Quiet Sunset

Some sunsets are noisy - so much color and beauty and oohs and awes! This was a quiet one!

Yellow-headed blackbirds are back!

We've had red-winged blackbirds for about 3 weeks at our feeders, and today saw the first yellow-headed blackbird returned from his winter vacation. My first record of them last year was on 3-29.

Valentine's Day Flowers

are still beautiful for my girlfriend!

Skull Valley again

Yesterday was a good day in between storms and with a decent amount of sun. Skull valley beckoned to us as is also did to a lot of others.
Horseshoe springs was full of people so we went a bit farther to a more secluded water feature and took a long walk - Murphy chasing non-existent rabbits. Then down to Dugway and across Johnson's Pass to Rush Valley and home. My brain was clear again!

I love to see the hawks take off.

The clouds were like fog, rolling over the Stansbury Mountains.

 These ducks were at the water feature that we went to.  Beautiful birds.

Looking East and then looking West. The country goes on and on.

Spring again!???

A wild weather night and day - southerly winds up to 75 mph in Tooele valley (we measured 65 at 3am this morning), then at 11am the wind switched to the north and the rain, sleet and snow soon began.  By 4pm the sun is shining!
We didn't suffer any major damage from the wind, just some small items - roof of birdhouse blew off!! The wind blew the deck chairs and table against the north railing, then it blew them off the deck when it switched!
What fun!
Here's some shots from the day..

Spring

A couple of days in the 50's and the snowdrops are out!  Meadowlarks have been singing for a few days now and red-winged blackbirds are at the feeders. Perhaps I ought to put out the feeder for the Bullock's Orioles!

Swaggering Grackle

The fog/smog continues to inundate and depress us, but the birds just keep on going.  Here's a Grackle just swaggering across a parking lot showing no fear!
Later the sun set over the Stansbury mountains but you wouldn't know the mountains were there except for their line across the setting sun!

Wandering down Skull Valley road

Murphy and I visited Horseshoe springs for a while yesterday, then decided to wander down the road to Dugway to see what showed up. A Golden Eagle awaited us at one spot and several raptors - mostly red-tailed hawks - at others.
The GBH at the Springs was very reliable - just as I step out of the truck he flies off. No other birds around so still a bit early for the shorebirds.
Here's some shots from the trip..

The GBH came to rest initially out in the far reaches.

Steam rising from the springs!

Early morning reflections

The wonderful Golden Eagle that posed for me.

Gorgeous Redtailed Hawk swung by.

An early morning trip to the refuge

along with some birdwatching friends I visited the refuge early (for me) Saturday morning. Lots of vehicles, mostly birders/photographers, and not a lot of birds.  Mergansers had moved on and a couple of eagles were black spots out on the ice. We saw some including the juvenile red-tailed hawk so I got a couple of shots from the trip!

An interesting couple - the female (left) is a Bufflehead and the male is a Ringneck duck!

Cuties in the brush!

Herons in the rookery!

Small birds

Sometimes it works to take the time to watch and capture the smaller birds. They move quickly so it is a real challenge to catch them in flight. But they also will play peek-a-boo with you as they eat on the ground.

Red-tailed Hawk series - (Juvenile)

I' saw this hawk several times today as he sits in a tree on Goose Egg Hill at Farmington Bay. This time I caught him as he took flight and I love the pictures - can't decide which is my favorite!