The Bird That Got Away: Technically Bad But Interesting Bird Images

I originally shared this post on Birding Is Fun!. I'm now sharing on my own blog.

Capturing a great nature shot--especially when the subject can fly, scurry, or run--is a combination of skill, determination, equipment, and plain old luck or timing. Photographers often sift through lots of bad images before they share their work with others. Thank goodness for digital images that can be captured and deleted at practically no cost in comparison to film.  I've heard some great photographers say they shoot from tens to hundreds of images to get the one they think is worth sharing.

I love capturing and sharing images of birds and other creatures and I typically share only my favorites unless the image is meant for functional purposes such as providing proof of a rare bird. This post, however, will be the exception to the rule. In other words, I'm sharing images that would have been really awesome had I been better prepared, had better equipment, lighting, timing, etc. I'll probably kill any chance I had for being published in National Geographic once this post gets out. What follows are images that could have been.

I was wandering around Silver Lake near Utah's Brighton Ski Resort one wintry morning when a Steller's Jay gave a call. I turned around just in time to fire off my shutter and capture the jay flying over head. It looks more like an x-ray than a bird in flight. The sky was gray so lighting, camera settings, and my preparedness were off for this one.

Steller's Jay at Brighton Ski Resort Near Salt Lake City, UT

I can't complain about the lighting for these images of a Red-shafted Northern Flicker that was coming in for a landing one sunny morning as I was strolling along American Fork Boat Harbor. I saw the bird coming, I've always wanted to capture an image showing the really cool salmon-colored feathers and this was my opportunity. Unfortunately, I didn't get a tight focus until right before it landed and the branches obscured what I was targeting.

Northern Flicker (slightly out of focus) American Fork, UT

Northern Flicker (missed opportunity) American Fork, UT

An Osprey caught me off guard once and left me with a slightly out of focus image of what would have been an awesome raptor shot. If I crop it any more than this you'll quickly see that the eyes were out of focus. When the subject's eyes are out of focus it just doesn't make the cut--unless your point is to show what can go wrong in nature photography. Which, I have to remind myself, is the point of this post.

Osprey in American Fork, UT

Several years ago my company moved me into a nice corner office on the top floor of our building which was right next to excellent habitat for birds, foxes, deer, marmots, and more. I had seen some Peregrine Falcons around the area so I kept my camera in my office in case the perfect opportunity arose. On the day the opportunity presented itself I had left my camera in my truck. I saw a Peregrine enjoying lunch on the balcony ledge outside my office. I ran to the elevator, dropped six floors, retrieved the camera  from the truck and then slightly opened the door while on my knees to get a direct line to the bird. I snapped what would have been very nice images if there weren't two metal wires running horizontally between me and the bird. Consequently, the falcon's chest and the lunch (a dove) were blurred.

Peregrine Falcon with Dove South Jordan, UT

I was quite "surprised" as I was driving through Surprise, Arizona on my way back to Utah one day. I saw a Greater Roadrunner, running rather greatly along the road. I suddenly veered to the shoulder of the road. I'm not sure if it was legal where I was driving, but my excitement about seeing a roadrunner up close for the first time overruled my concern for everything else going on around me. I scrambled to get the camera bag and turn on the camera. The excitement was so great I was fumbling with every move. The bird suddenly plucked a Round-tailed Squirrel from beneath the sand and proceeded to thrash it against the ground. Man, I wish I would have been on a higher shutter speed to get a clearer image. It was definitely a moment I'll always remember.

Greater Roadrunner With Round-tailed Squirrel Surprise, AZ

Speaking of roadrunners, I got some really nice images of two roadrunners near Lytle Ranch in southwestern Utah this spring. However, one image had a missed opportunity because I wasn't anticipating that the bird would leap from one branch of a Joshua tree to another. I guess you could use this image to study its feet. The tail doesn't look like much, but wait til you see the next image.

Jumping Greater Roadrunner Washington County, UT

I had an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk fly right passed me as it was pursuing its breakfast one morning in Tonaquint Nature Center in St George, Utah. I got some nice images of the bird perched, but this time, unlike the jumping roadrunner, this bird decided to dive down from a perch. Too bad people aren't more interested in seeing the undertail of Sharp-shinned Hawks.

Tail of Adult Sharp-shinned Hawk St George, UT

Townsend's Solitaires are often viewed as rather bland, gray birds. I've always wanted to get an image of a Townsend's Solitaire with it flashing it yellow wing patches. The bird below was actually perched and suddenly took flight. Unfortunately, the unexpected wing patch shot turned out to be more of the bird playing a mean joke on me. Not a bad shot of a branch however.

