A Wonderful Antelope Island Morning – Including A Long-tailed Duck

It’s been a frustrating photography week for both Mia and I for a variety of reasons but it’s primarily been because the weather and light have seriously sucked – big time!.  So when yesterday’s dawn showed promise we headed for the island with high hopes but low expectations because there haven’t been many bird opportunities out there recently.  We were in for some pleasant surprises.

I’ll present these images in the order they were taken to give a feel for the morning.

 

 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

We had barely made it onto the causeway before this Rough-legged hawk began to entertain us.  We watched as it ate a vole and then it immediately walked about two feet to its left and picked something else up with its foot.  At first I assumed it was another vole, either alive or from a food cache.  But in looking at close-ups of some of the photos I’m pretty sure it’s only a rock with old brine fly larvae cases and small twigs frozen to it.   Then this hawk did something strange – it transferred the “rock” to its beak and deliberately flung it a good distance – here it’s flying through the air  Then the bird walked over, picked up the rock in its left foot and flew off with it.  My curiosity is killing me as to just what was going on.  Obviously this isn’t a great shot but I was fascinated by the behavior.

 

 

 

  1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 Next this Northern Harrier gave us some good looks.  I only got blue sky background but still liked the shot.

 

 

 

  1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Then the same roughie as before decided to play with us again.  I always like it when I can get the Great Salt Lake as background for a shot like this, even though I never did catch the hawk looking at me.   So far we’d been shooting hawks along the causeway for about 40 minutes and hadn’t even made it to the first bridge yet.  What a blast!

 

 

 

  1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 Ok, now we’re on the island and decided to go for our favorite group of Black-billed Magpies.  These birds are a huge challenge because of their black and white colors – proper exposure is very difficult.  And even when you get the exposure right most shots don’t come out very interesting unless you get lucky with the iridescence.  Over the years I’ve probably wasted more pixels on this species than any other but I liked this shot because of the wing and head positions and the iridescence.

 

 

 

  1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 Next we found a few cooperative Horned Larks.  This male gave me a clean background and even picked a rock to perch on that wasn’t glaring white like they usually do.

 

 

 

  1/1000, f/10, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

But I was much happier with the dried sunflower this female picked to perch on.  I have a love/hate relationship with all the sunflowers on the island this past year.  They were spectacularly beautiful when they were flowering and they make wonderful perches for bird photography but it’s sure frustrating to try to shoot through all of them when your subject (feathered or furred) is on the ground.

 

 

 

  1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 Then, just as we were about to leave the island we found this Loggerhead Shrike on another sunflower.

 

 

 

   1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

And to cap off a wonderful morning we spotted this Long-tailed Duck just past the second bridge along the causeway as we were heading home.  They’re an unusual species in Utah and this bird was a “lifer” for me so I can’t think of a better way to conclude a great outing.  That said, I’m concerned about the health of this duck as it doesn’t seem to be feeding properly and its general behavior may indicate that it isn’t doing well.

Ron

+++Update, 3/4/11 – There are reliable reports that the Long-tailed Duck was killed by a Northern Harrier last evening.