Notes to Self. My First Chipmunk

When you are in the mountains you are in the completely different world. It's a very quiet world that shelter animals, birds, snakes, squirrels and some reptiles .

I almost missed a Chipmunk on the photo above while hiking in the Wasatch mountains. The Chipmunk settled comfortably on the trail and enjoyed his breakfast.  

The Chipmunk gave me a couple of seconds to catch him in the frame.  A couple of seconds can be an eternity if you're lucky...  

Generally life is good!

Mule Deers on Antelope Island

After three rainy days nature finally has delighted us with fresh air and a clear sky and of course, the Antelope island also came to life and pleased me with its wonderful spring colors. 

When I saw a herd of young deer (according to my calculations there were eight of them), I was excited but my excitement was short lived.   

A deer herd turned out to be chaotic.  As soon as I focused on a deer, others immediately tried to get into the frame showing to me their butts.  So, out of numerous photos taken this morning I ended up only with two decent.  

Such is life!

 

Mule Deers- 2.

When I looked at these photographs on the computer screen 
I was surprised that some Mule deers didn't have horns.
As I understand they are female deers.
***
At the beginning of my adventure with deers I regretted 
that I wore a bright hoodie which didn't blend with the environment.

I had a hope that the deers would not run away or hide behind the rocks.
To my surprise they acted like they didn't care,
only later they became anxious when I approached too close.
  

Mule Deers - 1.

There were four of them on the mountains.

At first, I didn't dare to climb there, I was scared of bisons.
But bisons weren't around and I started to climb.

Climbing wasn't difficult at all.  I looked for rocks trying to get around them
and moved slowly trying not to scare deers.

Once I looked back to check how far away I was from my car.
 Far away.  My car looked like a tiny matchbox.

Here is my final point, I didn't go beyond it
because deers became anxious.

Wild Turkeys -3.

It's a pure fascination and obsession with Wild Turkeys.
No matter what I head about them, they are still my favorite birds.

Are Wild Turkeys beautiful? Undoubtedly, they are. 
What makes them beautiful?
Their uniqueness!
Feathers, eyes, their elegance - yes, they are elegant- fascinate me.

Chukar Partridge

or simply Chukar.

I found Chukar at Farmington Bay.  There were two of them
but one was hiding in the grass and the bird on the pictures was peacefully
wondering around.
***
Chukars breed in summer.  During courtship the male has to show the 
female many wonderful qualities to win her heart.

He shows that he can be a good provider.
He pecks at food and the female may visit to peck at it also.

If it doesn't work. The male Chukar tries to show the female
 what a great singer he is.
Some female birds find the male voice irresistible.
When Chukars form a couple they stay together through many seasons.

Wild Turkey -1.

I accidentally deleted a  previous post.
Fram, Cão, Catalin and Sandi thank you very much for your comments.
I am sorry about what happened.



 

More on Pelicans

The pelicans were visiting our park in spring 
and stayed there for a day.
 I found the contrast of water and pelicans interesting.
Later I played with this contrast and made it even more prominent.

White-faced Ibis - II.

On Wednesday I got a shock when I entered Bear river refuge.
I didn't see anymore American avocets. 
The place were they used to hang around dried up completely.

For the first time I realized that I know NOTHING about desert.
Ibises also were gone. Where they used to be there was no water at all.
Little oasis of water turned into dry cracked soil.

I found ibises further on another little oasis of water which by now probably also dried up.
Desert can be unmerciful and harsh. 
*** Some news for May. 
In May all gang will be there.
The breeding birds will be into nesting.
The majority of northbound migrant shorebirds and song birds have already departed.

Cackling Goose

I had a difficult time to identify this goose until I came across the Cackling geese.
Cackling geese resemble so much in appearance Canada geese.
Cackling geese have long black necks (my goose has a long black neck)
Cackling geese also have white chinstraps. My goose has this white chinstrap.
And most important my goose has black legs and feet.
***
Last Saturday I went to Barnes and Nobles to look for books about birds.
I looked at some of them and left Barnes and Nobles 
with the pocket guide  "Birds of North America".

 I liked three things about this little book:
This book is for beginners and I am one of them.
This book covers 160 species.  That is plenty for me.
 The photographs are magnificent in this book.

sharing this post with Our Word Tuesday and        Wild Bird Wednesday 

American Coot -1.

Just because a bird swims and dives in the water for food, 
doesn't mean that this bird is a duck.
What I thought was some type of duck was not a duck at all.
This interesting bird is the American Coot
who is more related to the shore birds as the Sandhill crane and the Rail.

American Coot is a migratory bird. It lives in the Pacific 
 and Mexico year around.
These birds come to Northern Utah for summer breeding.

Today

Today I tried to find Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge 
which happened to be far away from where I live.
I was warned that when I would reach this place I might see fires and smoke.
It's normal and it's managed.
I saw fire and for ten minutes I was driving in smoke.
Not a pleasant experience.
I saw a hawk. It was so far away that it was almost impossible to take its picture.
I took it anyway.
Well, I found Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
but didn't drive around.
It's a harsh vast desert and I didn't have enough time to explore it.
On my way back I saw Canada geese and watched them for a while.

They resembled in some ways us, humans.
First, they walked all together in one direction.
And suddenly one goose broke the rule.
It changed its mind for no apparent reason and left his group 
walking in an opposite direction, to his own drum. 
A few geese stopped not knowing what to do.
They hesitated for a few minutes and joined the rebel goose.

Making decision who to follow.

Decision is made.  

Four Canada geese are walking to their own drum.

The Dancer

Canada goose is performing his special dance.
Whoops, this is not a Canada goose, it's a Pink-footed goose.

Killdeer

This is my third time taking pictures of a bird from my car.
What amazes me that birds don't perceive a car as a threat.
They are absolutely oblivious to your car and you.
Killdeer was so calm, so relaxed letting me take as many pictures as I wanted.
The difficult part was to find later what kind of bird it was.
I found Killdeer in the category "the shore birds" 
and learned that they are migratory birds.


 

Spotted Towhee

First time I saw Spotted Towhee two weeks ago in our park.
He was at the feeder with Chickadees and Juncos.
At the beginning he was hiding in the branches of the trees
but later became more relaxed letting me take his pictures.
Beautiful bird!

sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday.

Squirrel

  

Robins are Back

One month ago I was introduced to bird photography
and since that I am noticing things that I have never noticed before.
Thus, I was glad that the American Robins returned to my neighborhood one week ago. 
I celebrated their arrival. 
It means soon will be Spring.

sharing this post with Wild Bird Wednesday.

White Goose

I always wanted to photograph a swan with his long beautiful neck 
gracefully hidden in the soft feathers.   We don't have swans where I live
but we have white geese.

Honeymoon Suite

American Kestrels are the smallest falcons in America.

They eat lizards, grasshoppers and mice. 

Sharing this post with Wild Bird Wednesday.