antelope island – Page 45 – Feathered Photography

Red-tailed Hawk – Intensity At Take-off

Raptors at take-off typically have a “focused” look about them – they’re all business. But I thought the intensity of purpose of this Red-tailed Hawk was particularly evident. 1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Red-tails are “perch-and-wait” hunters so when they take off after prey they already have their eye on it and their focus is seldom diverted as they swoop in for the kill. This juvenile was hunting voles from an elevated rock perch on Antelope Island several months ago. I’ve had few opportunities with red-tails since all the snow piled up around here. Hopefully that will soon change… Ron

Chukars Falling Through The Snow

Two days ago we had great fun with Chukars on Antelope Island. The afternoon before had been relatively warm, melting the top layer of snow which then froze into a thin crust on top of the snow during the night. Our timing was perfect as we found a large covey of Chukars flitting between sagebrush and rabbitbrush for cover just as the morning sun was beginning to soften the hard crust. As you view these photos, keep in mind that most of the sequences were shot in bursts of 8 frames per second. The action was pretty fast. When these birds were walking, the crust would support their weight but they just couldn’t resist the impulse to run. And when they did… the crust, which had only become soft in the last few minutes, would usually give way… leaving a very surprised bird stuck in the snow. The bird would then pull out of the snow. This one almost looks like it’s looking around to see if any of its buddies saw its silly maneuver. Usually they seemed to know that they needed to walk instead of run, which they did for a few steps but then they nearly always tried to run again. It was hilarious to watch and it happened repeatedly. This was one of those few times that I wish I’d been prepared to shoot video but I think the still shots still give a pretty good sense of what was happening. Another…

Birds Dealing With Snow And Cold

Birds use a variety of tactics to deal with the harsh conditions presented by an unusually cold and snowy winter. Some are more effective than others. I thought it might be interesting to see a few of them that I’ve been able to photograph in the last several weeks. My usual disclaimer for posts relating to behaviors; many of these images are technically lacking but I think they do illustrate some of the conditions these birds are having to cope with. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light After a fresh snow, the food source for many small birds is largely hidden and unavailable without some extraordinary measures. This juvenile White-crowned Sparrow, and others in the flock, were flitting from one snow-covered perch to another in an obvious attempt at knocking the snow off so they could get to the seeds underneath. Here you can see the snow falling away and immediately afterward the sparrow fed on the uncovered seeds. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When it gets very cold most water sources freeze up completely which makes fish largely inacessable to Bald Eagles so many of them turn to scavenging as their primary food source. But this species adapted very well to scavenging eons ago which is one of the reasons Ben Franklin looked in disfavor at the proposal to make the Bald Eagle our national bird. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or…

It’s Been A Tough Winter For Birds (and it’s getting worse)

Typical winters are hard on birds in northern Utah (and elsewhere). But when the season is unusually frigid with lots of snow as we’re having this year they struggle even more to survive. All of these images have been taken since January 2 of this year. Upland game birds like this Chukar seem to have adapted to extreme conditions fairly well. This bird was all puffed up and sitting high on a rock to catch the earliest warming rays of the sun as it rose over the nearby Wasatch Mountains. Another upland game species that can apparently take harsh conditions quite well is the Ring-necked Pheasant (this is a female). They seem to forage for seeds at the base of plants where the snow isn’t as thick and their food is more readily available. But many other species have a difficult time and quite a few birds don’t survive until spring. The waterfowl that winter over here congregate in the few areas of open water where the flowing water is the last to freeze over. But when it gets very cold, even those small bits of open water freeze. I’ve seen ducks and coots frozen into the ice, some of them still alive. This female Green-winged Teal has just left one of the last unfrozen patches of water and is approaching an area of frost flowers. This Northern Flicker is using the protection of the underside of the eaves of a building on Antelope Island State Park. I thought the angled…

A Vole Makes A Coyote Pay a Price For Its Meal

Yesterday morning I witnessed quite the little drama on Antelope Island. Two of them, really. This post will attempt to document what I saw. I lost sharp focus on a couple of these shots and some of the action was far away but I hope the images I include here will give you a feeling for all the excitement that unfolded. Going north on the ranch road we spotted four coyotes. Three of them crossed the road and walked slowly west while one of them left the area. At first I didn’t think they were in hunting mode, rather that they had a destination in mind. But this one detected a vole under the 6″ deep snow. From its body language it was obvious that it was able to hear the vole, even through all that snow. I’ve deliberately cropped this image to include the second coyote in the background. Notice in this shot, and the next two, that the background coyote is intensely watching something in front of and above it (there’s a relatively high mountain in that direction). Coyote #1 begins a pounce toward the source of the sound. The next image in the burst. It lands in the snow but apparently missed the vole. It stopped to listen again for a few seconds then pounced one more time. With its nose buried, it pushed through the snow like a snowplow for several feet. I believe that it was following the scent of the…

