It is hot, about 98 degrees where I live in Utah right now. It was 82 degrees when I woke up this morning and normally the morning temps are about 20 – 25 degrees cooler than that. Despite the high temps and the smell of smoke in the air that has been burning my eyes, we headed out to Antelope Island this morning to see if there were any birds to photograph.
I still can’t get used to seeing Chukars at the shore of the Great Salt Lake even though I have seen it a few times now. Last week I saw some chicks on the rocks near the marina and it appeared that they were eating brine flies. Today this adult Chukar and its chicks were very close to the salty water of the lake when I photographed them. These chicks are getting big but I saw some just a few days ago that looked like they had just hatched they were so small. I don’t know of the birds think the water looks refreshing but on a hot day like today I sure do!
This adult Burrowing Owl looks like it is flapping its wings to stay cool since Nature’s AC decided to quit working here in Utah. This adult has several chicks but they have kept themselves hidden fairly well. I wonder if they are staying in the cool, dark burrow.
The Deer Flies were out in force today, even just stepping outside of the vehicle caused them to swarm around and bite me. Nasty bugs! I wasn’t bothered by the biting gnats (no-see-ums), perhaps the heat has cooked their tiny blood-sucking brains and they have all expired for this season. I guess it is easy to tell I really do not like them.
I’ve been pretty tired lately which is probably because of getting up BEFORE o’dark hundred hours to get to shooting locations before the sun rises at one minute after o’dark hundred. I even cursed at my cell phone alarm this morning. There are more hours of daylight right now than the rest of the year so why do I still feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day?
I’ve been working on a long post which will be published tomorrow morning. A news article I read last week made me feel like I was sitting on a pile of sandspurs so I decided to voice my opinion. I probably won’t win any popularity contest because of my opinions about the topic but I sure felt good writing it.
Mia McPherson, OntheWingPhotography.com
Mia McPherson
Mia McPherson is a nature lover, wildlife watcher and an avian photographer. Mia first become serious about bird photography when she moved to Florida in 2004. Her recent move to the Salt Lake area of Utah was a great opportunity to continue observing their behavior and photographing them. With so many birds species there easily accessible it wasn’t long before she was hooked. By learning more about each species, she can anticipate their behaviour and create opportunities to obtain ever better images of those species.
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