farmington Curse” I’ve mentioned before) but after we picked up our traditional “shooting breakfast” (chocolate donuts) we chose to take our chances and go anyway – a choice I’m glad we made.

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Golden Eagle In Flight

The Golden Eagle has long been a nemesis species for me. Over the years I’ve had a handful of potentially spectacular opportunities with these birds but something has always gone wrong.

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Male Osprey Landing At Nest

This is the nesting pair of Ospreys I photographed at Flaming Gorge, Utah two weeks ago today. The male was coming in for a landing to relieve the female on the eggs. The dark background was a deeply shaded mountain to contrast the bird that had a little more light on it.

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Light Red-tailed Hawk

Yesterday we found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk perched on one of the darker Farmington Canyon Complex rocks on Antelope Island. I thought the generally light coloration of this bird to be slightly unusual but I’m certainly no expert on the color phases and morphs of this highly variable species.

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Willet Take-off

Yesterday morning I found this Willet perched on one of the Tintic Quartzite boulders so common on the northern part of Antelope Island. The Willets are still active on the higher slopes of the island but it won’t be long until they’re spending most of their time along the shoreline and causeway.

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Flaming Gorge Osprey – An Experiment That Worked

We returned home Thursday after spending three wonderful days camping at Flaming Gorge in NE Utah. This is very close to the view we had on most mornings from our campsites (two of them), though this image was taken the morning before the Osprey photo, below. As you’ll see, the lighting conditions were dramatically different…

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