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<\/p>\nYesterday was a day of highs and lows on Antelope Island.<\/p>\n
I almost didn’t go. As soon as I got on the road I came very close to turning around and going back home because I could see that it was cloudy up north. I pulled into the Smith’s parking lot near my home and sat there for nearly five minutes while I tried to decide what to do.<\/p>\n
In the end I literally said to myself “To hell with it, I’m cocked and loaded so let’s go”. And that’s what I did.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Once again I found Burrowing Owls in quite a few places on the north end of the island. Because of the clouds, I didn’t have very good light most of the time but for this early morning shot I had filtered and very warm light.<\/p>\n I cropped this photo as I did to highlight the owl’s mullein perch. Sometimes I wonder how those spindly stems can support an owl but the owls seem to love using them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 2000, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is the same owl on the same perch but by then I had moved my shooting location and the light had changed so it looks different. While the owl was preening it lost its balance. This single wing out posture is the bird’s attempt at regaining it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Later in the morning I captured this White-faced Ibis flying past clouds of brine flies with Great Salt Lake in the background. In a minute you’ll see why I’m including this photo in a post about owls and fire.<\/p>\n It was my intention to post quite a few Burrowing Owl photos this morning but my heart isn’t in it. Several hours after I got home yesterday, I learned that a wildfire had broken out on the island – in the very area where I’d spent much of the morning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a Utah Fire Info aerial photo of the fire while it was still actively burning. For reference I’ve labeled several significant locations with red numbers.<\/p>\n Depending on whose numbers you believe, the fire burned 59-85 acres. That might seem fairly insignificant compared to the 2016 wildfire that burned nearly half of the island’s 30,000 acres but this fire consumed prime sagebrush habitat between the visitor center and the causeway entrance to the island. Sagebrush can take a few years to return after a fire, but it can take decades for it to dominate the landscape again. Sometimes it never comes back.<\/p>\n So this fire scar will be the view that greets visitors to the island for a very long time. And I suspect that the plans for the new visitor center include educational facilities that are\/were meant to incorporate the prime sagebrush habitat directly below the center. If so, so much for plans…<\/p>\n It’s been determined that the fire, which began “near the visitor center”, was human caused. They haven’t yet announced who caused it but many of us suspect the cause was related to construction activities at the visitor center.<\/p>\n As of early this morning the island is still closed.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday was a day of highs and lows on Antelope Island. (4 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/burrowing-owl-9367-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"burrowing-owl-9367-ron-dudley\\"")
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