Male Sandhill Crane Dancing For His Lady

Sandhill Cranes are impressive birds, weighing up to about 11 pounds, standing 4′ tall with a wing span of almost 6 1/2′. And their very loud and penetrating bugling call is something every nature lover should experience. These birds are perennially monogamous with pair bonds formed in the spring when they perform elaborate courtship dances. These dances, usually performed just after sunrise, are the primary mechanism in pair bond formation. I found this pair of cranes in late April along the Antelope Island causeway. It was early morning and the birds were sidelit so I didn’t get light in the eyes in some of these shots but I found the behavior (and the sounds) to be fascinating and I think the image quality is sufficient for documentary purposes. All images presented here are in the order they were taken. Techs for all of these images: f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shutter speed ranged from 1/400 to 1/800. Here the larger male in the back is approaching the female and calling loudly. That distinctive sound absolutely boomed across the shallow water. Then he begins to dance as he calls. He seemed to try to move in front of her as she walked to the left, in order to get her attention. He repeatedly jumped up into the air with his wings spread. Here he’s about a foot off the water surface though it’s difficult to tell because you can’t see his feet. Sometimes the female joins in the dancing but in this case…

A Couple Of Intereresting Coyote Hunting Techniques

New Year’s morning on Antelope Island was a cloudy, low-light affair. It turned mostly sunny as we left for home in late morning and on the causeway we passed flocks of birders on their way to the island for their first day of birding in the New Year. I couldn’t help but notice the irony – us photographers who needed good light didn’t get any and the birders who don’t, did… But despite the low light I was able to photograph two coyote hunting techniques that I thought were interesting. 1/800, f/8, ISO 500, 100-400 @ 150 mm, natural light This coyote was on the edge of a large hill overlooking the frozen shoreline of the Great Salt Lake far below. I was very close to the animal but it was so intent on scanning the marshy area below for prey that it simply ignored me. At one point it stood on its hind legs with its front legs on a large, snow-covered boulder to give it an even more elevated view of the hunting grounds down below. I hoped that it would look back at me but it never did, though I think this pose, with just enough of the muzzle in view to show the direction the coyote was looking, well illustrates the hunting behavior. I was pleasantly surprised with one element of this photo. I was much too close to this coyote to use my 500mm lens so I had grabbed my other 7D with the 100-400 attached and backed the zoom down to 150mm. …

Lickety-split Chukar

We haven’t seen many Chukars recently but yesterday we found a small covey feeding at the base of several rabbitbrush on the north end of Antelope Island. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Most of them were pretty skittish but the sentry bird was standing watch on top of a snow-covered boulder as the rest of the birds slowly wandered away. The sentry posed for us for several minutes. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light It called out to the rest of the flock twice. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light Chukars are often reluctant to fly and prefer to scurry on the ground to safety. In an instant the bird accelerated up the rock… 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light and down the other side. It was really moving. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light In this last decent shot I got in the series, the bird appears to be sledding on top of the snow as much as it is running through it. I really enjoy photographing Chukars in the snow this time of year. For much of the fall and early winter these birds are pretty scruffy looking but now their plumage appears bright and fresh again. Ron

Baiting Coyotes On Antelope Island

I’m of the strong opinion that baiting wild animals of any kind for photographic purposes (or most any other purpose, with very few exceptions) is a despicable practice. It often puts the critter at risk in a variety of different ways and no photo is worth that. I’ve railed against baiting before on this blog so I won’t go into all the details once again here. But this morning I saw another example of why I despise this practice so much. The weather has been dreary and overcast for so long that I haven’t been out photographing for a while, but this morning we decided to head for Antelope Island just to get “out there” and ease our cabin fever a little, despite the clouds. As we came around a small curve on the island we noticed this coyote in the middle of the road. I could hardly believe it when I saw that it was feeding on dog food that someone had obviously spread down the center of the road in an attempt to lure coyotes up close and into an area where they wouldn’t be obscured by vegetation. And it worked! Even as close as we were, the coyote was intent on eating all of the dog food before it left the area. After taking a few documentary photos I drove up to the spot and then we picked up the kibbels and threw them away from the road (we probably should have taken them with us but I didn’t think of it at the time). We then reported what we saw…

My Recent Encounters With The Female Prairie Falcon

As regular readers of my blog know, I’ve had four close-up encounters with this female Prairie Falcon on the Antelope Island causeway over the last couple of months. I couldn’t resist posting some images of her in different poses that I haven’t published here previously. There is general agreement among folks who are much more knowledgeable about falcons than I am that it was the same bird in all four cases. 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here she is on 10/7/12. I’ll never forget that morning because she let me get closer than I had ever been to a wild Prairie Falcon (even had to remove my tc). But there was a tradeoff (isn’t there always?) because the reason she felt so secure was that she was in deep shade, which isn’t the best situation for photography. Still, I’m happy to have the images of her that morning. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in A little over a month later (11/11/12) she killed a Northern Shoveler in the water about 50 yards out and waited for it to drift to shore. Here she has just claimed her prize and seemed to raise her wings in celebration. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in She attempted to enjoy her meal on the shore edge but waves kept coming in and sloshing the duck around so she decided to drag it further away…

Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – This Time A Female American Kestrel

