After twelve years of photographing birds and paying particular attention to their behaviors it isn’t every day that I witness a ritualized aggressive behavior that’s new to me. But it happened yesterday at Bear River MBR with a couple of Great Blue Herons, seemingly on steroids.
In my view Rough-legged Hawks are spectacularly handsome raptors whether perched or in flight, even in poor light.
There are more very similar colors in these photos than you can shake the proverbial stick at.
I don’t post photos of Turkey Vultures often but yesterday, International Vulture Awareness Day, was perfect timing to have an encounter with them.
It took me years to realize what saved this image. Prepare yourself for some photo and bird geekiness as I explain.
Some might say it’s only a swallow but I like the image a lot (and I wouldn’t say “only”.)
Plus… Yesterday morning I finally spent some time with the Brown Pelican on the Bear River that has caused so much excitment lately in the birding community.
The behavior isn’t a mystery to me but it will have to remain so to my readers until tomorrow. I’ll explain why.
Fur instead of feathers today. And a question about predator and “pest” control at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
A combination of angle and flight posture of a raptor taking off that I rarely capture.
Even slight changes in shooting angle often dramatically effect our final results, positively, negatively or just differently. These two photos are so very different from each other it’s hard to believe it’s the same bird on the same perch.
