Mating Swainson’s Hawks Series

Last week in northern Utah a pair of Swainson’s Hawks mated right in front of me. I’ve seen it happen fairly often over the years but this time they were close, I had good light, an unobstructed view and my camera was ready. I couldn’t believe my good fortune.

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Golden Eagle – Out, Damn’d Wires, Out!

I have a small list of personal nemesis species but if forced to choose the top contender it would have to be the shy and elusive Golden Eagle. I’d estimate that I get a reasonable chance with one of these birds about two times per year and every time something goes wrong that prevents me from getting the photos I covet so much. Two mornings ago it was those ever-pesky power lines.

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An Update On The Red-tailed Hawk Chicks

Ten days ago I reported on the progress of the three Red-tailed Hawk nestlings I’ve been following out in the west desert. At that time several of my readers requested that I keep folks up to date on these birds as they approach fledging. This post is my attempt to do so.

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The Shot That Broke My Heart

There was a range fire on the north end of Antelope Island yesterday that forced managers to clear out all campers from the campgrounds.  So when we arrived early this morning the campgrounds were empty and this young coyote was hunting on the edge of Bridger Bay Campground.    Canon 7D, 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, EV +0.33 Normally the coyotes on the island are elusive and difficult to approach but I believe this to be a young one so it didn’t seem overly concerned about us.  Besides, he/she obviously already had a quarry in sight deep in the grass and wasn’t about to let us interfere with the hunt.  In this image the coyote has just spotted something of interest in the grass some distance in front of “him”.     Canon 7D, 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, EV +0.33 Here the coyote begins to make his stalk.  At first he didn’t crouch down so that he could see what ever it was he was after through the grass.      Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, EV +0.33 But as he got closer (both to the potential prey and to me) he began to crouch down, almost in a cat-like manner.  At this point I suspected that something dramatic might happen and tried to prepare myself for “the shot”.    The most common prey of coyotes on the island is voles but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a vole because the coyote was too far away from his point of interest when he first spotted it to…

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