Recent Birding Photos

This Turkey Vulture was flying low over head recently at my lunch-hour birding patch. Circling...circling...waiting for me to die perhaps.  Actually, All About Birds discusses how they fly low to pick up the scent of carrion. Though normally confident in my person hygiene, this Turkey Vulture had me questioning whether or not I smelled like rotting flesh.  This time of year, I'll occasionally see vultures in large "kettles" riding thermals and heading south.

Immature White-crowned Sparrow - the rufous cap sometimes confuses birders leading to mis-identifications.  Note the plain throat, breast, and belly, and uniform orange-pink bill color.  In size, they are significantly larger than Chipping Sparrows and lack the strong dark contrasting eye-line.  White-throated Sparrows have a much stronger white throat contrast.  Field Sparrows and American Tree Sparrows can superficially look like immature White-crowned Sparrows too.    In the intermountain west, it is always worth your while to browse through the flocks of White-crowned Sparrows (they're almost always in flocks) looking for potential Golden-crowned Warblers.  My only Golden-crowned was during a Christmas Bird Count in Caldwell, Idaho when Jay Carlisle picked one out of flock of White-crowns.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)  - I find Yellow-rumped Warblers to be very challening to photograph.  First, they never stay still for more than moment.  Second, they seem to prefer the dense foliage which keeps them generally in the shade. Like most of the other warblers, their colors are more subdued in the fall.

Below are eBird sightings maps of Audubon's (Yellow-rumped Warbler subspecies with yellow throats) on the left and Myrtle's (white throats) on the right.  Myrtle's are more widespread, but in the intermountain west, you are much more likely to find Audubon's.  I'm still hoping for that armchair life bird if DNA analysis shows these as being distinct species.

Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler eBird Sightings Map

Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warbler eBird Sightings Map

Photographing the Bird Photographer Paul Higgins on the Antelope Island Causeway - The Great Salt Lake and Fremont Island in the background .  Paul was photographing the recent rare to Utah Harlequin Duck using the beautiful fall mustard colored flowers of the rabbit brush as a natural blind.