Last week we spent a few days camping and exploring Utah’s west desert. A herd of Mule Deer composed of over a dozen animals hung around the general vicinity of our campsite for most of the time we were there. They still had most of their winter coat so they were scruffy and sun-bleached but they displayed a couple of interesting behaviors that I was able to photograph.
I’ve mentioned before how very reluctant Chukars are to fly. They much prefer to scurry away through the grasses whenever they feel insecure or threatened.
And that reluctance also applies when they’re ready to leave an elevated perch. They’ll nearly always find a way to scramble down a big rock rather than fly from it like most other birds would. That tendency was demonstrated to me twice yesterday morning on Antelope Island.
The Gray Partridge has a fairly limited range in North America and most folks don’t get to see them so I thought some of my readers might be interested in a post on the species. This bird prefers the grasslands and grainfields of our northern wheat-belt so they’re fairly common on our family farm in northwest Montana.
Gray Partridges are often called Hungarian Partridges, or “Huns” for short.
I’m primarily a bird photographer but when I’m in the field I do see other types of wildlife and I’m not hesitant to photograph them in the least.
As I reported on my last post, Mia and I found two Mountain Plovers on Antelope Island yesterday. They’re rare in Utah and I had never seen the species before, even in my travels to Montana and Wyoming where they’re more common. It was a very exciting day.
We had a wonderful time out on the west desert again this morning. The light was great, the birds were singing and everything was clear, crisp and clean. This post is meant to give you a feel for what it was like.
I spotted this adult Red-tailed Hawk perched on the side of a hill and hoped to get some take-off shots as it lifted off and then perhaps some full flight images. I always try to anticipate direction of take-off in this type of situation and I was pretty sure it would lift off to my left in the direction it’s facing. But I was wrong…
Our Chukars are generally easier to approach in the spring and early summer than they are the rest of the year. Right now, pair bonds are being formed and the birds seem more concerned with others of their own kind than they are about me and my pickup.
This was one of my stranger encounters with the bird world, though I’ll preface my narrative by admitting that I don’t have a lot of experience with nightjars of any species so perhaps what this bird was doing wasn’t really so unusual. I just don’t know.
Some of you may remember that on February 17th I posted about the problem of birds getting caught in discarded fishing line at Willow Pond, one of our urban fisheries here in Murray, Utah. I had photographed some Common Mergansers that had fishing line entangled on their bodies and fish hooks stuck in their bills. This merganser had lost a foot to fishing line. Another had a fish-hook stuck in its bill and other ducks had line wrapped around their legs and wings. Here’s a link to that original post: https://featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/02/17/one-footed-merganser-in-a-hurry/#comment-21517 In comments, many of you were as disturbed as I was about the carelessness of anglers and the resulting suffering of birds and some suggested a variety of methods to help address the issue. I chose to contact Tom Wharton, a long-time and highly respected columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, to see if he was interested in doing a story on the situation at Willow Pond. When I sent him a link to the merganser post he responded almost immediately and asked if I would meet him at the pond and give him some background. So a couple of days later Mia and I met him at the pond and spent most of an hour with him reviewing the situation. He was enthusiastic about writing a column on the subject and trying to help birds. That column was published three days ago but I’ve been on a camping/photo trip and couldn’t post about it until now. But since many of you had asked me to update any developments…
Sometimes a change of position of just a few inches can have a fairly dramatic affect on the overall “feel” of an image. That was the case with this Antelope Island Chukar. 1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I found the bird on a rock ledge and slightly above me which gave an almost eye-level perspective that I like. Occasionally it would call, as they’re very prone to do. 1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light But then it began to walk a short distance to my right (I’m always surprised that the bottoms of their feet are yellow)… 1600, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light which brought the snow-covered hillside in the background into play. At first there was a mix of snow and blue sky back there… 2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light but then I deliberately raised my window a couple of inches (as usual I was shooting from my pickup) to take the blue sky out of the picture. And the bird obliged me by calling once again. Most of the snow is finally gone from the island now. Even the roads to the Frary Peak trailhead and White Rock Bay are open – they’ve been closed for months due to snow. Hopefully that’s a sign that the curlews and Willets (and other spring birds) won’t be far behind. Hope so – it’s been a long dry spell on the island. Ron