Townsend's Solitaire in Pleasant Grove, UT (it was perched when the image was framed)

Another unexpected jumping bird turned out to look like a Photoshop effort gone bad. I don't use Photoshop so this is probably just as good as if I did Photoshop the image all by myself. Trust me on this one.  It would have been a nice image if the bird would have sat still on the branch below it.

Jumping Townsend's Solitaire at Tibble Fork Reservoir Utah County, UT

How do you like this awesome Barn Owl shot? It was actually perched on a power line as I was driving to the grocery store. It started to fly when I pulled over for a photo. Apparently this owl doesn't know how to frame itself well for a photo. If you look closely you can see the little black spots on it underside. By the way, that's a beautiful snow-covered mountain in the background. Be honest now, doesn't it make you want to ski in Utah?

Missed Barn Owl Shot Pleasant Grove, UT

I was driving home from work a few years ago and saw not only my first Swainson's Hawk ever, but I saw several within minutes. They must have just gotten off the last flight from Argentina. That's where they come from you know. It was April and I think that is when flights from Argentina to Utah are heavily booked by Swainson's Hawks. I was also new to photography at the time and I think I had everything on my camera set to auto. Someone told me that was all I needed to do to get good photos. Must have been a poor job on the hawks part. I'm sure if it knew it was going to go viral on the Internet it would have focused itself and kept all of its body parts in the frame.

Swainson's Hawk Springville, UT

I don't know. Is this a bad image of a Killdeer? Nice colors I guess, but what did I do to scare it off in such a hurry?

Killdeer Spanish Fork, UT

When I saw this Pygmy Owl's eyes go wide and it mouth start to gape I knew a pellet was about to be ejected in some sort of projectile fashion. I pressed the shutter release and fired away in continuous shooting mode. It took longer for the bird to clear its throat than expected. Between the capacity of the camera's sensor and the memory card the frames per second choked and stalled right as the pellet came forth.

Northern Pygmy Owl Aspen Grove Lodge Utah County, UT

The best I could do was take a picture of the pellet after my friend traipsed through hip-deep snow to retrieve the pellet and place it on the road. The point of showing this image is to see if you can identify the species of bird or mammal inside.

Freshly Expelled Northern Pygmy Owl Pellet Aspen Grove Lodge Utah County, UT

Please don't give up on my work. I have desire and better equipment now. I'm getting better all the time. I promise I'll do better next time.

Have You Been Challenged by a Bluebird?

Setting gulls aside, I think I've been tricked by Mountain Bluebirds more than any other bird species when it comes to initial impressions for an identification. We have both Mountain and Western Bluebirds in Utah, but the Westerns are found more in the southern part of the state. A bluebird in northern Utah should be a Mountain Bluebird. The first time I saw a group of Mountain Bluebirds in Northern Utah I got excited and declared that one was a Western Bluebird because I saw a rufous coloring on its chest. My birding mentor kindly explained that female Mountain Bluebirds can have some rufous on their chests. I had concluded that rufous on the chest was a sure sign of Western Bluebird based on pictures I studied in a field guide. That was not the last time I messed up an initial ID associated with a Mountain Bluebird. I've been briefly fooled into thinking a juvenile Mountain Bluebird was a Townsend's Solitaire, a Mountain Bluebird was a Pinyon Jay, and a female Mountain Bluebird was some bird that I couldn't seem to identify.

Beautiful adult males like the one below make for a rather easy identification. Juveniles and females can present some challenges.

Male Mountain Bluebird at Powder Mountain Ski Resort Weber County, UT

Below is one of the very first photos (not a very good one) I ever captured of a female Mountain Bluebird, shortly after I starting birding. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what this bird was until after I returned home and saw other, more obviously plumaged, Mountain Bluebirds I photographed in a nearby tree. The rufous throat confused me and I didn't really notice the slight blue tint in the wings with my initial observations.

Female Mountain Bluebird Near Lindon Boat Harbor Utah County, UT

Here is a similar bird photographed at a different time. The blue in the wing helps with the identification.

Female Mountain Bluebird Heber Fields Wasatch County, UT

When I first saw the juvenile Mountain Bluebird pictured below I thought it was a Townsend's Solitaire. A closer look revealed its true identity. The speckled/scaly-looking chest and obvious eye ring had me thinking young Townsend's Solitaire. I'll throw in a juvenile solitaire image for comparison so you don't think I'm completely crazy in associating the two in my mind. The degree of scaliness on the underside is much more drastic on the young solitaire and the tails are quite different for the two species--forked for bluebird but not for solitaire. The solitaire is much more slender as well.

