birding, photography and living with pet birds
Posted in tanager on Apr 29th, 2016
It’s still all about language. Ava chatters and I can understand maybe 70% now. Here are some little snippets. Ava is very concerned about water, rain, and puddles. She also knows that umbrellas are associated with rain. When she sees patio umbrellas, she points at them and says rain. She goes through all her possessives […]
Thanks to my wonderful in-laws I was able to go birding at Red Butte Garden recently. I found a juvenile Black-billed Magpie that was quite tolerant of having his picture taken. I had to back up to get all of the bird in my 500mm lens. You can tell this is a juvenile by the […]
Posted in tanager on Dec 14th, 2013
I finished my final and the worst of my crunch-time work deadlines so I headed out to Farmington Bay today. Today was a fantastic birding day. The best picture was this male Northern Harrier. This is an adult. The juveniles are more rust colored. Mia has lovely pictures of a female juvenile. You know […]
These pictures of Bushtits are from California. These birds are only 7-8 centimeters long and weight 4-6 grams. How can a birds weigh 4-6 grams? They’re always in a group moving fast around a tree, at least when I’ve seen them. It’s because they eat insects that they have to move so fast.
Posted in tanager on Oct 12th, 2013
Antelope Island is so beautiful this time of year. The hillsides are covered in sunflowers and other yellow flowers. If you look in the center of this picture, there’s a meadowlark. It’s amazing how much he blends in with the brown from the side and the yellow from the front. I had to […]
We all know how much I love quails. Jon even designed the landscape of our front lawn to encourage quails to nest. Along the same lines, I’m a big fan of Chukars, even if they aren’t a native Utah species. They’re hard to get good pictures of because they’re very skittish. However, I […]
Posted in tanager on Sep 8th, 2013
Avian Explorer would not be complete without a picture of a Flicker. Only the males have this lovely rouge. And you can understand from his tail feathers why he’s called the red-shafted Northern Flicker. The east coast Northern Flickers are yellow-shafted. I also realized that I haven’t shown you a picture […]
Posted in tanager on Aug 25th, 2013
In June I mentioned that we saw baby Sandhill Cranes. In July we stayed overnight in a cabin near the cranes. I photographed them again, and this time the babies were juveniles. They must have tripled in size. I was really nervous for them being on the road, but I really like how […]
Checkout the hook on this guy’s beak. It’s for handling the fish. Heber, UT has been putting up a lot more nests up for the Ospreys and they’re taking advantage. Here’s a platform. Can you spot the babies in the nest? They blend incredibly well with the sticks. Can you see them […]
Posted in tanager on Jun 28th, 2013
I really lucked out when it came to Sandhill Cranes in Heber last weekend. I saw two different sets of parents: the first with one chick and the second with two chicks. The second set weren’t worried about me being close at all. Also, Jon would like you to know that these close up pictures […]
