Tag: voles

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…

Continue reading

Northern Harriers Battle over a Mallard

Occasionally we have brutally cold winters here in northern Utah.  It’s my opinion that unusually cold temperatures when combined with thick crusted snow gives harriers little access to their staple food around here – voles.  Survival then becomes tenuous for the harriers and they’re forced to move on to other food sources like small birds, dead carp and waterfowl.   When a large meal like a carp or duck is available many harriers often fight over the food item and they do so with ferocity.   During less stressful times of the year I often see these birds skirmish but then it almost seems like a playful interlude that they do simply for “fun”.   Not so when it’s very cold and food is scarce – then it’s deadly serious and incredibly interesting to observe and photograph. First, a disclaimer.  Some of the photos I’ll present here would wither under the scrutiny of critique because of cut off or clipped wings, missing eyes or heads, lack of catch lights and difficult and rapidly changing lighting conditions.  My intent here is to show the behavior with the best images I have but some of them do have obvious flaws.  The calm before the storm I didn’t see harriers make this Mallard kill but it was still fresh when I came across this bird on the duck.  At first I though I’d simply be photographing the harrier calmly enjoying its meal but I was very mistaken.   Thinking about challenging the larger bird for the meal It didn’t take long for other birds to challenge her for the Mallard.  Some were timid…

Continue reading