Juvenile Mountain Bluebird at Dry Bread Pond Weber County, UT

Juvenile Townsend's Solitaire at Lava Point Campground in Washington County, UT

I thought I had Pinyon Jays this week when I first saw a small group of Mountain Bluebirds from a distance in Pinyon-Juniper habitat. A closer look dashed my misguided hope for Pinyon Jays. I'll share a couple Pinyon Jay images and then images of some of the Mountain Bluebirds I first hoped were Pinyon Jays.

Pinyon Jay on River Lane Utah County, UT

This image is a bit overexposed and blurry, but it shows the effect that lighting and camera settings can have on images of the same bird.

Pinyon Jay on River Lane Utah County, UT

Pinyon Jays are more pale above and have a noticeably longer bill. Distance and habitat weighed too heavily in my initial impression of the birds this week. The bird I was hoping would turn out to be a Pinyon Jay proved to be a Mountain Bluebird in the midst of regenerating its tail feathers.

Mountain Bluebird (regenerating tail feathers) Along Soldier Pass Road Utah County, UT

This next bird was in the same vicinity with the bird above, but it clearly has a different look. I would say it is a young bird because its eye ring is more obvious and it shows some scaliness on the upper chest.

I'll finish with a few more male Mountain Bluebird images captured around the state of Utah.

Mountain Bluebird Along Soldier Pass Road Utah County, UT

Male Mountain Bluebird on Kolob Terrace Road in Washington County, UT

Male Mountain Bluebird at Powder Mountain Ski Resort Weber County, UT

Male Mountain Bluebird at Powder Mountain Ski Resort Weber County, UT

What bird species has tricked you more than a time or two when getting an initial impression?

Timing & Townsend's Solitaires

The Townsend's Solitaire is a long-tailed gray bird that lives and breeds in the mountains of the western United States and essentially embodies what I love about birding. At first glance it seems dull and boring. That's how many non-birders view birding in general. However, what seems dull and ordinary at first glance can change dramatically when observed carefully in the field.  Just as the Solitaire goes from dull gray to flashes of yellow and white in flight, birding can go from ordinary to exciting when a new species is discovered or a typical bird is seen from a new perspective.

I remember the first time I saw a Townsend's Solitaire take flight across the road in front of me as I was driving into the mountains which form American Fork Canyon in Utah County, Utah. Soft yellow flashes came and went with each flap of the bird's wings. White outer tail feathers were displayed and the bird was gone almost as quickly as it appeared. I had seen Townsend's Solitaires perched several times before and remember thinking they were slender, dull gray birds. Nothing really appealed to my senses with those initial encounters. They also seemed to prefer perching at the very top of really tall evergreens so they didn't seem very camera friendly. However, those soft yellow flashes and white outer tail feathers were unexpected and piqued my curiosity. After studying a few images in my field guides I made a mental note to watch for opportunities to photograph a Townsend's in flight to capture that burst of yellow and white from an otherwise dull looking bird. I also wanted to get images showing their unique, white eye ring, and the scaly looking plumage associated with juvenile birds. Each of those photos would require nearly perfect timing, lighting, and perspective.

Well, over time, some of those nearly perfect Townsend's-timing moments presented themselves in and near the mountains of Utah. The most recent occurred a couple days ago while I was at the kitchen sink in my home. It didn't result in a photo to memorialize the moment, but it is locked in my mind's eye. I had just walked up to the kitchen sink in my home and looked out through the window. In a split second a Townsend's Solitaire landed in the small Eastern Redbud Tree a few feet from the window. It was present for no more than two seconds before it flew out of view, but that was long enough for me to recognize it and make it the latest addition to my growing list of bird species observed in my yard--species #67.  Neither my neighborhood nor my yard provide the ideal habitat for a bird that prefers feeding on the fruit of Junipers during the winter months, but the timing was perfect for observing such a rare visitor. I'm sure the heavy snow fall in the mountains pushed this bird into the valley in search of food.

Just a little over a week or so ago I encountered a Solitaire while I was trying to photograph another bird near Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Below are some images of that bird, including flight photos that, while not perfect, display the plumage that piqued my interest nearly two years earlier when I encountered the flying Solitaire in American Fork Canyon. The unique white eye ring, yellow wing stripes, and white outer tail feathers are all captured in these images.

Adult Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Adult Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Adult Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Adult Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

The image below provides a good feel for how Townsend's Solitaires are typically observed in their preferred coniferous habitats. This might be the dull and boring view beyond which the non-birder never passes.

Townsend's Solitaire at Granite Flat Campground in Utah County, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

A closer, more careful view begins to reveal some unique features around the eye and in the wing patterns.

