American Coots are raucous and quarrelsome birds that can be counted on to stick their noses into everybody else’s business. That personality trait provides countless interesting opportunities for the photographer who’s prepared to take advantage of them.
Many bird species are known to play and I photographed a juvenile Western Grebe doing just that three days ago at Farmington Bay WMA.
This morning at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I saw kingbirds galore – mostly Western but also a few Eastern Kingbirds. Soon it became obvious that this Eastern Kingbird was about to cast a pellet.
When this Common Raven landed on a large rock fairly close to me last week on Antelope Island I could see that it had something in its beak and assumed that it was some type of food. It wasn’t until I got home and processed the images that I could tell what it was. Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/2500, f 6.3, ISO 500 It turns out that it was eggshell, presumably from its own nest. In researching Common Raven eggs I found that they have this kind of marking and color (though there is some variability in both) and this shell remnant seemed to be about the right size for a raven so my assumption is that it’s a raven eggshell and not leftovers from a meal from raiding the nest of another bird. There is a raven nest relatively close to this rock. Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/2500, f 6.3, ISO 500 Here the raven is very carefully placing the shell in a crevice in the rocks. At the time I took the photo I couldn’t figure out why the bird would simply abandon what I thought was food. Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/3200, f 6.3, ISO 500 Here the raven has dropped the eggshell… Canon 7D, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, 1/2000, f 7.1, ISO 500 and then it hopped to the peak of the rock to “crow” about its accomplishment. Birds of North America Online says this about raven eggshell disposal – “No…
I’ve spent many, many hours watching and photographing feeding avocets and have never once seen one eat a fish or even attempt to catch one that I was aware of. Until yesterday. American Avocet feeding on fish at Bear River MBR While at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge I photographed this avocet catching, manipulating and finally swallowing a fish. I know that this behavior is not unheard of as Birds of North America Online (BNA) states that this species sometimes eats fish and my friend Dave Sparks once posted an avocet with a fish on an online critique forum. However, for me it was something new and unique and worthy of a post here. Ron
