Stormy Weather

Springtime in the desert - full of dynamic changes almost every moment. Warmth, cold, cold, windy, snow, rain - it all has come over the last couple of days. But it makes for some wonderful lighting scenarios and here's a couple that I found yesterday.

Highlights on the wheelbarrow.

Sun setting behind the clouds.

Feed them and they will come!

Here's some of our backyard bird friends enjoying themselves in the sun yesterday. Many came back in the snow today but aren't quite as photogenic!

Doves are regulars

Yellow-headed, red-winged and others..

They do make a mess - mostly they pick it up at sometime!

Around the town

When Murph and I walk down the road this GREAT BIG horse is out in his meadow. I finally took a photo of him.

This morning I got to meet Glorious Aureus the golden eagle. Magnificent.

Light-morph Redtailed Hawk

Outside on the back deck yesterday and heard the cry of the redtailed hawk - and found it way up in the sky. By the time I got back outside she was circling close by and showing off for me so of course, had to take some photos.
An incredibly beautiful young bird!

Wandering - Timpie WMA and Skull Valley

Murph and I stopped by Timpie WMA yesterday to see if there were any shorebirds yet - none. But there were a few ducks and a Harrier hanging around. Then on to Horseshoe Springs - surrounded by meadowlarks singing but only a Sandpiper by the water.
Then up to check out a rocky area - some nice landscapes of the big sky country.

Muddy goose tracks.

Stream at Timpie WMA - Stansbury Island to the right.

Headed back to the truck at Timpie.

Meadowlark greeting us at Horseshoe Springs.

Enjoying the view - the smokestack is about 23 miles away and is the Magnesium processing plant where Diana and I first met.

Panorama looking west.

Moon shots

I had the chance last night and this morning to take a few photos of the moon - first rising then setting. Despite the high ISO (5000) they came out well.

Actually these are all setting photos - the rising ones did not come out well.

Backyard Visitors

Red-winged and Yellow-headed blackbirds, Starlings and Sparrows.

300 pound Gorilla arrives

When the crow arrived on the feeder everyone else left. The smaller birds would fly up by him but would not get on the feeder with him despite there being plenty of room. I chased him off after a bit and haven't seen him since.

Refuge visit

A warm (70) day in SLC and Tooele valleys so we visited the refuge for a bit. The refuge closes to dogs as of 3/1 and it also closes it's main dike road to vehicle traffic at that time. So instead of a long walk today, I hung out and was well rewarded.

The Killdeer were the cutest little guys just barely looking over the salt grass.

Then the Tundra Swans sitting in a pond just inside the entry gate - normally they are miles away making a lot of noise. Looked like several juveniles in the group.

The Sandhill Cranes - talk about luck! I pulled over just past the rangers HQ to let another vehicle go by and sat there for a minute just looking around, a bit dreamily! I suddenly realized that there were cranes walking slowly just about 60 feet away! They were on the passenger side of the truck so had to do a bit of squirming and jiggling to get into position to take a few photos.

Finally the GBH's at the rookery - you can make up a dozen stories for each activity that they do!

The Millennial, the CEO and the Artist

We took  trip to town and came home the long way and saw three of our friends.

The Millennial - looking a little frazzled and lost about life.

The CEO - Firm in stare and purpose, knows where he is going.

The artist - beauty personified both in physicality and song.

Spring flowers

For a bright day try these yellow crocus!

Fuzwald, the lion

Here's our lion hanging out in the garden hoping for a bird to come by very close!

Backyard Friends!

Church Book

Wandering around churches can be fun when you look for different combinations of light and color.