Townsend's Solitaire Along East Coal Creek Road Near Wellington, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Last but not least are two images of Townsend's Solitaires displaying early and later stages of the unique juvenile plumage. I came across the first bird at Lava Point Campground, high in the mountains above Springdale, Utah in the summer of 2011. The last image was captured near Squaw Peak in the mountains above Provo, Utah.

Juvenile Townsend's Solitaire at Lava Point Campground Near Springdale, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

First-year Townsend's Solitaire Above Squaw Peak Near Provo, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Dad is Like a Kid in a Candy Store!

"Dad is like a kid in a candy store with all those birds!" That's how my 27-year-old daughter described me Saturday when she and I returned home to family after spending about 30 minutes photographing birds at Kiwanis Park near the mouth of Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, Utah. She had just witnessed her dad's boundless enthusiasm for tracking down and photographing birds. Within minutes of exiting the truck with my daughter I was experiencing sensory overload--seeing and hearing birds calling from all directions. Which way should I go?  As I focused my attention on a tiny Brown Creeper working its way up to the top of a tree I noticed a juvenile Golden Eagle soaring in the sky above us. It was soaring between the two mountains forming the mouth of the canyon.  At the same time I was trying to decide if I should go after the Black-capped Chickadee, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Western Scrub-Jay, Northern Flicker, or Townsend's Solitaire--all of which were calling from different locations. While watching the eagle and listening to all the bird calls I heard something very clearly from behind me. "Dad! A woodpecker 'thingie' just flew onto that tree!" I looked up and saw a handsome male Downy Woodpecker with his bright red crown.

Male Downy Woodpecker at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Male Downy Woodpecker Showing his Crown at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

I had removed my Nikon 1.4x teleconverter from my lens before my daughter and I exited the truck because I suspected we'd be primarily photographing passerines (small perching birds) at close distances among the trees. Consequently, it was a stretch for my 300mm f4 lens to capture a nice shot of the soaring Golden Eagle, but I did my best to bridge more than 200 yards between us and the majestic hunter of the mountains. The cropped image below captured enough detail to reveal the iridescent gold feathers on the nape as well as the whitish tail with a dark terminal band and the two-toned under wings indicative of an young eagle. It's not a great image, but its a typical view and I love to see the eagles soar!

Juvenile Golden Eagle Soaring Above Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

I couldn't help but realize that my daughter was having an experience I had a couple of years ago when I stood in about the same spot one winter day and observed both a tiny Brown Creeper and a soaring Golden Eagle. One of our smaller and larger birds of North America in one experience.

While watching the eagle I heard a "chut, chut" sound coming from a nearby tree. It was a sound familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. I couldn't connect it to a species so I had to locate the bird. The tree was rather leafless but overgrown with wild branches, making it difficult to see what species of bird was responsible for the call. I saw a movement which clued me in to the general location of the bird and I was able to briefly see the bird's chest and head as it peered between some branches. It was a Hermit Thrush. Range maps for the Hermit Thrush indicate they should not be in Utah during winter months, but we do have them here year round. My Sibley app for my Android phone indicates that Hermit is typically the only "Thrush" (speaking specifically of birds with "Thrush" in their common name) that winters in North America.

Winter Holdover and Hiding Hermit Thrush at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

I noticed several times that the Hermit would half lift and stiffen its wings as it made the "chut, chut" sounds. I captured this behavior in the image below. I'm very interested in understanding this behavior further. I wonder if it may be a reaction to a predator or other threat.

Winter Holdover and "Chutt"ing Hermit Thrush at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Winter Holdover and Hiding Hermit Thrush at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

I turned my daughter's attention to the call of a Townsend's Solitaire after capturing images of the Hermit Thrush. She then watched more of my birding-without-abandon style as I quickly moved down a snowy slope, across a thin layer of ice just inches above a still-flowing stream and then up another snowy slope to get to a better vantage point. I grabbed and pulled on a tiny little branch to stabilize myself as I went up the steep, snowy slope--all the while holding my camera and lens in such a way that my body would take the blow instead of the gear if I did slip and fall. My daughter told me afterward that the branch would not have supported me if that became necessary. The effort was worthwhile as I was able to position myself in the midst of several Solitaires as they foraged, danced in flight, and called back and forth to one another.

Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Townsend's Solitaire at Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, UT (Photo by Jeff Cooper)

Our time was short and my daughter, who has grown accustomed to her warm winters in Phoenix, was getting cold so we hopped back into the truck and made our way home. I'll have to head back to the canyon soon and spend some more time with those birds because things were just warming up for the kid in the candy store when we had to leave.