The antics of Burrowing Owls are always entertaining but “personality” simply oozes out of the juveniles. 1/400, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This youngster had recently fledged and had begun to do a little exploring. On this early morning I found it on this perch just after sunrise. Thus was further away from the burrow than I’d seen any of the juveniles up to that point. 1/400, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Within just a few minutes it gave me a variety of interesting poses – first an enthusiastic yawn… 1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in and then long and drawn out wing stretch with left foot extended… 1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in which concluded with the wing down and partially hidden behind the rock. Soon after this shot was taken the bird flew back to the comfort and security of the burrow and the rest of its family. Ron
Welcome to the month of March everyone – for me a psychological barrier between the depths of winter and the promise of spring. It’s supposed to be almost 50 degrees today and that has me thinking of spring birds, warmer temperatures, liquid water and some actual greens in the landscape. By the Ides of March (only two weeks from now) male Yellow-headed Blackbirds will begin arriving in Utah and the females a week or two later. Almost immediately the males will begin their raucous calling as they compete for territories and later for females. This male was defending breeding territory in May. Males display two primary types of song spreads – the Symmetrical Song Spread and the Asymmetrical Song Spread. Each song spread is accompanied by a distinct song type. Here’s a link to one of them. In this sequence of images the male is displaying the Symmetrical Sound Spread where the bird spreads its wings to expose the white patches and the tail is lowered and spread. During this display he localizes with the song called the Accenting Song. Once a display begins it almost seems like the bird loses voluntary control of its actions and the display must be completed before it regains control (my unscientific observation). During part of this display the head is directed upward at 30-45 degrees. This behavior is often difficult for the bird to complete without losing its balance on the typically spindly perches they prefer. The whole thing is quite entertaining to watch. …
There’s no denying that songbirds tend to be short-shrifted on my blog. That wasn’t a conscious decision on my part but it’s sure the way things have turned out. This post is an initial effort to attempt rectify the situation. The pretty little Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most common warblers in North America so I thought this species was a good place to start. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light There are two sub-species of Yellow-rumped Warblers – Myrtle Warbler in eastern North America and Audubon’s Warbler of the western part of the continent. This is the Audubon’s subspecies, as identified by the yellow throat (white throat on Myrtle). Audubon’s and Myrtle were long considered to be separate species but when it was discovered that they hybridize in the Canadian Rockies they were combined into a single species. 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light This pose shows off that distinctive yellow rump. These birds are often affectionately called “butter-butt” for obvious reasons. These first two “bird on a stick” images are rather sterile but they give a good look at the bird. 1/640, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light They’re much more often found buried deeply “in habitat” as you see here, which can make for a more cluttered setting but often has a more natural appeal. The preferred habitat of the Yellow-rumped Warbler is one of the most ecologically generalized of all warblers, which partially accounts for its broad range. During the nonbreeding season…
I live near a local fishing pond that attracts a few fish-eating birds, particularly in the late winter and early spring. For the last few days there’s been a pair of Common Mergansers on the pond and yesterday morning I was finally able to get relatively close to them for a few minutes. The pond was still about half covered with ice but it’s melting fast. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Most of the time there wasn’t much action with the cormorants but once, when this bird apparently thought its companion might have caught a fish, it rushed over to investigate. It wasn’t until this morning when I began culling and processing the images that I noticed that it was missing its left foot. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Since they use their webbed feet to help propel them along the surface of the water this bird could really scoot for having only one foot. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light This image shows the missing foot best. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light This shot, and the next two, are of the other merganser. As you can see it had some kind of fishing lure/hook stuck in its lower mandible. It doesn’t look like a typical lure so perhaps it’s what’s left of a fish that it had tried to swallow when the hook and/or line got stuck in its bill. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500…
