Month: February 2012

Just A Shot That I Like… #18 – Fighting Ring-necked Pheasants

In this neck of the woods Ring-necked Pheasants start feeling frisky about this time of year.   Territories are being established, hormones flowing and feathers flying.  When fighting, these birds flutter up against each other breast to breast, bite each other’s wattles and sometimes make high leaps toward each other using claws, bills and spurs.  It can be quite dramatic.   Just as the sun came over the mountains I pulled into a gravel hunter’s parking lot at the refuge and noticed these two birds going at it.  I assumed they wouldn’t let me get close enough for quality photos but they were so intent on their battle that they mostly ignored me and I was able to get just close enough.    1/640, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc With the low light I was fighting for both shutter speed and depth of field and was pleasantly surprised to get both birds sharp at these settings.  I’m always very happy to get behavioral shots like this, busy background or not. Ron

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Birds, Spiders, Brine Flies and Mercury Contamination on Antelope Island

Last Sunday I found this Northern Shrike on Antelope Island enthusiastically singing away as if spring were already in full bloom.  Their predatory habits and interesting behaviors make them a favorite species for me but when I got home that day I read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune that made me wonder just how healthy their populations near the Great Salt Lake really are.    North end of Antelope Island, 2/5/12 The reason for my concern is a bit complex but I’ll summarize:  For over 100 years smelting operations have been responsible for high levels of elemental mercury in the Great Salt Lake and its sediments.  Microorganisms in the lake convert the mercury to methyl mercury which is the toxic form of the element that can be absorbed by tissues of living things.  Brine fly larvae living in the lake then absorb the methyl mercury and when they hatch the adult flies are consumed by spiders living in the vegetation around the lake.  Finally, those spiders are eaten by the many bird species living and nesting along the shoreline.  But very little is known about the movement of mercury compounds through Great Salt Lake ecosystems, including the possible effects of toxic methyl mercury on birds so Westminster College’s Great Salt Lake Institute was recently awarded a $250,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to study its possible effects.      Antelope Island causeway, 8/29/11 The number and total biomass of brine flies in late summer around the lake literally boggles the mind but this shot should give you some idea.  It was taken in late August of…

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American Kestrels In Snow, Frost And Fog

Photographing American Kestrels near the Great Salt Lake during the coldest parts of winter is a two-edged sword.  On the one hand the frigid temperatures in December and January make the kestrels “stickier” – much less likely to fly off before you can get close enough for quality photos.  But there’s a down side too.  Moisture from the lake often forms fog or at least makes the air so incredibly laden with moisture that good lighting often becomes an issue.  I’ll still take the shot under some of those conditions though – a close-up with the bird large enough to very nearly fill the frame is still usually much more desirable than a well-lit bird so small in the frame that little detail can be seen.   2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc In this image the background is snow and there had been a blizzard the day before which had stacked snow up on one side of the perch.  This was one of the first times I’d ever been close enough to a kestrel to get a frame-filling image and I well remember having a case of “buck fever” while photographing him at such close range.  Also a bit unusual was the fact that I was actually looking slightly down at him – something that doesn’t happen often with kestrels.       1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This shot illustrates well what you get when the atmosphere is so laden with moisture when it’s very cold – fog, low but even light, some reduction in detail and sometimes…

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Just A Shot That I Like… #17 – Short-eared Owl In Flight With A Vole In Its Beak

This is another image from my time with the Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.  This male was kept very busy hunting voles and feeding his mate and youngsters at the nest.   Typically I would see him hunting far off, dive for a vole, and if he was successful he’d occasionally eat the vole himself but most often he would return with it to a favorite perch in the vicinity of the nest – and without exception he would always carry the vole in his talons before he got to the perch (and always his left talon, but I covered that topic in another post).     1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc However, just before (or just after) he took off from the perch to deliver the meal to his family he would always transfer the vole from his talons to his beak.  I have a theory as to why he did so.  The nest was on the ground at the base of a sagebrush.  Whenever the male landed at the entrance to the nest with the vole the female would rush out and very aggressively grab the vole.  And I DO mean aggressively!  If I’d been him I’d have been afraid to get that close to her with food.  So the male would approach the nest very gingerly with the vole in his beak and drop it in front of him and quickly retreat as she rushed out.  I suspect it was easier for him to avoid a confrontation with her if he could quickly drop…

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A Tragedy For A Coyote On Antelope Island

I’ve always thought that nature photographers are some of the luckiest folks on the planet because we get to spend so much time in the natural world that we love and we see some of the most exhilirating sights and wonderous events that nature has to offer.  But occasionally there’s a dark side.  Yesterday was a difficult day in the field for me on Antelope Island.  Be forewarned that the photos are of documentary quality only and that at least one of them may be difficult for some to view.  When we spotted this coyote hunting in the grass for voles it was successful almost immediately and quickly swallowed its lunch.  A few seconds later I noticed that it looked like it had caught another vole because I thought I could see the vole hanging out the left side of it’s mouth – the grasses were thick and it was difficult to tell.     Then we spotted another coyote about a quarter mile behind this one and within a few seconds this animal also caught sight of the second coyote.  When it did so there was an instantantaneous reaction – it put its ears down, its tail between its legs and started running through the grass like a bat out of hell to get away from the second coyote.  I fired off a few shots as it ran but certainly didn’t get anything to be proud of.     It wasn’t until I got home and processed the running shots that I knew something was terribly wrong.  This…

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Odd Behavior In A Young Male Northern Harrier

It’s likely that I’m more interested in bird behaviors than some of my readers –  if so I hope you’ll bear with me through this post.   Even though the light was terrible for photography much of the time, witnessing this odd behavior was a treat for me.  As most folks who try to photograph harriers know, they’re generally an elusive quarry and difficult to get close to.  Occasionally you may get a close fly-by if you’re lucky but yesterday I had an experience with a harrier that I had never seen before and I’ve spent a lot of time around harriers.  Mia and I first found the bird (a young male just transitioning to adult plumage) perched close to the road and as we attempted to get close for some shots it lifted off, just as we expected.  I assumed it was long gone as usually happens with these birds but that’s not how it turned out.   1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As we were preparing to drive further down the road we noticed the harrier coming back and it landed quite close to us again.  Very unusual, so we decided to hang around and see how the cards played out.       1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc   The harrier began to call.  Sometimes it sounded like the typical harrier call that I’ve heard so many times in the past but occasionally this bird sounded different – Mia thought it sounded almost like a parrot.         1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc  It stayed on the same…

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