Yesterday morning I spotted this female American Kestrel perched on a far-off rock to the west on Antelope Island. She was much too far away for decent photographs (as is obvious from the mediocre quality of these first five photos) but when I see raptors at most any distance it’s my practice to “scope them out” through my lens so I can ID them and look for anything unusual or interesting. I took a couple of shots for documentary purposes but at first I didn’t notice anything noteworthy about her except for the keratin flaking off of her beak. But then she scratched her face with her foot. Jesses! Those damned jesses again. In this shot you can see anklets above both feet and the jess on the left leg. She perched and preened on the rock for quite a while and a few minutes later she scratched with her other foot which provided a good look at the jess on the right ankle. I’m including this shot for a look at her right side, in the unlikely event that some local falconer may recognize her. I hung around for a long time in the hopes of catching her at take-off for a better look at both jesses and anklets. As luck would have it, when it happened they were both in shade and I lost focus on the bird but the photo still provides a decent look at the jesses. I’m deeply troubled by this event and I’ll provide a little background as…

Another Encounter With The Antelope Island Prairie Falcon

Two days ago we located the Prairie Falcon on the causeway once again. This bird spends most of its time on the island itself but occasionally ventures onto the causeway to hunt ducks. I’m quite sure, as are others who are more falcon knowledgeable than I, that it’s the same individual in all of my recent Prairie Falcon posts. Usually I complain about not being able to get close enough to my subjects but here I had the opposite problem. The only way I could even see this bird was from very close. From any further away the falcon was completely obstructed by the road edge and the vegetation growing there. The first two images are essentially full frame (very little crop) and that’s without my tc attached, so the falcon is too tight in the frame but this post is more about falcon adaptations than it is about aesthetics anyway. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This bird was a mess! It had apparently just finished dining on duck so it was wet, blood encrusted and disheveled, with tidbits still clinging to feet and beak. The bird is meticulously cleaning and scratching its beak with those impressive talons, which seems to me to be about like picking one’s teeth with a Bowie knife. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But what I found particularly interesting about many of the images I took of this bird was the good look at the well-defined and bulging crop. …

Rough-legged Hawk “Playing”

This post is about behavior. Please don’t expect high quality images… Last March I found this juvenile (I believe) Rough-legged Hawk along the Antelope Island causeway on a cold morning after a light snowfall. It was perched on a windrow of debris consisting mostly of piles of old brine fly pupae casings. For a while the bird seemed content to simply rest and watch me. But soon it apparently got bored… and walked about two feet to my right to investigate a clump of fly casings (red arrow) that had been cemented together by melting snow that had re-frozen during the night. The hawk reached over to grasp the clump with its talons… retrieved the clump,… transferred it to its beak and then instantly tossed it to the ground. I assumed that was that, figuring the bird had thought it might be something edible, then discarded it for good when it wasn’t. But that wasn’t what happened. The hawk grabbed the clump with its talons once again… and then seemed to contemplate for a few seconds about just what to do next. Which turned out to be something like “give the clump a toss and see where it lands”. The hawk immediately started walking over to where the clump had landed behind the mound of fly casings, where it can’t be seen in this image. It used its wings for a little more stability as it negotiated the hill of debris. …

Prairie Falcon Redux

It’s been 16 days since I’ve seen a Prairie Falcon along the causeway and I had just about given up on them for the short-term. But yesterday, as I was leaving the island after a relatively fruitless morning, I spotted that distinctive flash of bright breast whites up ahead among the rocks and very close to the road. Sure enough, as I got closer I could tell it was Falco mexicanus perched on a colorful boulder. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, background is the Great Salt Lake I’ll sheepishly admit to the fact that in situations like this I typically come down with a case of “buck fever” (aggravated by the fact that I have familial tremors) and sure enough I was actually shaking with excitement and dread as I tried to maneuver my pickup to get a clear shot of the bird through all the vegetation along the road. With this particular perch, this was the most unobstructed view I could get. In case you’re wondering what the source of my “dread” could be, I’m a dedicated pessimist at heart (which Mia mercilessly teases me about) and I’m always convinced that the bird will take off a split second before I get the pickup stopped in a safe place and my finger on the shutter. That exact thing had happened twice that morning with Red-tailed Hawks. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, background is…

Shrikes And A Lesson For Me In Light

Birds on Antelope Island have been few and far between lately and yesterday was no exception. But a couple of Loggerhead Shrikes saved my morning and taught me yet another lesson in light. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It was mostly cloudy on the island when we got there just as the sun was coming up over the mountains but there was a crack in those clouds that provided some very warm light for a few minutes just as we found this cooperative shrike. The golden light provides colors to the bird and perch – an effect that I like, especially with the dark storm clouds in the background. 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I was only able to get off a few shots before the shrike flew to another perch, which gave me side light on the bird. This is a tricky lighting situation. When the bird was facing left into the sun the bright whites on the breast and neck “blew out” (too bright with no detail) and the shadows on the back of the shrike were too dark. But when it turned to its right and looked over its shoulder at me the exposure worked much better. The problem with this pose was getting both light in the eye and good eye contact. This image was one of the few that worked. I like the contrasting cool and warm tones on the shrike….

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