I’m on a roll. Sixteen minutes after I left the tamest Belted Kingfisher I’ve ever photographed (photos I posted yesterday) I found the tamest Cooper’s Hawk I’ve ever seen or photographed. Around here both species are notoriously difficult to approach, especially in a wild setting.
I’ve bitched and moaned for years about how difficult kingfishers are to get close to but yesterday morning this amazingly cooperative female made me feel guilty about badmouthing them for it.
Some simple shots of a common species and further evidence that followers of Feathered Photography have big hearts.
Plus a champion of raptors and a mentor to thousands of raptor-lovers could use our help.
After twelve years of photographing birds and paying particular attention to their behaviors it isn’t every day that I witness a ritualized aggressive behavior that’s new to me. But it happened yesterday at Bear River MBR with a couple of Great Blue Herons, seemingly on steroids.
In my view Rough-legged Hawks are spectacularly handsome raptors whether perched or in flight, even in poor light.
There are more very similar colors in these photos than you can shake the proverbial stick at.
I don’t post photos of Turkey Vultures often but yesterday, International Vulture Awareness Day, was perfect timing to have an encounter with them.
It took me years to realize what saved this image. Prepare yourself for some photo and bird geekiness as I explain.
Some might say it’s only a swallow but I like the image a lot (and I wouldn’t say “only”.)
Plus… Yesterday morning I finally spent some time with the Brown Pelican on the Bear River that has caused so much excitment lately in the birding community.
