Tag: chukar

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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Chukar with Black Mustard

I know, my title sounds like a recipe title or an entree from a fancy restaurant.  Couldn’t resist… I’ve been photographing Chukars on Antelope Island for several years now and I’m often pleasantly surprised by the lovely backgrounds the island provides.  Since these birds like to perch on the boulders that are common on the island they are often separated from their backgrounds by enough distance to provide a pleasing out of focus backdrop of earth tones from the dried grasses.   Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 But until recently the background has never included attractive flowers that I recall.  What a treat it was to find this bird immediately after we got on the island just as the sun was peeking over the mountains to the east which made for some some nice warm light and for the bird to choose a perch with such a pleasant background.  In this case the flowers are Black Mustard (named for the seed color – not the color of the flower, obviously – thanks for the flower ID Mia!).   I liked the calling pose in this full frame shot.     Canon 7D, 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4 And to make things even better this bird cooperated for quite a while – providing a variety of head turns and poses to take advantage of the light and the setting. Chukars like to perch on, and call from, boulders.  That can be a problem because most of the rocks on the north end of the island where these…

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Early Spring Birds and Craziness on Antelope Island

 Typically our first spring camping trip is a shake-down cruise for the trailer to Antelope Island.  If anything goes wrong with the trailer (and it sometimes does after sitting all winter) I’ll be relatively close to home.  This year we spent the last two days of March on the island.  Most of the photos in this post were taken on that trip.   1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500  There’s been a few Western Meadowlarks on the island for much of the winter but they’ve returned in large numbers now.  In all my travels in the west I don’t think I’ve ever seen any other area with such a high concentration of this species.   At times their beautiful song resonates all over the hills of the island.  Meadowlarks always bring back fond memories for me of growing up on the Montana farm.      1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500 Loggerhead Shrikes are another very common species, especially on the northern part of the island.   They’ve been absent all winter but we’re seeing more of them on each visit now.   It was cloudy when this image was taken and I didn’t get a lot of light in the eye but I think there’s just enough.      1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500 I always look forward to the return of the Long-billed Curlews with great anticipation and they started appearing about 10 days ago.  I was happy to get this shot of the male on the right displaying for the female.  Male and female curlews are almost identical but they can be differentiated by their…

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Chukars of Antelope Island

 The Chukar, also known as the Chukar Partridge, is a species first introduced into North America from India in 1893.  Since then they have flourished, particularly in the Great Basin of the American west where the largely feed on the seeds and leaves of cheat grass.  Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake provides perfect habitat for them and they abound there.    Chukar calling In the springtime there are times when the hillsides sound like the island has been overrun by domestic chickens from the calling of the Chukars.      Preening on a rock perch Chukars are very prone to perch on rocks – especially in the spring.  While there they call to other birds and preen.  Sentinel birds of a flock also prefer elevated perches while on lookout, which of course is ideal for the bird photographer.      Parent with chicks And here’s one of the reasons there’s so many Chukars on Antelope Island – the breed prodigiously.  Clutch size can be up to 21 eggs!     Chukar covey on boulder In late summer and fall Chukars often congregate in large groups.  These coveys tend to consist of adults and their offspring but several family groups may mix together.      Preparing to jump off the rock Like some other upland game birds, Chukars are often reluctant to fly.  They will typically jump down from their perch and scurry through the vegetation to hide.  They are very fast runners and easily outrun a human on foot.     Rock hopping  I’m often tempted to call these birds “rockhoppers” because of their tendency…

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Photographing Birds on Antelope Island

  My previous post was an overview of the geology of Antelope Island and its non-bird wildlife.  Here, I’ll focus on its birds.   Juvenile Loggerhead Shrike begging for food Loggerhead Shrikes are common on many parts of the island during summer.  They can be a challenge to approach but those few that nest close to the road eventually get used to traffic so if you photograph from your vehicle you can often get quite close.  Here this juvenile was begging for food that was being delivered by a parent just out of frame to the left.    Loggerhead Shrike with dragonfly  Shrikes are often called “butcher birds” for their practice of temporarily impaling their prey on thorns or other sharp projections.   This juvenile had done just that with the dragonfly but it wasn’t very good at it yet and in the end just decided to eat it instead of store it away.     Loggerhead Shrike with spider Shrikes are opportunistic carnivores known to feed on insects, spiders, amphibians, small reptiles, rodents and other birds.   This one also attempted to impale the prey before eating it.     Juvenile Burrowing Owl practicing its parallax technique on me Burrowing Owls are one of my favorite species on the island though they can be difficult to locate from year to year as they often don’t seem to nest in the same burrow the next year.  In the summer of 2009 there was an entire family of owls along the causeway to the island nesting under concrete rubble, as in the…

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